The role you're interested in...The Brand Manager, Innovation, will be a key driver of Premier Protein's next wave of growth by taking early-stage platforms from concept to commercialization and through launch. This role is responsible for shaping, building, and launching innovation that expands the Premier Protein brand into new need states, occasions, and product formats.
This is a highly cross-functional, entrepreneurial role focused on commercializing innovation, building scalable brand foundations, leading product launches end-to-end, and creating the playbooks needed to unlock sustained long-term growth.
The work environment...So, what's it like to work here? If you're based in the greater Bay Area, you'll walk into our Emeryville office each Tuesday morning and start the in-person portion of our hybrid work week at our weekly all-company meeting and find close to 200 of your colleagues, some sitting with their dogs, talking excitedly through the week ahead and watching a newer teammate tell their personal life and career journey followed by a quick update on any hot topics that might be relevant to the week ahead.
We are a dynamic, HYBRID workplace, with an expectation that all employees come into the office Tuesday through Thursday. We are very intentional about connecting in person for things like innovation, impromptu collaboration, having respectful challenges to get to better decisions, leadership role-modeling, and culture building. Great work cultures are built on stories about what great looks like in practice, and great stories during virtual meetings just don't happen. The expected pay scale for this role is $150k to $165k, which may vary based on relevant experience, qualifications, geographic area (if applicable), and internal equity for the role.
At the beginning of 2026, we moved into our massive modern 133,000 square foot headquarters in Emeryville, California, complete with spacious personal workspaces, gym with rock-climbing wall, a café, free onsite parking, tons of greenery, and many transportation options.
You're excited about this opportunity because your time will be filled with...Product & Platform Commercialization: 60% of your time
- Serve as the P&L owner for innovation platforms.
- Translate platform strategy into commercial-ready product launches across form, format, and channel.
- Develop annual commercialization plans that align consumer insights, brand strategy, customer needs, and financial objectives.
- Partner closely with Innovation, R&I, Creative Services, Procurement, Ops, Sales Strategy, and Finance to take early concepts from idea 1 scope 1 development 1 validation 1 launch.
- Lead go-to-market planning, including packaging development, claims strategy, portfolio architecture, pricing, and customer sell-in.
- Build and refine commercialization frameworks and repeatable processes as the Emerging Products team scales.
Marketing & Launch Activation: 20% of your time
- Support development of integrated launch plans, including messaging hierarchy, creative needs, activation strategy, and in-market test frameworks.
- Collaborate with IMC, creative, media, and PR partners to shape early brand storytelling for new platforms.
- Monitor in-market performance and support optimization of campaigns, messaging, and activation ladders.
General Management & Leadership: 20% of your time
- Operate as a GM for the platform: connect dots, navigate ambiguity, and drive clarity across teams.
- Influence cross-functional partners and senior leaders to drive alignment, remove barriers, and move quickly.
- Champion consumer needs-ensuring all innovation and commercialization decisions stay anchored in demand and insights.
What are we looking for?Education:
Bachelor's degree required
Experience:
7+ years of relevant work experience, with 3+ years of Brand Management experience within the Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG) industry required.
Skills and mindset:
Cross-functional project team experience
Ability to influence and lead others
General manager mindset and ability to connect dots
Highly curious & results-driven behavior
Strong project management and organizational skills
Self-starter - comfortable 'figuring it out'
Quantitative strength -very comfortable with numbers and P&L analysis
Excellent verbal and written communication skills; strong executive presence
People management experience preferred
The 5 capabilities or mindsets most relevant to this role:1. Thrive in ambiguity amid competing priorities
2. Drive and own results
3. Learning & growth mindset
4. Start & end with consumer
5. Embody a strategic mindset
You will thrive here and may just do the best work of your life if... You want to be an integral part of shaping and nurturing an amazing work culture
You can be flexible in your approach to people challenges and abandon past practices if they don't make sense or would lead to a poor outcome
You are comfortable being natural, casual, open, and even a bit playful at work
You don't have a big ego
You like to get sh*t, I mean-stuff done
You can be friendly, vulnerable, and self-deprecating in one moment, and deal with a challenging, delicate people-related matter as a professional in the next
You can do periods of focused, deep work on projects that drive the needle
This may not be your ideal next career move if you like... ...a lot of structure, rules, and uniformity
...order, hierarchy, command and control management
...avoiding ambiguity or experimentation are not your jam
...to resolve challenging interpersonal situations over email or instant messaging
...managing from your house with your camera off and demonstrating excellence through email
...to chase whatever shiny object presents itself, even if not strategic
Here's the deal with our not-so-standard, um...standard interview process because we know you are the curious type, which is why you're still reading this...- Quick 30 min phone chat with a high energy member of our Talent Acquisition team to do a quick overview of your background and answer any burning questions you have
- Team interviews are kept to a minimum to foster a more efficient, candidate-friendly process (too many interviewers yields little value and drags out the process for you-and who wants that, right?):
- A short series of in-person or video interviews in a 1:1 setting; these are usually with the hiring manager, one or two other team members, and a person from another team to get broader perspectives (note: we don't do panel interviews because they don't give interviewers a chance to ask you unique questions, and we assign interviewers different roles so we're probing different capabilities)
- A case study or job task to simulate what you'd actually be doing in the role might be included (since your job is not actually to be interviewed for a living, why is that the thing companies rely on so much?) Yes, there will be a small panel for this one so you don't have to do it more than once, and yes, they might ask you some kind yet probing questions at the end after the raucous applause stops.
- Once your interview concludes, the team will meet for an in-depth consultative process to ensure we are hiring the right person for the right job. Interviewers must come in with a strong yes or no vote beforehand to avoid groupthink with supporting reasons. The collective thoughts on your candidacy will be discussed in an environment of safety to challenge ideas respectfully, debate. and be open to all important qualifications of the candidates. A trained, disinterested bias blocker will be present to help mitigate bias so the team can make a sound hiring decision. The moment of truth arrives when the hiring manager makes the big decision. If you nailed the interviews and the case study was brilliant, guess what? The offer is all yours! And the ball is in your court. Will you accept? We sure hope so, because this place is the real deal, and don't just believe us-just ask the 91% of our people who said this is a great place to work in our most recent employee survey.
