Associate Director, Marketing - Animal Health, Identification

Merck & Co. - Dallas, TX

Full-time - Mid Level

Onsite - Dallas, TX

Chemical Manufacturing

About the position

We are seeking a talented and results-driven Identification Marketer to join our team. In this role, you will be responsible for developing and implementing strategies to achieve short-term business objectives and enhance our customers' experience across multiple channels and touchpoints, while also identifying and improving operational processes to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. Your primary goal will be to ensure sales and market share growth of the Allflex brand in the US Identification market, both visual and electronic ID. The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of consumer marketing, strong business results, strategic thinking skills, excellent communication skills, and a passion for delivering success. As the Associate Director of Marketing, you will manage the Allflex ID portfolio and brands, developing both short and long-term strategies that grow sales and market share in key segments. You will need to understand customer needs for ID products and identify market opportunities by partnering with sales teams to drive growth. Evaluating and improving the end-to-end customer experience will be crucial, with a focus on creating a competitive advantage that drives market share growth. Collaboration across functions in the U.S. and globally will be necessary to ensure strong execution of marketing tactics through relevant channels such as field sales, distribution network, infrastructure solutions, and customer service. You will oversee Lifecycle Management projects, including new product introductions and portfolio rationalization activities, collaborating with global R&D, manufacturing, and operations as needed. Leading and developing direct reports within ID marketing will be essential for building a high-performance team. Additionally, you will partner with the pricing team to optimize the identification pricing model and evolve it as needed to drive financial objectives, while also reviewing special customer pricing requests. Your role will involve analyzing customer insights to identify pain points, preferences, and opportunities for revolutionizing the customer experience, ensuring accurate forecasting and product availability for all species identification needs, and optimizing the customer buying journey by leveraging omni-channel marketing capabilities and e-commerce. Staying up-to-date with industry trends, competitor enhancements, and consumer buying behaviors will be vital to ensure the Allflex experience remains relevant for today's customers. Finally, you will measure and report on the effectiveness of customer experience initiatives using relevant KPIs and provide actionable insights to the management team.

Responsibilities

• Manage the Allflex ID portfolio and brands including developing short and longer-term strategies that grow sales and market share in key segments.
• Understand customer needs for ID products and identify market opportunities by partnering with sales teams to drive growth.
• Evaluate and improve the end-to-end customer experience with a focus on creating a competitive advantage which drives market share growth.
• Collaborate across functions in the U.S. and globally as needed to ensure strong execution of marketing tactics through relevant channels such as field sales, distribution network, infrastructure solutions, and customer service.
• Oversee Lifecycle Management projects including new product introductions as well as portfolio rationalization activities, collaborating with global R&D, manufacturing and operations as needed.
• Lead and develop direct reports within ID marketing for a high performance team.
• Partner with pricing team to optimize identification pricing model and evolve as needed to drive financial objectives. Review special customer pricing requests.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, both U.S. and global marketing, to identify customer touchpoints and implement integrated strategies to ensure customer satisfaction.
• Analyze customer insights to identify pain points, preferences, and opportunities for revolutionizing the customer experience.
• Partner with manufacturing, customer service and global teams to ensure accurate forecasting and product availability for all species identification needs.
• Optimize customer buying journey, leveraging omni-channel marketing capabilities and e-commerce.
• Stay up-to-date with industry trends, competitor enhancements and consumer buying behaviors to ensure the Allflex experience is relevant for today's customers.
• Collaborate with the marketing team to align customer experience initiatives with overall marketing strategies and campaigns.
• Measure and report on the effectiveness of customer experience initiatives using relevant KPIs and provide actionable insights to the management team.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in marketing, business administration, animal science or a related field.
• 5+ years of previous relevant work experience.
• Demonstrated skills in developing and implementing marketing plans.
• Strong knowledge of integrated marketing strategies, omni-channel marketing, and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across different teams and organizational levels.
• Demonstrated excellence in project management and effectively managing multiple projects and priorities.
• A passion for delivering exceptional customer experiences and a customer-centric mindset.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with attention to detail.

Nice-to-haves

• Master's Degree in Business Administration, Ag Business or other similar degrees.
• Extensive knowledge of the U.S. beef and dairy industries.
• People management experience preferred.
• Cattle ID sales or product management experience.
• Experience in managing new product launches.
• Proven experience in customer experience operations and/or marketing, customer journey mapping, or a similar role.