About the Role:

The Associate Director, Portfolio/Category Management will play a critical role in bringing new products to market, ensuring strategic alignment between product, brand, and marketing. This role owns product commercialization—leading product positioning, go-to-market (GTM) strategy, and post-launch optimization—while closely collaborating with Insights, R&D, Marketing, Sales, and Operations. This role reports to the VP, Innovation & Product Portfolio.

What You’ll Do:

Product Strategy & Positioning

• Define how products should be positioned, based on consumer insights, competitive landscape, and brand strategy.
• Ensure strong differentiation in the market by shaping the narrative around innovation.
• Develop product messaging frameworks for Marketing & Creative teams to execute.
• Lead product commercialization across Core Innovation (renovations, line extensions) and Emerging Innovation (new product platforms).
• Align new product launches with brand positioning, marketing plans, and business objectives.
• Act as a brand steward, ensuring all innovations reinforce Little Spoon’s mission and values.

Go-To-Market (GTM) Execution & Strategy

• Lead GTM strategy meetings, ensuring alignment across Marketing, Sales, and Ops.
• Kick off GTM process by outlining the hand-off pack that details key messaging, commercialization milestones, and executional needs.
• Define GTM roadmaps, leading alignment meetings and ensuring teams have clear execution plans.
• Ensure a seamless transition from product development to launch.
• Drive post-launch assessments, making recommendations for future optimizations.

Cross-Functional Leadership & Project Management

• Partner with R&D, Marketing, Insights, Supply Chain, and Sales to ensure flawless execution of product launches.
• Manage project timelines, ensuring on-time and on-budget commercialization.
• Own the cross-functional hand-off process, ensuring all teams have the necessary information to execute.

Market & Performance Analysis

• Track market trends, consumer behaviors, and competitive innovations to inform future pipeline strategy.
• Partner with Insights to assess in-market performance, including trial, repeat, and velocity metrics.
• Use data to refine strategies and optimize underperforming products.
• Make recommendations for portfolio adjustments, ensuring strong contribution to business objectives.

Packaging Strategy & Compliance

• Oversee packaging strategy, ensuring designs support brand storytelling and product positioning.
• Clearly define packaging needs and communicate design priorities to Creative & R&D teams.
• Ensure packaging aligns with both consumer insights and regulatory requirements.
• R&D leads form factor development, while Creative handles visual execution—this role ensures strategic direction.

Financial Planning & Business Case Development

• Define P&L impact for all product launches, building financial models and forecasts in partnership with Finance.
• Provide recommendations on pricing, margin targets, and revenue projections.
• Support cost-benefit analysis for new product opportunities.

Who You Are:

• 7+ years of experience in brand management, innovation, or product marketing, ideally in food CPG and/or DTC food.
• A brand and product commercialization leader, with a passion for bringing innovative food products to market, from concept to commercialization.
• A natural cross-functional collaborator, skilled in aligning teams and driving execution.
• Data-driven and strategic, with the ability to turn insights into actionable plans.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, high-growth environment with shifting priorities.

• Strong project management and cross-functional leadership skills, with a track record of delivering on-time and on-budget, with a high attention to detail.
• Experience in GTM strategy, positioning, and post-launch performance analysis.
• Ability to interpret consumer insights, market trends, and competitive data to inform innovation strategy.
• Strong financial acumen, with experience building business cases for P&L impact.
• MBA appreciated but not required.

About Little Spoon:

Little Spoon is the fastest growing baby and kids food brand in the United States. On a mission to make parents’ lives easier and kids healthier, we are bringing the future of kids food to the modern parent through a first-of-its-kind platform of products delivered straight to your door. Little Spoon sets your child up for a lifetime of health, from a baby’s very first bites through to their big kid years, with a portfolio of freshly-made baby food, early finger foods, toddler, big kid meals and snacks. Since launch, the company has delivered more than 50 million meals and is responsible for feeding more than 2.9% of US babies, helping to simplify the lives of hundreds of thousands of parents. Learn more at LittleSpoon.com or find us on Instagram at @LittleSpoon.

Recent accolades include:

Inc. Best Workplaces

Inc. 100 Fastest Growing Companies

Fast Company Brands That Matter

EY Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist

If you have a disability and require accommodation during our interview process, please let us know how we can help make the interview process fair to your needs.