Strategic Growth Manager, Cross Category Programs, North America

Job Summary

ACCO Brands is seeking a Strategic Growth Manager to lead insights-driven product development for delivery of large-scale, cross-category retail programs across the North America Consumer and Office Products business. Reporting to the Vice President of Marketing, this role translates consumer and shopper insights, retail trends, customer strategies, and marketplace opportunities, and translates them into differentiated product concepts, assortments and commercially viable growth platforms for ACCO Brands and its retail partners.

This is a product role first. The manager will own opportunities from insights and concept development through product definition, business case, stage-gate decisions and commercialization. The ideal candidate combines strong product-development depth with retail and commercial acumen, effectively bridging unmet consumer needs and category opportunities to programs that win with retail partners and shoppers in-store and online.

Responsibilities

• Own cross-category product initiatives from opportunity identification and concept development through product definition, commercialization, launch, and post-launch optimization.
• Translate consumer, shopper, customer, category, competitive, and trend insights into clear product strategies, innovation briefs, product concepts, and prioritized development roadmaps that support business and brand objectives.
• Define the product proposition, target consumer, use occasion, feature set, design requirements, quality expectations, price architecture, assortment role, and channel strategy for each program.
• Partner with Creative, Engineering, Sourcing, Quality, Finance, Supply Chain, Operations, Sales, Insights, Brand, Creative and Content, and Merchandising to move concepts through the product-development and commercialization process.
• Manage the product-development critical path, including decision gates, specifications, samples, costing, testing, packaging, supply readiness, launch deliverables, risks, dependencies, and issue resolution.
• Develop assortment strategies that connect individual products into cohesive cross-category solutions tailored to priority retailers, channels, shopper missions, price points, and merchandising environments.
• Partner with Brand, Sales, Creative and Content, and Merchandising to convert product platforms into compelling retailer programs, including customer-specific assortments, exclusives, bundles, seasonal or event-based solutions, merchandising concepts, packaging direction, content needs, and in-store and online activation.
• Use syndicated and consumption data, consumer and customer insights, and business performance indicators to develop recommendations and support decisions.
• Build program-level business cases and performance expectations, including sales, margin, share, and profitability with Finance and Sales.
• Establish launch objectives and success measures; monitor sales, margin, share, distribution, inventory, retailer feedback, and consumer response to identify corrective actions and future growth opportunities.
• Present clear, persuasive strategies and recommendations that build alignment and influence decisions at multiple levels.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, or a related field preferred.
• 8-11 years of experience in product management, product development, innovation, or related consumer products or light durables role; direct ownership of physical product development is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience taking physical consumer products from insights and concept through specifications, costing, development, commercialization, launch and performance management.
• Experience developing consumer-led product strategies, innovation pipelines, product briefs, assortments, and roadmaps across multiple categories, brands, channels, or price tiers.
• Strong understanding of mass retail, ecommerce, omnichannel, and/or specialty retail environments.
• Experience using consumer, shopper, market, competitive, and business performance data to shape recommendations.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen, including experience developing business cases and managing tradeoffs related to cost, margin, investment, volume, timing, and risk.
• Demonstrated success leading large-scale, cross-functional initiatives in a matrixed organization and influencing without direct authority.
• Experience developing point-of-sale concepts, in-store and online communications, and customer-facing program materials.
• Strong commercial acumen, strategic thinking, organization, and ability to turn complexity into executable plans.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to persuade stakeholders and drive decisions.
• Ability to work independently in fast-moving, ambiguous environments and make informed decisions.
• Experience in sourcing, vendor management, sales, channel management, and/or brand management is a strong plus.
• Ability to work a hybrid schedule with two days per week in the office.
• Willingness to travel up to 25%, including domestic and international travel for program needs, customer meetings, trade shows, and other business requirements.

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