VP, Food Business Unit

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General Summary:

The VP, Food Business Unit Leader provides leadership and general management for the Business Unit, which includes flavor creation, applications, and marketing. The position is responsible for developing and executing multi-year growth strategies across segments (i.e. snacks, bars, savory), product lines (i.e. seasonings, flavors, ingredients) and channels (i.e. custom restaurants and private label) that drive sustainable revenue and profit expansion, while ensuring consistent delivery of positive annual P&L results for ~$500M portfolio. This role balances external customer engagement and internal team and opportunity management

The leader establishes and guides a high-performing team of Subject Matter Experts across multiple site locations, building a strong talent pipeline and people strategy that leverages the broader insights and technical community to enhance capability, innovation, and customer value. This role serves as both the internal and external figurehead for the Business Unit, representing the organization with customers, industry stakeholders, and cross-functional partners.

Success in this position requires enabling collaboration across Business Units to set the strategic priorities for BU by segment and ensuring the execution of the customer opportunities – this includes: expanding customer marketing and technical solutions, optimizing flavor and seasoning portfolios, and ensuring disciplined execution against growth and profitability commitments. The role balances strategic vision, commercial rigor, project and opportunity management and people leadership to strengthen market position and deliver sustained business impact.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

Strategic Direction and P&L

• Create multi-year strategy identifying where and how the BU can grow annually and deliver expected growth
• Identify and drive key performance indicators as well as analyze operating results relative to established objectives, ensuring that necessary steps are taken to achieve business goals.
• Understand the market needs and opportunities that will enable McCormick Flavor Solutions a competitive advantage.
• Collaborate with Research & Development, Marketing and Research, sensory, culinary & Innovation to establish and implement best practices within and across areas of responsibility to enhance customer delivery, efficiency, and accuracy.
• Resource the BU to support 70% reactive (winning opportunities to drive growth) activities and 30% proactive business development (building the skills, competencies and enhancing customer value) activities while also prioritizing all significant BU commitments.
• Engage cross functional leadership (quality, regulatory, commercialization, etc.) to ensure that category specific requirements and differentiators are built into the broader business system

 
Leadership

• Lead, motivate and manage a high-performing, customer-focused team with the intent on meeting established growth and profitability targets as well as BU goals and objectives. 
• Attract and retain team members by ensuring proper orientation and onboarding to departments, culture and personnel. 
• Partner and influence across cross-functional teams including Supply Chain, Finance, Regulatory, Marketing, R&D, etc.

Market and Customer Focus 

• Partner with sales leadership to shape joint business plans and strengthen strategic customer relationships.
• Develop and strengthen customer relationships and engagements

• Support the sales team to achieve maximum focus and growth for the BU across priority categories and segments to drive market and segment expansion and penetration
• Identify key targets for strategic business acquisition and develop customer specific growth strategies

Industry Knowledge/Visibility

• The BU Leader is both the Internal and External Figurehead for the Business Unit. In doing so he/she develops in-depth industry contacts, networks and relationships to advance the brand and position along with positively impacting the development of the BU. 
• Identify capabilities and create value propositions to leverage success in the marketplace.
• Assesses, analyzes, and communicates customer needs and industry trends.
• Understands competitive environment and utilizes knowledge to leverage opportunities and develop strategic action plans. 
• Identifies and develops opportunities to differentiate us in the marketplace through support activities that add value to our core offering.

Candidate Qualifications: 

• Bachelor's degree
• 5–10 years of progressive experience managing significant P&L responsibility, with demonstrated financial acumen and a strong track record partnering with senior business leaders to drive performance and strategic decision-making
• Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional, multi-disciplinary teams to deliver business results
• Proven track record of developing and executing multi-year growth strategies, identifying clear pathways for annual business unit expansion and consistently delivering targeted performance outcomes
• Ability to lead a staff of both technical and non-technical professionals working on multiple projects (reactive and proactive) simultaneously while maintaining business continuity within organization all for the purpose of continued growth.  Holds self, individuals and workgroups responsible for agreed upon results. (Managing performance and accountability)
• Initiates and or participates in change in support of the strategic direction of Revenue Generation.  Ability to redirect efforts based upon shifting demands. (Change management)
• Leverage capabilities of Geneva, Hunt Valley, Lakewood and Irvine locations to enhance our point of difference and ability to win briefs – collaboration between BU’s to support and expand customer needs and relationship
• Ability to network and collaborate with critical business colleagues to build constructive, proactive working cross functional relationships across the organization. (Cross-functional leadership)
• Develop a solid relationship/following with customers and allied industry leaders and any other entities that may positively impact the growth of the BU (Customer orientation/Business acumen) 
• Must be able to communicate (verbal and written) technical/business aspects pertaining to the Market in understandable terms for customers (internal and external) to firmly grasp. (Interpersonal effectiveness)
• Deep understanding of flavor systems, formulation economics, and commercialization processes.
• This role is highly customer facing with 50% or more of the activities directly customer/industry facing.
• Ability to travel 50% of the time

McCormick & Company is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

As a general policy, McCormick does not offer employment visa sponsorships upon hire or in the future.