La Lorraine Bakery Group (LLBG) is a 100% Belgian family-owned company with more than 80 years of experience in the milling and bakery sector. Every day, more than 5,000 enthusiastic employees create and sell high-quality bakery products worldwide to consumers, retailers, and the foodservice sector in more than 30 countries.

LLBG counts 4 business units (fresh, frozen, milling and store concepts) and represents various bakery product categories (bread, viennoiserie, sweet on the go, savoury, and patisserie), amongst which bread is the leading one.

WHY THIS JOB POSITION?
La Lorraine Bakery Group has the ambition to further expand and strengthen its market position in the bread category. To realize this goal, LLBG is looking for an enthusiast, versatile and self-driven International Category Analyst Bread.

This high-visibility, high-profile role will be responsible for driving LLBG’s bread strategy definition and overall commercial implementation. All of this with the objective of maximizing country, channel, and customer value creation next to consumer appeal, and thereby driving sustainable top- and bottom-line growth for LLBG.

Tasks & Responsibilities

• Drive the international mid- and long-term bread category captain ambition
  • Conduct analytic portfolio, consumer insights and country benchmark analyses
  • Collect input from various stakeholders and translate the data in powerful analyses to drive business decisions related to marketing, sales, and other business operations.
  • Define, manage, and drive projects with global impact e.g., business cases for new line investments, allocation of line capacity, etc.
  • Build actionable strategic frameworks & models (market maturity, assortment & customer segmentation, pricing, investments in store…) for the global development of the category in local markets
• Shape the continuous development of the category vision & scale product leadership strategy
  • Become an expert in the category and develop deep knowledge about the industry
  • Pro-active opportunity prospection: inform the team about the latest updates in the market by means of trends, competitor evolutions & white spot identification
  • Join sessions on consumer insights, Sales & Operations Planning, etc.
  • Represent the team and actively promote the category strategy for various stakeholders
• Manage internal stakeholders
  • Act as sparring partner of the international category director
  • Prepare category performance evaluation reports & input for management presentations
  • Build relationships with various stakeholders (consumer insights, KAMs, demandplanning, engineering, controlling…) in the organization for optimal exchange of information
  • First point of contact for international marketing & sales teams that are looking for analytical insights
  • Actively invest in relationship building and visit markets to connect with colleagues, see products and strengthen the understanding of the local businesses and plant organizations

Profile

• Background
  • Master’s degree, preferably in economics, management, marketing, supply chain…
  • 3+ years of professional experience (consulting, marketing, sales, logistics)
  • A first job at global headquarters or international hub is an asset

• Critical Soft Skills
  • Personal values in line with LLBG values
  • Integer team player with genuine interest in people & different cultures that can influence and lead with impact
  • Entrepreneurial & hands-on, able to impact and push projects forward in an inclusive way
  • A hunger/passion to master & build knowledge about the category in all its aspects
  • Creative, open-minded & determined
  • Passion for food, especially for bakery products
  • Empowered, eager to grow and develop in a fast and ever moving environment

• Critical Hard Skills
  • Strong analytical mindset able to assemble, evaluate and translate large amounts of qualitative and quantitative insights & data into relevant business information
  • Capacity to build & present analyses for different business purposes (management decisions, sales support…)
  • Opinion leader and clear communicator with strong influencing & persuasion skills
  • Affinity with various dimensions of category management (finance, supply chain, commerce…)
  • Self-learner (Looking to continuously learn and improve, learning from experience)
  • English language knowledge, other languages are a plus

• Location
  • Flexible, homebase nearby a West-European hub where LLBG has an office (Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany) is strongly preferred
  • The team HQ is in Haaltert, Belgium (between Brussels & Ghent, nearby E40 highway and 5’ walk to train station)
  • Traveling 25-40% of the time is expected
  • International mobility for future roles is aspired

The International Category Analyst Bread will report into the International Category Director Bread and be part of the International Marketing team within Business Unit Frozen.

Our Offer

You will work in a growing Belgian family company, active in the European bakery sector. More than 4,000 enthusiastic colleagues produce and sell high-quality bakery products to consumers, supermarkets and the catering industry every day. This is a unique opportunity to work in a company with a strong vision, which continues to grow and innovate in cutting-edge products.
In our organisation, entrepreneurship is highly valued and it is possible to take initiatives. You will join a team of motivated and enthusiastic (international) colleagues, who are happy to share their knowledge and help you progress and develop. Our LLBG Academy supports and develops our employees through various training initiatives. By developing each other's talents and skills, we can all become the best version of ourselves.
You will be part of an organisation that has strong growth ambitions and also wants to take responsibility for the environment and society. We are committed to meeting today's expectations in a sustainable way, taking into account future generations.
We value our employees and invest in a pleasant working environment through various initiatives such as: sports and wellness activities, work-life balance and flexible working hours.In this position, you will enjoy an interesting financial package including a company car, meal vouchers, hospitalisation insurance and group insurance, complemented by 30 days' leave to plan free. Our products take centre stage and you literally taste our passion every day.