Director, Private Brand Product Management

Director, Private Brand Product Management

The Director, Private Brand Product Management is a strategic business leader responsible for defining and executing the end‑to‑end Private Brand strategy within the unique, fast‑paced dynamics of the convenience retail channel. This role requires exceptional business acumen, deep analytical capability, and an ability to design scalable processes and roadmaps that accelerate growth across highly shoppable, impulse‑driven categories.

You will lead a high‑performing team of Private Brand Product Managers, ensuring that innovation, speed‑to‑market, quality, and operational excellence align with the needs, expectations, and missions of convenience store customers. By uniting customer insights, market trends, operational capabilities, and financial performance, you will build a strategic product portfolio that drives differentiation, loyalty, and profitable category growth.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership for Convenience Retail

• Build and execute Private Brand strategies tailored to the missions, trip types, and rapid‑decision shopping behaviors unique to the convenience channel.
• Develop commercially grounded business cases and multi‑year roadmaps shaped by consumer insights, unit‑velocity data, operational realities, and the economics of small‑format retail.
• Align Private Brand strategy with overall category and merchandising goals to improve market penetration, margin mix, and brand perception in convenience-specific categories (e.g., snacks, beverages, immediate consumption items, foodservice, and on‑the‑go solutions).

Team Leadership & Capability Building

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of Product Development Category Managers, strengthening analytical fluency, customer‑centric thinking, and operational discipline.
• Build a high‑performance culture grounded in accountability, structured planning, and data‑driven decision‑making.

Innovation & Product Development

• Identify and prioritize growth opportunities that meet the speed, value, and convenience‑driven needs of C‑store shoppers.
• Create structured innovation and renovation pipelines with clear milestones, financial targets, and cross‑functional inputs.
• Develop product and packaging solutions that optimize shelf impact, portability, operational efficiency, and store‑level execution.

Process, Roadmap & Operational Excellence

• Build and refine end‑to‑end product management processes that accelerate speed‑to‑market—critical in a rapidly evolving convenience environment.
• Create scalable frameworks for assortment planning and vendor engagement
• Ensure tight execution through roadmap governance, KPI tracking, and standardized workflows that improve consistency and cross‑functional alignment.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Strengthen partnerships across Procurement, Supply Chain, Foodservice, QA, Store Operations, Merchandising, and Marketing to ensure strategies are executable in small-format retail.
• Collaborate with suppliers to enhance manufacturing capabilities, cost competitiveness, and service levels tailored to the convenience channel.

Performance Analytics & Continuous Improvement

• Build a data‑driven culture using financial metrics, market data, shelf performance, consumer insights, and operational KPIs.
• Leverage POS velocity, margin performance, panel data, and SKU productivity to guide portfolio decisions and determine where Private Brand can win.
• Lead continuous improvement across assortment optimization, innovation rigor, supplier performance, packaging efficiency, and end‑to‑end product quality.

Key Criteria

• Significant experience in category management, product development, brand leadership, or marketing—ideally within convenience retail, foodservice, or fast‑moving consumer goods.
• Proven ability to create and execute strategy, manage high‑velocity product portfolios, and deliver strong financial outcomes using data and consumer insights.
• Strong collaborator with a record of influencing across a matrixed, multi‑cultural organization and partnering with cross‑functional teams.
• Highly analytical, detail‑oriented problem solver with an ability to balance customer impact, operational constraints, and financial performance.
• Demonstrated success in building scalable processes, frameworks, and organizational discipline in fast‑moving retail environments.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Marketing, or a related field (required).
• 10+ years of experience in product development, brand management, category strategy, or innovation.
• Experience within the Convenience Store channel or other small‑format, high‑velocity retail environments preferred.

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Circle K is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
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