Category Leadership Manager

Job Location: ​Chicago​

Want to make an impact?

Collaborating closely with internal and external resources, the Category Leadership Manager is responsible for developing critical insights, solutions, and strategic and tactical category action plans to assigned customers (typically national or super-regional customers). The Category Leadership Manager is the primary representative to the customer for all category management activities. This position addresses complex business opportunities by triangulating data from multiple sources, tools and analytics, shopper insights and solutions into persuasive communications and succinct storytelling resulting in retailer activations. 

 

The Category Leadership Manager will support a customer team by identifying business opportunities through leveraging multiple data sources, tools, and analytics. The Category Leadership Manager will have a well-rounded understanding of merchandising and products and will utilize this knowledge to develop and implement plans that achieve category growth goals. This position partners with the members of the Category Leadership team and collaborates with other departments (Sales, Marketing, Trade & Market Development, and more) to identify sales growth opportunities and develop strategic and tactical plans. 

 

*NOTE* Role can be remote

Ways you will make a difference

• Prepare and present fact-based insights to customers to support selling initiatives and secure alignment of strategic and tactical plans at multiple levels of the organization.
• Triangulate macro trends, shopper insights, and category fundamentals into succinct storytelling resulting in retailer activations. 
• Use planograms to strategize on product placement, including strategies for space measurement, shelving, and cross-category opportunities.
• Cultivate and manage relationships with retailers.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify category growth opportunities and effectively develop and communicate action plans. 
• Oversee distribution and organization of tools and critical business materials.
• Develop and manage project timelines.
   

Skills that will make you successful

• Analytical
• Collaborative/Team Oriented
• Intellectually Curious
• Organized with strong planning skills.
• Attention to detail (data/insights integrity) 
• Business Acumen
• Creative Problem Solving
• Action-oriented, Take Initiative
• Ownership mindset; Entrepreneurial by nature  
• Agile-minded, able to make good decisions in ambiguous conditions and energized by the unknown
• Ability to travel up to 25% travel 
   

Experiences that will support your success

• Bachelor’s Degree
• Minimum 4-7 years of experience in consumer goods, preferably in food or other high velocity impulse categories (FMCG)
• Exceptional project management abilities, capable of prioritizing and handling multiple projects simultaneously under tight deadlines.
• Strong presentation and communication skills
• High proficiency in syndicated data sources (Circana, Nielsen, etc.), Excel & PowerPoint
• Knowledge/experience with POG tools and retailer loyalty platforms a plus