Product Manager

Come make your difference in communities across Canada, where authenticity, trust and making connections is valued - as we shape the future of Canadian retail, together. Our unique position as one of the country's largest employers, coupled with our commitment to positively impact the lives of all Canadians, provides our colleagues a range of opportunities and experiences to help Canadians Live Life Well®.

At Loblaw Companies Limited, we succeed through collaboration and commitment and set a high bar for ourselves and those around us. Whether you are just starting your career, re-entering the workforce, or looking for a new job, this is where you belong.

Come make your difference in communities across Canada, where authenticity, trust and making connections is valued - as we shape the future of Canadian retail, together. Our unique position as one of the country's largest employers, coupled with our commitment to positively impact the lives of all Canadians, provides our colleagues a range of opportunities and experiences to help Canadians Live Life Well®.

At Loblaw Companies Limited, we succeed through collaboration and commitment and set a high bar for ourselves and those around us. Whether you are just starting your career, re-entering the workforce, or looking for a new job, this is where you belong.

Why is this role important:
The successful candidate will lead a control brand portfolio, leverage customer insights and industry trends to develop drive first to market innovation, and with strong market knowledge drive growth in our base innovation. Reporting to the Director Product Management, the incumbent will ensure health of the base program by ensuring delivery of all maintenance projects.

At Loblaw Brands, we’re proud to offer innovative and trend driven products that meet and exceed the needs and wants of our customers. To help us continue to grow our offerings, we’re in search of an experienced Product Manager to drive our control brand agenda. As an ideal candidate, you will have a keen eye for gaps in consumer product offerings and the innovative mentality to fill them. You’re a highly skilled market analyst with ability to strategize the full lifecycle of product production - from conception through launch. You may already be a confident leader who has experience guiding cross-functional teams in the successful creation of products that improve consumer experience and grow market share.

What you'll do:

• Increase Life Brand (CB) penetration driving incremental profitability for the total category and increase CB sales by driving innovation and building brand loyalty through product differentiation
• Drive the product development and business-planning process across cross-functional teams of the company including (Product Management, Sourcing, Packaging Design, Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs, Category Management and Marketing)
• Gathers, coordinates, and prioritizes market and customer needs
• Analyze consumer needs, current market trends and portfolio performance to set the assortment direction
• Monitor trends, new products, competitor, and category innovation activity to inform 3 Year Innovation Strategy and create opportunities for differentiation and driving incremental business opportunities
• Build Product Plan Innovation strategies into short and long-term brand growth plans including base products and trend + innovation development
• Build product strategy documents that describe business rationale, innovation classification, business goals, including financial feasibility, vendor selection, product and packaging features and claims, merchandising and promotional recommendations and effective marketing communications plans
• Develop, implement, and maintain production timelines across multiple departments
• Drive the execution of all product lifecycle processes for products, including product research, market research, competitive analysis, planning, positioning, roadmap development, requirements development, and product launch
• Responsible for end-to-end product development cycle (ie. owner of initial concepts to finalized product)

Skills and Qualifications

• Minimum 5-7 years of product management/merchandising or equivalent experience
• University degree required in Management, Marketing or Equivalent Field in a multifaceted product management role
• Project Management Certification and/or MBA an asset
• Validated experience leading all aspects of the product development lifecycle
• Strong leadership and managerial skills including project management
• Strong presentation and analytical skills with the ability to provide recommendations and build plans from key analytics
• Strong financial competences and proven P&L management
• Advanced level of initiative and judgment in order to coordinate and prioritize tasks, workload and projects
• Advanced understanding of marketing and merchandising practices and procedures
• Previous experience delivering finely-tuned product marketing strategies
• Highly effective cross-functional team management
• Exceptional writing and editing skills combined with strong presentation and public speaking skills
• Advanced digital literacy skills, producing effective reports, documents, spreadsheets and presentations
• Able to work at both Loblaw HO Location and Shoppers Drug Mart locations regularly

Our commitment to Sustainability and Social Impact is an essential part of the way we do business, and we focus our attention on areas where we can have the greatest impact. Our approach to sustainability and social impact is based on three pillars - Environment, Sourcing and Community - and we are constantly looking for ways to demonstrate leadership in these important areas. Our CORE Values - Care, Ownership, Respect and Excellence - guide all our decision-making and come to life through our Blue Culture. We offer our colleagues progressive careers, comprehensive training, flexibility, and other competitive benefits - these are some of the many reasons why we are one of Canada’s Top Employers, Canada’s Best Diversity Employers, Canada’s Greenest Employers & Canada’s Top Employers for Young People.

If you are unsure whether your experience matches every requirement above, we encourage you to apply anyway. We are looking for varied perspectives which include diverse experiences that we can add to our team.

We have a long-standing focus on diversity, equity and inclusion because we know it will make our company a better place to work and shop. We are committed to creating accessible environments for our colleagues, candidates and customers. Requests for accommodation due to a disability (which may be visible or invisible, temporary or permanent) can be made at any stage of application and employment. We encourage candidates to make their accommodation needs known so that we can provide equitable opportunities.

Our commitment to Sustainability and Social Impact is an essential part of the way we do business, and we focus our attention on areas where we can have the greatest impact. Our approach to sustainability and social impact is based on three pillars - Environment, Sourcing and Community - and we are constantly looking for ways to demonstrate leadership in these important areas. Our CORE Values - Care, Ownership, Respect and Excellence - guide all our decision-making and come to life through our Blue Culture. We offer our colleagues progressive careers, comprehensive training, flexibility, and other competitive benefits - these are some of the many reasons why we are one of Canada’s Top Employers, Canada’s Best Diversity Employers, Canada’s Greenest Employers & Canada’s Top Employers for Young People.

If you are unsure whether your experience matches every requirement above, we encourage you to apply anyway. We are looking for varied perspectives which include diverse experiences that we can add to our team.

We have a long-standing focus on diversity, equity and inclusion because we know it will make our company a better place to work and shop. We are committed to creating accessible environments for our colleagues, candidates and customers. Requests for accommodation due to a disability (which may be visible or invisible, temporary or permanent) can be made at any stage of application and employment. We encourage candidates to make their accommodation needs known so that we can provide equitable opportunities.

Please Note:
Candidates who are 18 years or older are required to complete a criminal background check. Details will be provided through the application process.