As a senior executive within SAFCO, the VICE PRESIDENT OF PRODUCT AND MARKETING will be accountable for leading product and marketing strategies that will drive immediate and future growth and profitability across multiple channels and position Safco to be a world class, mid-market sourced and manufactured workspace product and solutions business that provides exceptional and memorable customer experience.
This full-time position reports directly to the PRESIDENT OF SAFCO and is located at Safco’s headquarters in New Hope, Minnesota.
Required Skills
IN THIS ROLE YOU WILL:
- Position Safco to be the premier, mid-market brand in the office product and office furniture industry, with specific growth initiatives targeted to evolving customer and market segments and end-users (small and large business, K-12 education, government, eCommerce and custom retail solutions)
- Strategically identify and execute new and existing channel, market and vertical opportunities and develop winning product solutions and marketing strategies to exploit targeted initiatives through conducting market research and analysis to best understand our end-user customer needs, formulating actionable market segmentation plans, determining competitive landscape and market gaps and staying on top of emerging trends and industry insight
- Develop a thorough understanding of Safco’s brand, business model, unique strengths, customers and capabilities that differentiate us in the marketplace
- Develop a 3-year product roadmap to design and launch on-trend, profitable product solutions that target emerging market trends, satisfying transactional and assisted sale channel customer needs
- Lead product design initiatives to develop innovative and breakthrough product solutions with constraints on cost, quality and performance
- Establish scalable strategic growth plans for eCommerce that meet revenue and profitability goals
- Establish scalable strategic growth plans for new and existing vertical markets (e.g. K12 Education and Custom Retail Solutions) that meet revenue and profitability goals
- Develop marketing tools and materials that promote and enhance our product features and offerings and enable our sales organization to be successful in multi-channels
- Implement a product category portfolio management and strategy creation process to determine investment level and sales expectations by product category
- Leverage and collaborate cross-functionally with leaders, teams, dealers, rep-groups, etc. to gain insights and perspectives to help inform and influence product and marketing strategies and initiatives
- Ensure all products, marketing tools and collateral are aligned with specifications, including quality and compliance standards, while meeting cost targets, overall financial and customer satisfaction goals taking into consideration whether to source or manufacture
- Establish and continually monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) and be able to proactively anticipate changes in business performance and adjust programs and strategies as necessary
- Continuously improve the effectiveness of the Product, Marketing and eCommerce teams by refining processes that drive desired outcomes, capitalizing on continuous improvement opportunities, and evaluating the necessary infrastructure and systems required to support the overall success of these functions
- Align closely with other internal teams (Operations, Sales, Customer Experience, etc.) to ensure message alignment, operational coordination, and execution of customer and channel strategies
- Partner with Sales to ensure the execution of programs and events to drive channel leads and pipeline progression
- Develop joint messaging and value propositions that highlight mutually beneficial relationship and value to the end customer
- Own the P&L for these functions
- Clearly communicate the marketing, product and ecommerce strategies and progress throughout the organization, including tracking key metrics, partnering with the Safco leadership team to communicate to LDI Executive Leadership, and creating opportunities for employees to understand how they contribute and fit within the strategy
- Provide proactive business support by building Safco's capability of achieving and exceeding sales growth targets and identifying new growth opportunities to expand
- Build and develop a high-performing team with the capability to deliver Safco and LDI’s strategy
- Proactively drive talent development and succession strategies
- Define and oversee compensation and incentive programs that drive appropriate behaviors, motivate and hold the team members accountable to achieving and exceeding their goals and objectives
- Define strategy for utilizing external agencies to support objectives within the team
- Serve as a strong executive leader who inspires, mentors, motivates, and partners across the organization
- Create and manage a department structure, operating standards, and practices that are responsive and adaptable to evolving needs from both internal and external customers
- Manage employee performance by establishing clear goals and expectations, tracking progress against goals, ensuring timely feedback, and addressing performance challenged in a prompt and professional manner
- Foster a culture that promotes innovation, customer focus mindset, and exceptional service while driving individual accountability and integrity
- Responsible for budgeting, analysis, and reporting to the executive leadership team to evaluate results in terms of cost, budget, operating policies, trends, increased profit opportunities
- Constantly seek out cost reduction opportunities as well as areas of productivity and process improvement
- Ensure the company is meeting customer service expectations, cost and quality considerations
- Responsible for product, marketing, eCommerce and vertical market management processes, metrics and issue identification, resolution, and/or escalation of matters as necessary
- Ensure the company operates in strict compliance with federal/state regulations and requirements as well as corporate policies
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor of Science Degree in an applicable field (Business or Marketing preferred)
- Advanced Degree (MS,MBA) desired
- 15+ years experience with increasing leadership responsibility within product and marketing
- Ability to develop and implement market strategies and leadership in a B2B, capital goods environment with national distribution
- Ability to develop and execute cradle to grave product development and product lifecycle strategies and leadership utilizing a stage gate process.
- Ability to apply industry and design trends to keep products relevant and on par with consumer demand and insights
- Previous office furniture and office products industry experience, preferred but not required
- Strong background in market, customer and competitive analysis, market segmentation and successfully implementing segmentation models
- Manufacturing industry experience within a multi-location organization desired
- Expected Travel – 40% or more
ABOUT OUR COMPANY:
SAFCO® offers an array of furniture solutions to create top-notch spaces everyone will be talking about. The team delivers a memorable experience because they truly care about how and where people work. To create work spaces that energize and inspire people, they use market knowledge and employee know-how to spread workspace product innovation. Safco® is committed to excellence in serving our customers for the long-term and building strong relationships.
As part of the LIBERTY DIVERSIFIED INTERNATIONAL (LDI) family of companies, SAFCO'S headquarters are based in Minneapolis, Minnesota with manufacturing and distribution centers in Iowa, Virginia, California and Georgia. The LDI family of companies includes LIBERTY PACKAGING, LIBERTY PAPER, LIBERTY PLASTICS (CUSTOM SOLUTIONS and QUARRIX BUILDING PRODUCTS) AND SAFCO.
◊ ◊ ◊
Liberty Diversified International is an equal opportunity employer and makes all employment decisions without regard to race, color, sex, religion, age, creed, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, disability, or any other protected class.
Required Experience