Manager, Manager, RTD Business Analysis & Operations

What makes this a great opportunity?

Suntory Global Spirits is a world leader in premium spirits with $5.5 billion in annual revenues and an ambition to become the World’s Most Admired Premium Spirits Company. We have a strong vision and strategy, an incredible brand portfolio grounded in quality and craftsmanship, an unwavering commitment to sustainability and top talent across the organization. We are focused on driving value across key priorities including American whiskey, Japanese Spirits, Scotch, Tequila and Ready-to-Drink. Headquartered in New York City, Suntory Global Spirits is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings, which is world renowned for delivering quality and excellence across a range of products and categories.

The alcohol beverage industry is an exciting, dynamic, and fast-paced business. Suntory Global Spirits 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 Suntory Global Spirits’ RTD business, including defining and implementing best-in-class processes.

The role will develop new ways to evaluate the business, find opportunities, and drive overall business value in collaboration with commercial 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, Strategy and Supply Chain), paving the way for future career opportunities. 

Mission of Role 

• The RTD (Ready to Drink) Commercialization Team is expanding to better support our US RTD business in building and shaping the organization’s RTD agenda in line with Suntory Global Spirits’ ambition to take a leadership position in this rapidly evolving category. This role will be critical in strengthening the organization’s capabilities of the RTD businesses. 
• Play a central role in driving GEMBA driven culture and PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle within the US organization for the US RTD category.
• This position will report to the Sr. Director, RTD Commercialization and will have exposure to the US RTD Leadership in North America. This role will help drive the RTD agenda, inclusive of the following responsibilities: 

Role Responsibilities

Capability Development

• Facilitate the development of methods, tools, and processes to manage the RTD business and track commercial execution and growth.
• Create tools to identify commercial insights and help cross-functional partners translate into action.
• Educate cross-functional team members on new tools, data sources, and ways of working, including creation of supporting materials.
• Build relationships with key stakeholders across the commercial organization and Suntory RTD Company, leveraging relationships and learnings to inform best practice development. 
• Pilot various initiatives to identify successful ideas and scalable opportunities for future.
• Explore opportunities that may contribute to the overall success and growth of the US business.

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.
• Serve as a PDCA (Plan Do Check Act) ambassador by deeply understanding the Suntory PDCA approach and promoting its adoption in the US organization.
• With the penetration of PDCA mindset in US organization, contribute to annual planning and Performance Review cycle processes by advising relevant stakeholders.
• Organize and prioritize the collected insights to drive the next set of actions and monitor the progress for RTDs.

Commercial & Operational Effectiveness

• Support the KPI and execution process by amplifying results, trends and opportunities within the commercial organization in new and impactful ways.
• Support the S&OP and S&OE processes by partnering with the commercial team and demand planning to understand forecasting gaps and risks.
• Collaborate with Finance and Sales to monitor allocations and inventory (e.g., spoilage, inventory mix / balance), proactively developing and implementing risk mitigations 

Project Management:

• Support the RTD Commercialization team and Suntory RTD Company through ownership of ad-hoc projects that support Suntory Global Spirits’ efforts to becoming a top RTD supplier.
• Lead the data and analytics of the RTD Commercialization Team.
   

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business or a related field.
• 3-5 years of sales, marketing and/or data analysis experience
• Commercial experience within alcohol, beverage, or food categories preferred.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills to engage with cross-functional teams.
• Ability to analyze and synthesize insights to identify actionable opportunities.
• Experience integrating competitive, consumer, and market insights into business recommendations.
• Skilled in CPG syndicated data (Nielsen, Circana/IRI, etc.)
• 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.
• Experience working cross culturally and/or desire to learn about different cultures.
• Skilled in MS Office Suite for analysis and presentations.
   

Salary Range - The salary range for this role, based in Chicago, is $90,000 to $110,000, along with an annual bonus, 401K match, profit sharing, and medical and wellness benefits. The salary range is commensurate with the candidate’s location, experience, and skillset.