Overall job description – Marketing Manager (“MM”)

The MM will be responsible to run the Design and Marketing department of AEHL and will be reporting to the General Manager.  The long term aim is to develop AEHL into a centre of excellence in creative design and marketing for kitchenware and as a destination for designers and the MM together with the GM and CEO will be driving this aim. The MM will bring a fresh perspective to the design and development of innovative new products which come from the research of pain points in cooking and serving, knowing what’s present in the market and developing with the internal and external design team of AEHL solutions for these pain points. The vision of AEHL is to deliver to consumers what they may not realise they presently need and make their lives more pleasurable. The MM will be supporting this vision. The MM will ideally be passionate about cooking. His/her responsibility will include market research on trends and studying pain points in the field of cooking, food preparation and all kinds of storage and drinks related items. The MM will be responsible for product promotion, managing programs and projects, developing, inspiring and managing the marketing and design team members.

Position Duties

Marketing & Product Design Promotion

1. Work closely with CEO to define Marketing and Design strategy
2. Takes the lead in marketing & product design promotion
3. Developing videos and presentations to external customers for new product introduction.
4. Generate tasteful packaging for all products
5. Proactively promote new products to internal (Business Development Team) & external customers, and proactively seeks out feedback from all channels for continual improvements
6. Collaborates with other department especially Business Development Team on a regular basis to exchange market intelligence, technology trend and market needs, recommends and defines updates to existing products that will make them more regionally acceptable.
7. Participates regular global information exchange on market intelligence, technology trend and market needs, and drives the growth of the responsible product category and maintain expert knowledge on competitive product portfolio
8. In-charge for display management in showroom & development of displays for overseas fairs and client displays.

Business Development

1. Generate ODM opportunities from the client base. The MM will arrange thorough market research to identify opportunities within clients for new product development and propose innovative designs and sell such designs to the clients to generate production business.
2. Develop marketing proposals and execute projects for clients.
3. Support OEM business development via Engineering support and product development support to help the company succeed in OEM projects.
4. The MM will keep working with the Design Team to look at developing more items which potentially are patentable.
5. Promote Open items through tasteful packaging design. 

Team development

1. The MM will build a strong team of motivated Industrial designers (both in house and freelance designers) that will produce innovative new products to meet and exceed customer expectations.
2. Inspire the designers with continued motivation to work towards creativity and innovation in harmony with market needs and price points.
3. The MM will develop an environment to make the Company the destination workplace for designers to aspire for employment. This communication will be done through public relations, such as speaking engagements at design conferences, entering and winning design competitions, as well as active participation with HK Poly University and IVE and other worldwide Design schools through presentations, office tours and joint projects in order to get the top students as they graduate.
4. The MM will develop a strong team environment working with the sales, merchandising, engineering and QA departments in order to smoothly meet the needs and expectations of the clients.

Creativity and value addition

1. The MM ideally is passionate in cooking. He/she should able to give innovative/user friendly ideas to the in-house product designers for product design based on his/her cooking experience.
2. The MM has a curious mind always looking at things in a different way and wanting to explore new avenues and at the same time is pragmatic and wants to ensure deliverables are matched as per the company goals.
3. The MM will make the Company well known as the truly innovative source for clients product needs by constantly producing unique and innovative products through his/her design team.
4. The MM will work with other departments to review projects upon completion in order to suggest improvements on workflow and efficiency.
5. The MM will make sure the industrial design process includes market research and feasibility studies in order to create products which are creative, marketable and sellable.

Requirements

1. Degree holder or above, major in Marketing/ Product Design / or equivalent;
2. Min 8 years relevant experience with at least 4 years in managerial level
3. Experience in plastic and stainless steel kitchenware and housewares items is a MUST;
4. Sound market knowledge in Kitchenware industry;
5. Creative, out of the box and forward thinking, possessing the zeal for cooking and design, and strong design sense in line with market direction
6. Good marketing sense with a good understanding of developing products for a cost structure;
7. Strong leadership in motivating staff, good interpersonal, communication and influencing skills
8. Excellent project management skills as well as strong business sense and strategic thinking
9. Good organizational skills to oversee all creative projects from concept to production
10. A good team player, mature, self-motivated, and able to work under pressure to meet tight timelines;
11. Familiar with western cooking style/practice;
12. Design capabilities a big plus;
13. Knowledge of tooling development and factory processes is desirable;
14. Technical skills in patent application and IP rights is a plus;
15. High proficiency in spoken and written English. Knowledge of Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin) is a plus.

We offer attractive remuneration package to the right candidate, e.g. 5 days work, staff medical benefit, study allowance etc. Interested parties, please send your application with current and expected salary via email to hr@abdoolally.com

Abdoolally Ebrahim Group started its business in Hong Kong since 1842. Abdoolally Ebrahim Housewares Limited is one of its subsidiaries mainly engaged in trading of housewares/kitchenware products and started trading and manufacturing kitchenware since 1961. To cope with our business needs, we are inviting high calibre candidate to join us as Business Development Manager.