Director - Communication And Digital Transformation

Do you have the appetite to Grow Your Magic?

Consumers everywhere are increasingly conscious of the quality of the food they eat. Puratos develops, produces, and distributes a unique range of ingredients for bakers, pastry-chefs and chocolatiers who demand the very highest quality.

Founded in Belgium in 1919, Puratos is growing rapidly with over 10,000 employees in 75 countries, with a consolidated turnover of over €2.8 billion euros in 2022. Our passion for innovation, pioneering spirit and core values continue to propel our global ambitions. This, coupled with our commitment to our communities, is what makes working at Puratos so magical.

Position Overview

We are currently seeking a:

Director – Communication and Digital Transformation

Mississauga, Canada

Reporting directly to the VP of Marketing, the successful candidate for this key function will be responsible to deliver unique and exceptional customer experiences and outline the long-term digital strategy for Puratos Canada, accelerating growth and achieving budget.

Key Accountabilities

External communication:

Working closely with the Product Managers, the HQ communication team, you will be in charge for defining communication priorities based on the company product and channel strategy, inspiring the team and agency partners in building long and short-term communication projects with the objective of increase the awareness of the brand, clearly define the positioning in customers’ mind, foster our relationships with customers and provide the internal team with the accurate tools to develop the business. Using data to optimize marketing spending and audiences you will be managing multiple projects at the same time in a fast-paced environment, in the local office of a multinational BtoBtoC company.

• Build proposals for market research that will assess the brand identity and values evolution in the market
• Build annual communication plan, in line with marketing plans and company priorities
• Present consumer insights research to customers and larger events
• Crisis Communication: Develop and implement crisis communication plans, ensuring timely and accurate dissemination of information during critical situations. Act as a key spokesperson and liaison with the media, ensuring consistent messaging and managing any potential reputational risks
• Oversee the update of the web site and web shop
• Lead PR and communication plans to support company events (acquisitions, inaugurations, international events)
• Participate in the ideation and execution of the media plan
• Present to leadership team the progresses and critical initiatives of the team
• Help negotiate vendors and advertising budgets
• Collaborate with Customer Marketing Manager in building very targeted communication plans to increase awareness and engagement with current customers (to increase product penetration) and prospects (to increase brand awareness and top of mind)
• Lead the event planning of 1:1 customer events (like innovation sessions, Taste Tomorrow events, filed to fork events), distributor conventions, with Product Managers, Customer Marketing Manager, KAM
• Create and maintain relationships with media outlet account representatives but also journalist, influencers, stakeholders in the industry
• Define target audiences and the touchpoints that maximize the reach (Below and Above the line activities, Social and Digital with paid support, event planning and customer engagement)
• Define communication KPIs for all touchpoints
• Make sure communication tools respect company’s brand identity
• Brief agencies
• Select trade show to participate to, and to attend

Internal communication:

Working closely with the HR team, oversee and enhance internal communication efforts to foster employee engagement, promote company culture, and ensure consistent messaging across all levels of the organization, based on internal surveys and data. Be aware of company milestones and lead planning of celebrations. Be the point of reference for Business Development team connection activities.

• Be aware of major Global Initiatives and build the local plan, based on relevance and local priorities
• Lead the holiday party organization
• Developing and implementing effective communication channels, such as newsletters, intranet, town hall meetings, and other internal platforms
• Organize internal training sessions
• Lead the National Sales Meeting organisation
• Define with HR team objective and actions for employee engagement activities on the 3 Puratos sites and build a yearly calendar

Digital transformation

In line with HQ digital strategy and team, lead the development of the Canada digital plan, encompassing not only marketing related tools and activities but also sales, customer service, operations, HR.

Be the catalyst for the adoption of the new tools, new processes, new way of thinking, partnerships.

• Find resources for inspiration in this field, potentially attend trade shows
• Find external partners that will support the company in the digital evolution
• Draft a plan for the short-medium-long term digital activities and development for digital resources in Canada
• Understand the global digital development framework and the status of the Canadian digital strategy and available tools
• In collaboration with senior leaders understand the needs for digital tools and automation, to implement in the short-medium-long term

Other:

• Team Leadership: Manage and mentor a team of communication professionals, providing guidance, feedback, and support to ensure the team's success. Foster a collaborative and inclusive work environment that encourages creativity, innovation, and professional growth.
• Present to Marketing VP quarterly summary of expenses
• Ownership and responsibility of budget for internal and external communication activities
• Ownership of invoice approvals

Profile

• 10/15 years’ experience, ideally in food sector and/or B2C environment
• Advanced knowledge in PowerPoint and Excel (incl. Pivot table)
• Business fluent English, French is a plus
• Good communication skills and ability to influence others
• Bachelor or Master degree in Marketing/Sales
• Knowledge of PowerBI, Technomic (Nielsen Market Track, IRI is a plus)
• Willing to travel locally and internationally
• Knowledge of retail environment in Canada
• Digital savvy

Required Competencies

• Ability to manage multiple projects at the same time
• Able to take initiative and be proactive
• Ability to use Project management tools
• Able to come up with new processes
• Ability to prioritize and present long term plans
• Able to take the lead on projects that involve multifunctional teams
• Is comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with few sets of data to leverage on, especially as far as competition is concerned
• Promotes our company culture within the wider organization. Facilitates the understanding of the organizational structure and proactively connects key stakeholders.
• Finds and implements creative and innovative solutions for business challenges
• Develops and shares strategic business and market insights and translates these into solutions for the business

Offer

Puratos provides a dynamic, entrepreneurial environment that encourages our people to take initiatives and bring ideas that will contribute to the success of the company. Puratos offers a competitive package (salary, group insurance, healthcare, training…) but additionally, offers you a position that you can further develop and shape. The fast growth of the company in Canada will open the opportunity for fast promotions and increase in responsibilities to the successful candidate that will prove to be a good fit for the role.