Commercial Operations Manager, RTD & Strategic Ventures

Beam Suntory is Crafting the Spirits that Stir the World. Rooted in two centuries of family heritage, Beam Suntory has evolved into the world's third largest leading premium spirits company ... where each employee is treated like family and trusted with legacy. With our greatest assets - our premium spirits and our people - we're driving growth through impactful marketing, innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit. Beam Suntory is a place where you can come Unleash your Spirit by making an impact each and every day.

The following position is open in Chicago, IL., - Commercial Operations Manager, RTD & Strategic Ventures

What makes this a great opportunity?

• The alc/bev industry is an exciting, dynamic, and fast-paced business.  Beam Suntory is a top player in the spirits business and focused on becoming a leader within the Ready to Drink (RTD) category in the United States
• This individual will have a material impact in helping shape the workings of Beam Suntory’s RTD and Strategic Ventures business, including defining and implementing best-in-class processes and systems.
• The role will develop new ways to evaluate the business, find opportunities, and drive overall business value in collaboration with sales and marketing leaders.
• This individual will work in a start-up like environment, with the resources of a global, well-establish company.
• This individual will gain valuable commercial experience via daily engagement with core business functions (Sales, Marketing, Finance, and Supply Chain), paving the way for future career opportunities.

Role Responsibilities

The Ready to Drink (RTD) Strategy team is expanding to better support our US RTD and North America leadership in shaping the organization’s RTD agenda in line with Beam Suntory’s ambition to take a leadership position in this rapidly evolving category.  This role will be critical in strengthening the capabilities and operations of the RTD and Strategic Ventures businesses.

This position will report to the Director, Ready to Drink Strategy and will have significant exposure to the US RTD leadership and North America commercial leads.

This role will drive RTD and Strategic Ventures commercial operations, inclusive of the following responsibilities:

Capability Development

• Facilitate agile business operations through developing methods, tools, and processes to manage the business and track commercial execution and growth (e.g., high-speed Plan-Do-Check-Act)
• Create tools to identify commercial insights and help cross-functional partners translate into action
• Educate cross-functional team members, both within RTD and the broader Beam Suntory organization, on new tools, data sources, and ways of working, including creation of supporting materials
• Build relationships with key stakeholders across Beam Suntory departments and Suntory, leveraging relationships and learnings to inform best practice development

Opportunity Identification

• Drive opportunity analysis, providing guidance to commercial/marketing teams on gaps, risks, and opportunities
• Identify sales and key growth drivers enabling data-based prioritization and targeting
• Communicate opportunities to key stakeholders groups in a compelling fashion, and partnering to develop tools / assets needed to execute

Commercial & Operational Effectiveness

• Support development of KPI & incentive approach, goaling, and programming
• Support sales planning activities, including competitive benchmarking, budget builds, scenario modeling, and forecasting diligence
• Collaborate with Finance and Sales to monitor allocations and inventory (e.g., spoilage, inventory mix / balance), proactively developing and implementing risk mitigations

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree
• 2-5 years of sales, marketing, and/or financial analysis experience
• Commercial experience within Alcohol, Beverage, or Food categories preferred
• Experience integrating competitive, consumer, and market insights into business recommendations
• Ability to extract, manipulate, and analyze sales and marketing data for key insights.
• Demonstrated ability to quickly come up to speed with new processes, systems, and data types
• Strong analytical experience utilizing Excel, Tableau and beverage industry standard tools. 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with ability to synthesize findings clearly and concisely
• Experience working cross culturally and/or desire to learn about different cultures
• Skilled in MS Office Suite for analysis and presentations

At Beam Suntory, people are our number one priority, and we believe our people grow together in diverse and inclusive environments where their unique insights, experiences and backgrounds are valued and respected. Beam Suntory is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, military veteran status and all other characteristics, attributes or choices protected by law. All recruitment and hiring decisions are based on an applicant’s skills and experience.