Director of Marketing at Pixelle Specialty Solutions in Spring Grove, PA

Job description

• The Director of Marketing is a strategic, commercially focused leader responsible for driving profitable growth across Pixelle’s portfolio of printing and writing papers, packaging, labels and liners, food barrier products, and specialty grades.
• The role provides strategic leadership across Product Management, Category Strategy, Portfolio Management, Brand Management, Market Intelligence, and Demand Generation.
• Core responsibilities include developing and executing 3–5 year category strategies, including market opportunity identification, product positioning, pricing, portfolio optimization, SKU rationalization, new product development, demand-generation programs, and commercialization plans.
• This role will also work collaboratively with R&D to manage the Stage-Gate process that identifies, evaluates, prioritizes, develops, and commercializes new growth opportunities across products, customers, and adjacent markets.
• In addition, this role leads all development of the annual integrated marking plan and implementing demand generation initiatives through an external agency team.
• The successful candidate is an experienced B2B manufacturing marketer and commercial leader who is equally comfortable setting strategy, analyzing markets and portfolios, managing direct reports, leading cross-functional teams, managing external partners, building collaborative relationships with peers across Sales, Operations, R&D, Finance, Legal, HR, and Mill leadership teams.

Responsibilities

• Category, Product & Portfolio Strategy
• Develop and own 3–5-year category strategies for Pixelle’s major product platforms and market segments.
• Establish strategic direction for the product portfolio based on market growth, customer needs, competitive dynamics, profitability, manufacturing capabilities, and long-term company objectives.
• Build and manage a disciplined growth funnel that identifies, evaluates, prioritizes, and advances opportunities across new products, new applications, new customers, adjacent markets, and portfolio extensions.
• Collaborate with R&D on Stage-Gate governance for new product development and portfolio growth initiatives, ensuring opportunities progress through clearly defined stages with appropriate market validation, business cases, financial analysis, technical feasibility, and executive approval.
• Lead strategic Product Management, including product positioning, product lifecycle management, portfolio architecture, new product opportunities, line extensions, and commercialization.
• Lead SKU rationalization and portfolio optimization to improve profitability, simplify the portfolio, reduce complexity, and focus resources on the highest-value opportunities.
• Partner with Finance to develop business cases, investment requirements, revenue forecasts, margin expectations, and return-on-investment assessments.
• Lead go-to-market planning and launch execution for new products, line extensions, and strategic growth initiatives.
• Pricing & Commercial Strategy
• Develop and support strategic pricing approaches across the product portfolio and market segments.
• Partner with Sales and Finance to evaluate pricing, margin performance, competitive positioning, customer value, product mix, and price realization.
• Ensure pricing, product positioning, channel strategy, and marketing programs are aligned to maximize profitable growth.
• Market Intelligence & Competitive Insights
• Own the company’s market intelligence framework and ensure commercial decisions are informed by reliable market, customer, and competitive data.
• Manage relationships with external research organizations, industry data providers, subscriptions, and analytical resources.
• Deliver monthly, quarterly, and ad hoc analysis of market conditions, demand trends, capacity changes, pricing movements, competitive activity, and forecast outlooks.
• Identify emerging trends, technologies, applications, and customer needs that could create future growth opportunities.
• Use market intelligence to identify risks, opportunities, and potential shifts in customer and category demand.
• Brand & Marketing Communications
• Serve as the owner and steward of the Pixelle brand, including brand strategy, positioning, identity, voice, and visual standards.
• Translate category and product strategies into differentiated positioning, messaging, campaigns, and customer communications.
• Own the website strategy, content, structure, accuracy, and ongoing development in partnership with the agency team and IT.
• Develop and maintain demand-generation tools and content across online and offline channels.
• Oversee digital and social channels, including LinkedIn and Facebook, with responsibility for content strategy, editorial calendars, engagement, and channel growth.
• Partner with HR and other internal stakeholders on employee communications that connect mill and corporate audiences to company strategy, performance, products, and priorities.
• Manage public relations and external communications in partnership with agency resources.
• Develop integrated demand-generation strategies aligned with category priorities, target customers, channels, and growth objectives.
• Partner with Sales to develop customer-specific campaigns, sales tools, presentations, product materials, competitive briefs, and other enablement resources.
• Develop channel marketing strategies that support growth, customer retention, cross-selling, and market expansion.
• Plan and execute tradeshows, merchant events, customer-facing programs, and other industry activities
• Deliver market research summaries and competitive briefs specifically designed to support customer conversations and sales opportunities.
• Marketing Technology & Commercial Systems
• Provide strategic ownership and day-to-day oversight of marketing technology platforms that support the commercial organization.
• Provide business ownership and governance of the HubSpot CRM environment, including commercial process design, data quality standards, dashboard reporting, user training, and adoption.
• Oversee the effective use of CMS, digital asset management, PIM, marketing automation, and other platforms supporting the commercial organization.
• People, Agency & Cross-Functional Leadership
• Lead, coach, and develop the Product Management organization to create a high-performing, commercially focused organization.
• Establish clear priorities, objectives, accountability, and performance measures across the function.
• Direct the outsourced agency team as an extension of the internal organization, setting priorities, scopes, timelines, approvals, budgets, and quality standards.
• Build and manage relationships with external partners across research, public relations, creative, digital, technology, legal, print, fulfillment, and other specialized services.
• Build a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, and commercial focus.
• Operate effectively within a lean organization by combining strategic leadership with hands-on execution.
• Budget & Performance Management
• Own and govern the annual marketing budget, including planning, resource allocation, forecasting, and variance reporting.
• Allocate marketing investments across categories, segments, products, channels, and programs based on strategic priorities and expected return.
• Establish KPIs and performance reporting for marketing, product management, category growth, demand generation, portfolio productivity, and commercial effectiveness.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, or a related field required
• 10+ years of progressive B2B marketing, product management, and/or commercial strategy experience, including at least 5 years in a leadership capacity, with significant experience in manufacturing, industrial materials, paper, packaging, or a comparable process industry.
• Demonstrated experience leading product and portfolio management across the full product lifecycle, including positioning, pricing, portfolio optimization, and commercialization.
• Experience developing and executing annual integrated marketing plans that generate measurable commercial demand.
• Demonstrated financial and commercial acumen, including margin analysis, pricing strategy, business-case development, and ROI evaluation.
• Hands-on CRM experience — preferably HubSpot — including administration, process design, reporting, user training, and adoption.
• Experience with market research methods, industry data sources, competitive intelligence, and translating analysis into commercial recommendations.
• Proven ability to manage external agencies, vendors, and significant marketing budgets.
• Strong executive-level written, verbal, and presentation skills.
• Collaborative, hands-on leader who is comfortable operating as both a strategic leader and a “player-coach” in a lean organization.

Skills

Required

• Strategic leadership
• Product management
• Portfolio management
• Category strategy
• Pricing strategy
• Market analysis
• Financial acumen
• CRM experience (preferably HubSpot)
• Market research methods
• Competitive intelligence
• Agency management
• Budget management