Global Category Lead, Core Beverages

International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) is a leading innovator in the taste, functional ingredients, health, biosciences, and scent industries. We are dedicated to delivering innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers and consumers.
The Global Category Lead – Core Beverages is responsible for driving the global priorities for Core Beverages by working collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams, analyzing market trends, and identifying growth opportunities. This role is essential in supporting the development and execution of strategic growth plans, driving innovation, and tracking performance against key vitality diagnostics and KPIs. Additionally, the Global Category Lead will develop business cases and value propositions for innovation opportunities, engage with key customers, create communication and training materials to support the implementation of Global Initiatives, and ultimately deliver the KPIs.
In this role you'll engage with regional and global stakeholders, including Regional Marketing, IC&D, Sales, Consumer and Business Insights, Product Experience (PX), Finance and Pricing to support Global Category priorities for Core Beverages.

The role can be hybrid based either in Hilversum (Netherlands) or South Brunswick (US). This role does not currently have direct reports.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the strategic plan for Core Beverages (Carbonates, Dry Beverages, Juices, Concentrated, Flavored Water) to ensure sustainability and continuous growth, driving the execution plan to increase project pipeline, gain market share and defend current business.

• Address immediate, mid-range, and future needs and opportunities, identifying where and how to play, what’s needed to win, and driving prioritization to deliver the KPI’s.

• Execute market analysis to understand major market and consumer trends, market size and potential, competitive landscape, channels assessments (Private Label & Food Service) and customer needs to identify market opportunities.

• Gather and provide commercial and market intelligence inputs for strategy development, prioritization of creative activity, related to Core Beverages business maintenance and expansion.

• In collaboration with IC&D, assess current IFF product portfolio to identify gaps, needs and opportunities for businesses defense and growth, as well as innovation spaces in Core Beverages.

• Develop effective global value propositions, topline client messaging, and promotional materials for our products and technologies. Collaborate with the Regional/GKA Category Marketing and CX teams to support regional adaptation and deployment in the regions and with GKAs.

• Support key customers strategic initiatives, including RFPs (Request for proposal) to develop new business and defend current sales. Strengthen relationships with key global and regional customers through regular visits and presentations on IFF products and capabilities, achieving core list status.

• Develop quarterly Category reports by reviewing diagnostics (Pipeline, wins, win rate, revenue, gross profit) from BI. Combine with market data to provide insights, connecting with GKA, Regional Category Marketing, and CXM.

• Develop and maintain visibility as a subject-matter expert and thought leader internally and externally to position IFF’s brands, portfolio and capabilities via events, publications, digital & social.

• Work with IC&D to initiate, develop and deploy to the regional teams any relevant training needed to support the Core Beverages strategic plans for growth and defense.

• Feed the innovation funnel with market/customer insights and differentiating value propositions, supporting the innovation agenda for Core Beverages by developing a strategic map of relevant technologies, overlaying current and future market opportunities and capabilities/technologies used to address.

• Develop business cases and NPV studies for innovation projects including quantifying market potentials and financial targets in collaboration with IC&D, regional teams and GKAs.

• Support Innovation Business Development in their deployment activities as the Core Beverages category and market expert.

• Support scouting and identification of potential partners, startups and companies that could accelerate innovation.

• In strong collaboration with Communications team, develop relevant communication plan and materials (e.g. capability presentations, one-pagers, global campaign) related to Core Beverages. 
   

Ways of Working

• Work at different time zones within a wider multidisciplinary team including Regional Marketing, IC&D, Commercial, Consumer and Business Insights, Product Experience (PX), Finance, and Pricing to support global Culinary Category priorities.

KPIs

• Core Beverages Revenue and Gross Profit

• Core Beverages Pipeline KPIs (Overall value, New Pipeline, Win Rate)

• Core Beverages strategy development and execution with regions

• Customer-facing activities, promoting current capabilities and/or new technologies

Scope 

Global

Key Stakeholders

• Re-Master and Re-Imagine Programs, IC&D Team, Global Category Marketing, Regional Category Marketing and CXM, GKA, Commercial and Operations, PX, CI, Business Intel, Communications, Finance, GRA, Purchasing

Job Requirements

• A Bachelors / Masters degree in Science or Food Science / Food Technology (preferred) and/or Bachelor’s / Masters degree in Marketing, Business, or Economics (MBA preferred)

• At least 10 years of experience in B2B or B2C, preferably in Food related industry. Food ingredients and flavor experience preferred.

• Strong understanding of marketing strategies and execution, strong capabilities in relationship building, networking and management.

• Experience in Innovation project initiation, Success Criteria definition and Value proposition development preferred.

• Excellent communication and presentation skills.

• A customer-centric mindset, strong leadership skills with the ability to lead through persuasion and influence.

• Experience in international roles and/or multicultural environments preferred.

We are a global leader in taste, scent, and nutrition, offering our customers a broader range of natural solutions and accelerating our growth strategy. At IFF, we believe that your uniqueness unleashes our potential. We value the diverse mosaic of the ethnicity, national origin, race, age, sex, or veteran status. We strive for an inclusive workplace that allows each of our colleagues to bring their authentic self to work regardless of their religion, gender identity & expression, sexual orientation, or disability.

Visit IFF.com/careers/workplace-diversity-and-inclusion to learn more