Marketing Manager

ROLE PROFILE

Position: Marketing Manager – NPD

Business: Seba Foods Zambia Limited

Department: Commercial

Location: Lusaka, Zambia

Reports to: Head of Marketing & PR

Job Purpose

To lead the company’s New Product Development (NPD) agenda from consumer and market opportunity identification through concept development, business-case validation, product and packaging development, commercialization, launch and post-launch review. The role will own the NPD pipeline and critical path, coordinate cross-functional delivery, and ensure new products are consumer-relevant, operationally feasible, commercially viable and supported by strong go-to-market plans. The role will also support portfolio renovation and the growth of existing brands where required.

Key responsibilities

• Own and maintain the NPD pipeline, innovation calendar and cross-functional critical path, with clear priorities, owners, risks, stage gates and target launch dates.
• Identify growth opportunities using consumer insights, category trends, competitor activity, sales feedback, export-market requirements and portfolio gaps.
• Develop product concepts covering the target consumer, need state, proposition, USP, reason to believe, pack format, pricing logic, channel and route-to-market considerations.
• Lead concept screening and coordinate consumer research, sensory assessment, product trials and feedback consolidation before commercialization.
• Develop NPD business cases with Finance, Sales, Operations and Supply Chain, including volume assumptions, pricing, margin, investment requirements, cannibalisation risk and commercial viability.
• Chair NPD review meetings, track actions, resolve dependencies and escalate risks or delays that may compromise product quality, cost or launch timing.
• Coordinate R&D, Operations, Quality, Procurement, Supply Chain, Finance, Sales and Marketing inputs from approved concept through to final launch readiness.
• Lead product naming, positioning, claims, packaging design and artwork development, ensuring required internal and regulatory approvals are obtained before production.
• Develop and execute go-to-market plans covering launch objectives, channel priorities, pricing communication, ATL, BTL, digital, PR, sampling, trade support and sales tools.
• Ensure Sales teams, merchandisers, promoters and relevant export teams receive product knowledge, USPs, selling stories and launch materials before market introduction.
• Develop and manage NPD and launch budgets, agency briefs and approved expenditure within agreed plans.
• Track new-product performance against agreed sales, distribution, margin, consumer and execution objectives.
• Conduct structured post-launch reviews and recommend whether products should be scaled, improved, reformulated, repositioned, extended or discontinued.
• Support annual brand and category planning for existing products, including portfolio architecture, packaging improvements, campaigns and export-market adaptation.
• Spend regular time in market to validate consumer, customer and execution insights and convert findings into practical NPD and brand actions.
• Maintain accurate NPD documentation, decision logs, approved specifications, claims, artworks, launch plans and post-launch learnings.

Key Qualifications & Requirements

Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Commerce or a related field; a postgraduate qualification is an added advantage.
• At least 8 – 10 years of progressive marketing experience, preferably in Food, Beverage or FMCG, with demonstrable responsibility for NPD or product commercialization.
• Proven experience leading products from consumer or market insight through concept development, packaging, launch and post-launch review.
• Strong project management, commercial analysis and cross-functional stakeholder-management capability.
• Practical experience in brand strategy, packaging development, agency management, ATL, BTL, digital and route-to-market support.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint; familiarity with project-tracking tools is an advantage.
• Ability and willingness to spend time in market and travel as required.
• Membership or affiliation with the Zambia Institute of Marketing is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own and maintain the NPD pipeline, innovation calendar and cross-functional critical path, with clear priorities, owners, risks, stage gates and target launch dates.
• Identify growth opportunities using consumer insights, category trends, competitor activity, sales feedback, export-market requirements and portfolio gaps.
• Develop product concepts covering the target consumer, need state, proposition, USP, reason to believe, pack format, pricing logic, channel and route-to-market considerations.
• Lead concept screening and coordinate consumer research, sensory assessment, product trials and feedback consolidation before commercialization.
• Develop NPD business cases with Finance, Sales, Operations and Supply Chain, including volume assumptions, pricing, margin, investment requirements, cannibalisation risk and commercial viability.
• Chair NPD review meetings, track actions, resolve dependencies and escalate risks or delays that may compromise product quality, cost or launch timing.
• Coordinate R&D, Operations, Quality, Procurement, Supply Chain, Finance, Sales and Marketing inputs from approved concept through to final launch readiness.
• Lead product naming, positioning, claims, packaging design and artwork development, ensuring required internal and regulatory approvals are obtained before production.
• Develop and execute go-to-market plans covering launch objectives, channel priorities, pricing communication, ATL, BTL, digital, PR, sampling, trade support and sales tools.
• Ensure Sales teams, merchandisers, promoters and relevant export teams receive product knowledge, USPs, selling stories and launch materials before market introduction.
• Develop and manage NPD and launch budgets, agency briefs and approved expenditure within agreed plans.
• Track new-product performance against agreed sales, distribution, margin, consumer and execution objectives.
• Conduct structured post-launch reviews and recommend whether products should be scaled, improved, reformulated, repositioned, extended or discontinued.
• Support annual brand and category planning for existing products, including portfolio architecture, packaging improvements, campaigns and export-market adaptation.
• Spend regular time in market to validate consumer, customer and execution insights and convert findings into practical NPD and brand actions.
• Maintain accurate NPD documentation, decision logs, approved specifications, claims, artworks, launch plans and post-launch learnings.

Skills

• Project management
• Commercial analysis
• Cross-functional stakeholder management
• Brand strategy
• Packaging development
• Agency management
• ATL
• BTL
• Digital marketing
• Route-to-market support
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Project-tracking tools

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Commerce or a related field
• Postgraduate qualification is an added advantage
• At least 8 – 10 years of progressive marketing experience, preferably in Food, Beverage or FMCG, with demonstrable responsibility for NPD or product commercialization.
• Proven experience leading products from consumer or market insight through concept development, packaging, launch and post-launch review.
• Strong project management, commercial analysis and cross-functional stakeholder-management capability.
• Practical experience in brand strategy, packaging development, agency management, ATL, BTL, digital and route-to-market support.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint; familiarity with project-tracking tools is an advantage.
• Ability and willingness to spend time in market and travel as required.
• Membership or affiliation with the Zambia Institute of Marketing is preferred.

How to Apply

Job application procedure
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