Associate Manager, Packaging Development

Company Description

You may know us as FIJI Water, POM Wonderful, JUSTIN Wine, Teleflora, and Halos Citrus—but together, we’re Wonderful. We’re dedicated to making the world a healthier place through an unwavering commitment to the well-being of our employees and their families. We cultivate a collaborative workforce that embraces an entrepreneurial spirit and adaptability to change.

Are you passionate about bringing packaging concepts to life? If so, this unique opportunity might be for you!

We are seeking an Associate Manger, Packaging Development to join our Global Sourcing team. Reporting to the Director of NPD, the Associate Manager will collaborate with vendors and internal departments—including creative, brand, legal, and sales—to ensure packaging designs developed by our creative team are seamlessly translated into production art files ready for printing. You’ll have the chance to work on a variety of impactful projects, such as new product launches, brand redesigns, regulatory updates, structural changes, and point-of-sale development across The Wonderful Company’s diverse packaging portfolios.

This position is based in our Los Angeles office at 11444 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064. We follow a hybrid schedule, working in-office Monday through Wednesday, with the option to work remotely on Thursday and Friday.

Job Description

• Oversee and manage the commercialization of additions and changes to the packaging portfolios within the Company’s various business units, using discretion and autonomy to lead the projects from beginning to end, including through high-level problem-solving, managing internal and external stakeholders and vendors, and organizing and optimizing workflows.
• Provide critical input and collaboration on the development of packaging graphics for multiple business units with The Wonderful Company, which may include brands like Wonderful Pistachios, POM Wonderful, FIJI Water, JUSTIN Wines, Wonderful Citrus Products, assorted private label items and other internal brands.
• Lead the implementation of iterative packaging graphics updates by deciphering and clearly communicating expectations to designers and vendors, determining how best to align with the Company’s graphic standards.
• Facilitate stakeholder approvals as needed to maintain consistency and excellence throughout the process, including mediating, moderating, and negotiating as appropriate.
• Establish standards for rendering kits used by retailers for their online marketing efforts, ensuring that the portfolio of renders is current, accurate, and meeting the needs of our stakeholders.
• Work closely with the Company’s regulatory team and demonstrate proficiency in the regulatory requirements for food and beverage label in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the European Union.
• Seek out substantiation as required for regulatory approval by determining how and when to reach out to the appropriate technical experts within the various business units.
• Determine and provide prioritization guidance to graphics vendors via regular meetings and communication, negotiating timeline adjustments as necessary.
• Lead regular meetings with stakeholders regarding the requirements and progress of the various packaging art production projects, negotiating timeline adjustments as needed.
• Develop, maintain, and monitor processes to ensure continued improvement in workflow and communication to stakeholders.
• Develop, maintain, and monitor system and process for archiving and cataloging of the Company’s art files.
• Serve as the subject matter export on the various NPD software tools, setting up and training users as needed.
• Identify, develop and track Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) for the NPD Team and prepare annual reports to track progress across at least 3 years.
• Help to develop and maintain standard work documents.
• Attend press checks as assigned.
• Assist with special projects as assigned.

Qualifications

• 2-3 years of experience working with visual assets such as images, art files, photography, illustrations, and/or video, as well as packaging or printed materials, is required.
  • Experience in consumer packaged goods, particularly in the food industry, is strongly preferred.
• Proven ability to simultaneously manage multiple projects in a calm, efficient manner.
• Keen eye for design and the ability to spot mistakes quickly and easily. Strong proofreading skills.
• Dedication to providing excellent customer service to our stakeholders by providing timely and fact-based information about packaging projects.
• Proven capability to prioritize work and execute with a sense of urgency, accuracy, and partnership.
• Working knowledge of printing technologies such as flexography, lithography, roto gravure,