Product Manager
Your Role
As Product Manager – Nutrition, you will be responsible for managing and growing Brenntag South Africa’s Nutrition portfolio across the Food and Beverage sectors. You will develop and execute product strategies, build strong supplier and customer partnerships, identify new market opportunities, and drive profitable growth through effective portfolio management. Working closely with Sales, Technical, Supply Chain and Global Product Management teams, you will ensure the Nutrition portfolio remains competitive, innovative, and aligned with market trends and customer needs.
Responsibilities
- Conduct market analysis to identify trends, gaps, and opportunities.
- Develop and implement strategies to increase market share.
- Source ingredients in line with market demand and cost-effectiveness.
- Manage costing models to ensure competitiveness and profitability.
- Execute supplier approval processes and vendor rating evaluations.
- Negotiate volumes, prices, and contracts within budgetary guidelines.
- Increase business with exclusive suppliers through partnerships and strategic planning.
- Develop and implement pricing strategies to balance market competitiveness and profitability.
- Identify potential new suppliers and products for strategic growth.
- Train the sales team on product features, benefits, and market positioning.
- Provide sales forecasts and support procurement planning.
- Optimise stock levels, manage slow-moving items, and address obsolete inventory.
- Handle complaints and claims to ensure client satisfaction and compliance.
- Compile and present reports to internal stakeholders and principals (suppliers).
- Adhere to Company Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and policies.
Your Profile
You are a commercially driven and customer-focused professional with a strong understanding of the Nutrition ingredients market. You combine strategic thinking with hands-on execution and are comfortable working across multiple functions to achieve business objectives. You are highly analytical, relationship-oriented and passionate about delivering innovative ingredient solutions that create value for customers and suppliers alike.
Skills
- Strategic thinking and commercial acumen
- Product and portfolio management
- Supplier and stakeholder relationship management
- Negotiation and influencing skills
- Market analysis and business development
- Financial and profitability management
- Customer-centric approach
- Problem solving and decision making
- Communication and presentation skills
- Collaboration and cross-functional teamwork
- Adaptability and resilience
Experience
- 5–7 years’ experience in Product Management, Category Management, Technical Sales or Business Development within the Nutrition, Food and Functional Ingredients or Chemical Distribution sectors.
- Demonstrated experience managing supplier relationships and strategic product portfolios.
- Proven track record of driving profitable growth and achieving commercial targets.
- Experience in pricing strategy, forecasting, inventory management and portfolio optimisation.
- Strong understanding of food ingredient applications, market trends and customer requirements.
- Experience working within a distribution or speciality ingredients environment will be advantageous.
- Exposure to SAP, CRM systems and Microsoft Office applications.
- Understanding of import/export processes, supply chain management and regulatory requirements within the food industry.
Education
- Matric or equivalent
- Bachelor's Degree or Diploma in: Food Science, Food Technology, Nutrition, Chemistry, Supply Chain Management, Business Management, Marketing, or a related field
- Postgraduate qualification in Business Management, Marketing, Supply Chain Management, Food Science or a related discipline advantageous
Our Offer
Competitive and fair salary
Retirement savings plan
Professional development opportunities
Brenntag provides equal employment opportunities to qualified applicants and employees of all backgrounds and identities to create a workplace where difference is valued because it forms a resilient and more innovative organization. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, religion or belief, parental and family status, or any other protected characteristic. We welcome applications from women, men and non-binary candidates of all ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds.
