Category Manager - Sales Space Planning & Analysis

Position Summary
This analytically driven, customer-obsessed professional will serve as a key member of the Sales organization, supporting major retail partners across the North American landscape—including Mass, Club, Grocery, and Dollar channels. The Category Manager plays a strategic role in helping retailers drive category growth and optimize performance.

This individual will analyze category and competitive trends, evaluate promotional effectiveness, and deliver insight-based recommendations to enhance both category and company performance. The ideal candidate will translate data into actionable strategies, leveraging strong communication and influencing skills to drive measurable value for retail partners and internal stakeholders.

The primary objective of this role is to accelerate value creation, strengthen customer partnerships, and elevate influence through data-driven insights and strategic storytelling.

Duties and Responsibilities
• Develop actionable insights from retail POS data to inform retailer recommendations that improve category performance and company results.
• Collaborate with the Insights team to create insight-driven selling stories that align with customer strategies and category growth objectives.
• Analyze macro trends, shopper behavior, and competitive activity to identify growth opportunities and inform go-to-market strategies.
• Build and maintain analytical frameworks to evaluate merchandising effectiveness, optimal assortment, and shelf placement.
• Support Customer Development Managers and Directors in preparing category line reviews, business reviews, and strategic planning presentations.
• Monitor performance across customers and trade classes, identifying opportunities to strengthen distribution, share, and shelf presence.
• Develop and refine reporting tools, dashboards, and processes to enable smarter, faster, and more data-driven decisions.
• Stay current on industry dynamics, competitive developments, and evolving consumer trends.
• Conduct ROI assessments prior to promotional or merchandising investments to ensure informed, profitable decisions.
• Lead post-event analyses to assess the impact of promotions and merchandising efforts, providing recommendations for future improvements.
• Plan and execute planogram and assortment reviews in collaboration with retail merchandising teams.
• Gain in-depth understanding of company product lines and their role within assigned food categories.
• Translate analytical findings into strategic sales plans that differentiate the company as a partner of choice.
• Build and maintain strong cross-functional relationships with Sales, Marketing, R&D, Finance, and Supply Chain teams.
• Partner with Sales, Marketing, and Innovation teams to support selling stories for new product introductions.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Minimum Requirements

Education and Experience
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of progressive experience in the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry, with emphasis on category management, business analytics, or shopper insights.
• Experience working with National and Regional Grocery, Club, Mass, or Dollar channel customers in the food industry.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
• Advanced analytical skills with strong command of retail metrics (POS, forecast, margin, distribution).
• Expertise in syndicated data tools such as Circana (IRI), Nielsen, Numerator, 1010data, and retailer-specific POS systems.
• Proficiency in JDA Space Planning software.
• Strong storytelling ability—able to translate insights into persuasive, actionable recommendations.
• Highly proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, OneNote) and related analytical tools.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills with the ability to influence internal and external stakeholders.
• Collaborative mindset and ability to build effective relationships across departments and customer organizations.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines.
• Demonstrated business acumen, initiative, and a results-oriented approach.