Senior Director, Category Leadership – Walmart

Location(s):

United States of America

City/Cities:

Rogers

Travel Required:

00% - 25%

Relocation Provided:

Yes

Job Posting End Date:

September 14, 2024

Shift:

Job Description Summary:

The Senior Director, Category Leadership - Walmart will be responsible for leading a team which works with Walmart on beverage strategies and tactics to maximize the opportunity for both the category and Coca-Cola.  Key deliverables include opportunity assessment, beverage strategy development as part of a category blueprint, shopper insights, assortment and space recommendations, main shelf placement and display best practices, etc.

Position Responsibilities

• Partners with Walmart on key Category strategy, assortment, and space decisions including working with senior executives to collaboratively build strategies and tactics designed for future category growth.

• Leads the Coca-Cola Category Leadership team to be the best-in-class partner with Walmart, including meeting Customer expectations while driving team engagement.

• Builds strong connection between Walmart and Coca-Cola’s strategic priorities.

• Makes beverage strategic and tactical recommendations by leveraging unique insights from point of sale, shopper card, panel data as well as other industry sources.

• Stewards development & implementation of a process for sharing best practices to drive/shape future strategies.

• Leads the interaction with cross-functional leads to address key business questions and develop volume and revenue growth strategies that allow both companies to meet and exceed plan expectations.

• Ensures that category management tools, data, and shopper insights are effectively leveraged to grow distribution, space, and optimized assortment for all beverage categories.

KEY FOCUS AREAS

Strategic Thinking and Strategy Development:

• Partner in the development of annual business plan; drive category strategy and opportunities; and ensure the plan has a relevant category strategy which will win in the market

• Focus on Walmart category development

• Provide leadership & continued stewardship for Walmart’s beverage categories (Sparkling and Still)

• Recommends space opportunities and risks for the beverage category

Project Management:

• Lead the work of a cross functional team consisting of Category Managers, Category Analysts, Shopper Insights Managers, and Space Strategy

• Collaborate with cross functional departments (Channel Strategy, Marketing, RGM, etc.) on projects focused on becoming Walmart’s most valued supplier

Relationship Management:

• Develop solid working relationships with key retailer divisional/category managers to drive NARTD beverages into all aspects of their shopper engagement strategy in-store

• Act as brand champion for Coca-Cola by defining and driving overall brand objectives through the practice of category management techniques, delivering comprehensive category programs internally and across retail partners to drive product and brand initiatives

• Build strong team-oriented relationships with other key internal business units and/or global partners that result in new business and/or cross-category opportunities

People Leadership & Development:

• Recruit and retain a high-performance team, while creating and maintaining growth opportunities within and outside of the broader Category Leadership department

• Ensure best and current customer-oriented thinking is utilized within Category Space Capability department.

Education:  Minimum Required Bachelor’s Degree Preferred:  MBA or other graduate degree

EXPERIENCE

Minimum Required: 

• 10+ years of experience within the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry

• Senior level experience within the consumer goods/beverages industry

• Strong knowledge of category management principles and analytic techniques

• People leadership/management – specifically, experience leading leaders of others

• Customer experience across multiple channels – e.g., Large store, Small store, and Foodservice/On Premise channels

• Demonstrated success in leading geographically dispersed team

Preferred Level:

• 15+ years of experience within the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry

• Experience across multiple disciplines beyond category manag