Category Leadership Manager

Job Description

Position Summary

The Category Leadership Manager (CLM) plays an instrumental role as a research oriented, tactical member of the Category Leadership (CL) team that expands Constellation’s reputation as a high-quality, valued provider of CL recommendations. Exhibiting accountability and dependability, the CLM is proactive, collaborative, logical, highly flexible in analytical approach, and able to focus on desired outcomes, not just reactive, quick solutions.

Responsibilities

Influences and manages all space management projects for assigned National Account customer(s).

• Influences assigned retailers schematic process to implement key shopper insights. Shopper First Shelf.

• Leads space management analysis and designs category shelf schematics following Constellation’s standardized planning processes, tools, and space strategies.

• Gather and combine complementary data from multiple sources.  Cleanse, analyze, and validate data. 

• Interpret data, draw conclusions, and develop insights and presentations 

• Prioritize and lead assortment and space planning (drawing / validation of schematics) projects to plan, meet expectations and ensure successful completion of assortment and space planning projects 

• Provide Category Management support including insights, performance analysis and identification of opportunities

• Collaborates with Sales partners to determine account priorities, and pursue most impactful initiatives pertaining to space, assortment, and other sales analytics.

• Conducts space and distribution opportunity analysis to optimize revenue and profit by improving shopping convenience.

• Makes product addition and deletion recommendations by brand and package.

• Changes sub-category or segment flow, or brand-blocking techniques as directed.

• Quantifies expected results of proposed planogram changes.

• Initiates and/or attends customer meetings as appropriate.

• Participates in the reset decision making process with other vendors and merchandisers.

• Establishes, controls, and implements retail execution plan methods and procedures to improve overall project effectiveness.

• Guides the CA in the collection of raw data from the customer and cleanses as necessary to ensure accuracy prior to conducting any analysis or forming recommendations.

• Maintains schematic archives with accurate data for all required store combinations.

• Reports changes implemented including physical space gains/losses by brewer/brand.

• Measures schematics, pre & post-implementation.

• Develop relationships with key personnel at all levels and departments with wholesalers and field sales who service these National Accounts. 

Participates in a wide variety of ad-hoc analytical projects.

• As directed by Director or Sales Lead, prepares category reviews or conducts analysis as a project lead. Extracts the requested and required raw data from retailer or Constellation systems as necessary including retailer proprietary POS, loyalty, or primary research systems and studies and Constellation syndicated data systems.

• Proactively identifies business growth opportunities and develops important category insights, solutions, and presentations for assigned customer(s).

• Attend and participate in business planning meetings.

• Provides input into assigned customers Annual Business Plan as well as the Joint Business Planning process.

• Seeks clarification or understanding as necessary.

• Updates scorecards for assigned customer(s) utilizing Constellation’s standardized format.

• Manages and tracks progress across all initiatives, summarizes and regularly reports on outcomes to the appropriate personnel.

Knowledge in:

• Moves beyond analyzing factual data independently by grasping a conceptual understanding of a wide range of information. Screens out irrelevant or vague information, questions the limits or quality of data, and integrates diverse themes or lines of reasoning to generate new insights or levels of understanding for the issue at hand.

• Expertly able to manipulate space management software (Blue Yonder or Apollo) to produce, organize, and present detailed or complex information in the most effective manner that expresses concepts and recommendations in a clear, direct, and concise message. Notices when raw data appears wrong or incomplete and is able to question its accuracy. Digs for details, distinguishes between, and disposes of information that is suspect or not pertinent to a solu