The VP, Brand & Portfolio Management is the senior leader responsible for the strategic direction, growth, and performance of a portfolio of categories and brands. The role leads brand strategy, portfolio management, innovation priorities, and business performance across global markets in partnership with regional leaders. The VP manages the portfolio as an integrated business - allocating resources, prioritizing opportunities, and balancing short-term delivery with long-term value creation. Marketing and brand management sit at the core of the role, supported by strong commercial, financial, and operational leadership. Success requires close partnership with regional teams, Japan-based stakeholders, and cross-functional functions to translate global strategy into winning local execution.

Key Responsibilities

1. Portfolio Leadership & Business Performance

• Lead a portfolio of categories and brands, with accountability for growth, profitability, and strategic health across the portfolio.
• Determine where to invest, accelerate, optimize, or rationalize across brands, categories, markets, and channels.
• Manage the portfolio as an integrated business, balancing growth opportunities, margin delivery, and long-term brand equity.
• Build annual operating plans and multi-year growth strategies for the portfolio.
• Monitor performance and drive corrective actions where needed.

2. Growth Strategy & Market Expansion

• Define where to play and how to win across consumers, channels, and geographies.
• Identify new growth opportunities through innovation, licensing, partnerships, acquisitions, and market expansion.
• Build scalable global growth platforms while enabling regional market relevance.
• Prioritize investments and resources toward the highest-return opportunities.
• Develop growth plans that support long term value creation.

3. Brand Management & Marketing Leadership

• Own brand vision, positioning, consumer proposition, and annual brand plans across the portfolio.
• Lead integrated marketing strategies across media, digital, retail, shopper, PR, and experiential channels.
• Drive consumer demand generation, brand equity, awareness, and conversion.
• Ensure consistent global brand standards while allowing for localized execution where appropriate.
• Build stronger consumer engagement and relevance.

4. Innovation & Product Pipeline Leadership

• Partner with product development and design teams to build a winning innovation pipeline across categories.
• Translate consumer insights, trends, and whitespace opportunities into new products and experiences.
• Oversee commercialization plans, launch readiness, and lifecycle management.
• Balance breakthrough innovation with core line extensions and seasonal opportunities.
• Ensure innovation supports portfolio growth objectives

5. Commercial, Channel & Customer Development

• Partner closely with regional sales organizations to drive growth across mass, specialty, e-commerce, distributors, and emerging channels.
• Support key customer strategies through strong category stories, innovation plans, and consumer insight.
• Help shape assortment strategy, pricing architecture, promotional effectiveness, and distribution priorities.
• Drive focus on omnichannel execution across physical retail, digital commerce, and social commerce platforms.

6. Profitability & Value Creation

• Partner with operations, sourcing, and supply chain teams to improve cost competitiveness and strengthen gross margin.
• Identify productivity opportunities across product design, sourcing, packaging, logistics, and portfolio mix.
• Help create margin capacity to reinvest in innovation, marketing, and strategic growth initiatives.
• Balance consumer value, product quality, and cost efficiency in decision-making.
• Improve portfolio economics.

7. Matrix Leadership & Enterprise Collaboration

• Lead through influence across regional business units, commercial teams, finance, operations, supply chain, product development, and other enterprise functions.
• Align stakeholders around shared priorities, growth targets, launch calendars, and resource decisions. Inclusive of Japanese basked stakeholders.
• Build strong partnerships with regional GMs to maximize speed, execution quality, and business results.
• Foster a high-performance culture rooted in accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

8. Leadership & Organizational Capability

• Build high-performing teams.
• Develop future leaders and organizational capabilities.
• Foster a culture of accountability, curiosity and growth.

Qualifications

Experience

• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in general management, brand management, marketing, commercial leadership, or category leadership.
• Proven success leading multi-category and/or multi-brand portfolios in a consumer products environment.
• Strong track record of driving profitable growth across multiple markets and channels.
• Experience working within complex, matrixed global organizations.
• International living and/or working experience strongly preferred, with demonstrated ability to lead across cultures and markets.
• Proven experience driving growth through digital commerce, e-commerce marketplaces, and social commerce platforms.
• Experience in licensing, entertainment, content, or franchise ecosystems preferred.
• Consumer products, toys, entertainment, licensing, or adjacent industry experience preferred.

Skills & Capabilities

• Strong commercial acumen with deep understanding of profitable growth drivers.
• Deep expertise in channel strategy, route-to-market models, and customer development.
• Strong understanding of retailer economics, trade investment, assortment strategy, and promotional effectiveness.
• Ability to integrate brand strategy with customer and channel execution.
• Deep understanding of digital commerce, marketplace dynamics, and social commerce growth models.
• Strong financial literacy with ability to translate strategy into business results.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and influencing skills across functions and geographies.
• Consumer-first mindset supported by data, insights, and strong judgment.

Success Measures

• Net Sales Growth
• Gross Margin Improvement
• Operating Profit Growth
• Market Share Gains
• Brand Equity Growth
• Innovation Success / New Product Revenue
• Channel & Customer Growth
• Portfolio Productivity
• Organizational Capability Development

Leadership Profile

The ideal candidate is a highly strategic and commercially minded business leader who can manage a diverse portfolio of brands and categories, align teams across a matrix organization, and consistently convert strategy into profitable growth. They are equal parts portfolio leader, brand builder, growth architect, and enterprise operator.

Job Type: Full-time

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Employee discount
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Experience:

• Leadership: 10 years (Required)
• Brand Management: 10 years (Required)
• Marketing: 10 years (Required)

Ability to Commute:

• Oak Brook, IL 60523 (Required)

Work Location: In person