Regional Assortment Director, North America

Regional Assortment Director, North America

Who We Are

Essity is a global leader in health and hygiene headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. We are a multi-billion-dollar company that is committed to breaking barriers to well-being through innovation in Professional Hygiene, Consumer Goods, and Health & Medical Solutions.

Working at Essity is not just a career, it’s where you’ll play your part in a better future, making the world a healthier, more hygienic, and safer place. With impactful innovations coupled with sustainable solutions, we strive to reach more people every year with the necessary and essential solutions for well-being. At Essity, there’s shared belonging and individual growth. Our culture grows with you.

About the Role

Essity Health and Medical is looking for an experienced Regional Assortment Director to support our team in North America. The Regional Assortment Director (RAD), in the Global Product Management (GPM) Inco Team, is responsible for managing the Inco assortment produced and sold in the North America (NA) markets across all channels. In this role you will be responsible for driving assortment activities in both our Health & Medical business unit along with our Consumer Goods Americas business unit. All activities should be done with the intention of continuously improving the current assortment to meet business requirements and demands. This will include leading cost improvement activities, quality improvement initiatives, and profitability/growth/renovation activities. Innovation projects will be supported by the RAD and their team.

The Regional Assortment Director develops and drives short-term assortment strategies and their team is responsible for the technical specifications of the assortment. An essential part of the job is to ensure a close collaboration with the full supply chain, including markets, innovation teams, manufacturing and R&D, to ensure a swift implementation of renovation as well as quality and/or cost improvement activities.

The Regional Assortment Director role will require the successful candidate to be based out of our North American headquarters in Philadelphia, PA. Essity is willing to offer relocation assistance for the right candidate.

We’re looking for people who embody our values, aren’t afraid to challenge, innovate, experiment, and move at a fast pace. We’re always looking for ways to improve our products and ourselves. If this is you, we’d love to talk. 

What You Will Do

• Own and develop the North American Inco assortment along the whole value chain for existing products with focus on cost/quality improvement projects as well as renovation projects
• Take active part in governance of the way of working
• Take active part in decision forum for the activity roadmap (market activation, renovations, cost and quality improvements, innovations)
• Drive and optimize the assortment in close collaboration with markets, category, and supply chain to continuously improve profitable growth, brand positioning, and quality
• Drive and implement assortment strategies for the total assortment based on business needs. Ensure implementation of activities and initiatives based on the assortment strategies, in close collaboration with the Global Assortment Directors in GPM
• Recommend and drive adding or delisting of SKU’s within the assortment, and be responsible for implementing needed specification changes as well as cross-supply initiatives
• Secure input and agreement from stakeholders in Sales & Marketing (P&L effect, brand positioning) and Product Supply, and ensure right business case to drive growth and profitability
• Ensure compliance with internal and external stakeholder needs and requirements like Product Safety, Labelling & Claims, Legal compliance, Regulatory requirements (such as the FDA and MDR) and global brand framework
• Follow and maintain a KPI system to create overview across the whole assortment and enable follow-up
• Facilitate and/or coordinate de-complexity and quality/cost optimization when appropriate
• Lead, direct and develop a team (including personal feedback & development), and ensure that the team members take lead and/or actively participate in the assortment change process

Who You Are

• Higher education within relevant field
• Possess solid experience from assortment/product management, preferably cross several geographies
• Strong understanding of how the full value chain works, including sourcing, logistics, R&D, manufacturing, global product management
• Experienced in driving innovation projects
• Experience in fulfilling regulatory requirements for Medical Devices
• Proven strong leadership skills in l