Senior Brand Manager, Hairitage

#MaesaMagic

Maesa is the world's largest independent beauty company, housing numerous, fast growing "it" brands within all categories of beauty. We are a high growth global company in the middle of the transition from founder lead to private equity owned. With an incubation flywheel ideating on new global brand launches, Maesa pushes creative and technical boundaries to deliver exceptional performance and establish global staying power. Maesa has a keen focus on marketing and white space analysis, which guides its thinking on marketing existing brands as well as development of new brands through its extremely unique structure. We are vertically integrated globally with in-house marketing, branding, product development/formulation, packaging design/engineering and regulatory. With a focus on modernity and sustainability, we design innovative solutions and make proactive choices to achieve environmental neutrality and consumer wellness. Maesa has mastered "commercializing creativity," making itself a leader in the fundamental revolutionary change in the beauty industry. Headquartered in New York and Paris, with additional offices in Los Angeles, Vienna, Dubai, Hong Kong, and Dongguan, Maesa employs about 400 team members worldwide.

About Founder & Brand: Hairitage by Mindy McKnight   

Mindy McKnight is an entrepreneur that built a lifestyle media empire from her YouTube Channel, Cute Girls Hairstyles. She is one of YouTube’s top moms and the #1 hair care destination, with over 5.7 million followers. What started off as an educational tool for other moms in 2008, Cute Girls Hairstyles quickly became a worldwide sensation with her family-forward and educational videos being more than 2 billion times, in nearly every country worldwide. ​

In addition to the success of Cute Girls Hairstyles – The McKnight Family hosts an additional 5 YouTube Channels under their M-Star Media Business. 3 of which have surpassed 1 million followers and collectively have over 17 million followers.​

As a true CEO & Founder, Mindy knew her expertise and passion for hair care was meant for more than just promoting an existing CPG brand – it was for crafting and creating products that are good enough for her family and today’s diverse consumers. ​

Using her expertise in digital marketing and aligning with strategic partners, she created Hairitage by Mindy – which is currently a top-ranking brand at Walmart. The Hairitage brand has been exclusive to Walmart since its launch in 2020 but has expanded nationally in 2024 and is now distributed on/in Amazon, CVS, Kroger, HEB with new retailer launches planned for 2025.

Hairitage by Mindy McKnight empowers beauty with clean and high-performing products. It is a social-first haircare brand that is driven by family and community and inclusive of all hair types & textures. We value education, authenticity, transparency and love a pop-culture moment.

Position Summary - Senior Brand Manager   

Oversee development and implementation of brand strategy and marketing plans for core business + elevate new brand launches. Conduct market research, analyze sales + consumer insights to inform strategy and both brand and company growth. Manage brand team and founder and lead cross-functional teams to execute brand initiatives. This role is based in NYC and you will be expected in office 3 days a week, at minimum.

Overview

We are looking for a skilled & passionate Senior Brand Manager with proven experience in consumer goods to join our brand marketing team. This is a unique brand-building opportunity for someone wanting to leave their mark in the industry.  As a Senior Brand Manager, you are responsible for defining strategies and building annual consumer and channel marketing support plans by understanding the consumer’s needs, target customer and competitive landscape, business model metrics and market dynamics. Additional responsibilities will include retailer needs, budget ownership, 360 planning, press relations, photoshoots, events, support customer and founder meetings. This role is for someone who thrives in an entrepreneurial environment with the ability to work collaboratively and autonomously.

Responsibilities

• Strategy:  Collaborate with the Sr. Director to lead development of brand strategy and annual brand marketing plans.  This includes business objectives, consumer and channel strategies, and translation of strategies to the consumer through the marketing mix.  

• Business Results and Opportunity Assessment: Analyze market and business to identify opportunities for growth, ensure objectives are being met and adjust plans to deliver against growth agenda. Lead post-launch analyses to share key learnings across the organization.

• Business Plan and Project Management and Execution: Manage key brand projects including, but not limited to, advertising, merchandising, promotions, and innovation to deliver on-time with executional excellence.  Lead development of briefs that give focused direction to program teams/agencies to develop programs that build equity, drive household penetration and deliver business results. Plan and flawlessly execute launch 360 marketing programs - including, but not limited to, assortment, launch toolkits, competitive deep dives, and support of digital/social/website. 

• Creative, Content and Connections:  Build brand equity and create value with an ecosystem of creative content and seamless connections thru to commerce. Define data-based audiences, set content strategy and partner internally and externally to deliver communications objectives and strong marketing ROI.  Owner of brand photoshoots

• Lead through P/L and manage budgeting: Own and manage your part of the marketing budget, ensuring cross-functional alignment, and year end budget performance and delivery.  Knowledge of P/L and cost management is an asset. 

• Skills & Capability Development: Develop business objectives, performance, personal development, and training plans.  Provide coaching, feedback, and guidance.

• Cross Functional Management: Partner with internal teams and external agencies to ensure all product/seasonal activations are planned/executed on schedule and to budget.

• Manage Founder Relationship: Responsible for agenda and content in bi-weekly meetings with the founder. Must deliver strong communications skills and maturity.

• Champion the Brand: Drive alignment strategy with senior management and key commercial stakeholders.  Responsible for consulting with cross-functional partners and driving alignment across the organization.  Participate in key sales and marketing presentations.

Qualifications   

• Bachelor’s Degree in related field of study, MBA strongly preferred
• 5 years of brand marketing/brand management experience; CPG experience from a Fortune 500 CPG corporation
• Beauty and Personal care experience is preferred, but not required
• Strong organizational and communications skills with the ability to work within a matrixed team, both internally and externally
• Flexibility and willingness to take on additional responsibilities when needed
• Problem solver who can deal with ambiguity
• Ability to multi-task in a fast-paced environment
• Action and results oriented

What We Offer   

• $110,000/yr - $135,000/yr. Exact compensation may vary based on skills, experience, and location. This position is eligible for participation in a discretionary bonus plan based on individual and company performance.  

  Maesa offers a variety of benefits to eligible employees. Employees can choose to enroll in health insurance coverage, wellness programs, life and disability insurance, and retirement savings plans. Through generous paid time off, a hybrid office setup, and paid leave options, Maesa encourages wellness and balance among employees.  

Our Commitment to You   

At Maesa, we live by our values of collaboration, curiosity, game-changing, creativity, and discipline.  We believe our people and partners are a creative force that catalyzes the possibilities in beauty to break through traditional limits and discover the “new” without restriction. We prioritize creating and fostering a welcoming environment for employees, partners, ideas, approaches, and endeavors — all through a spirit of warmth and inclusivity. As set forth in Maesa’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.   

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