Key Responsibilities
Customer Category Strategy
- Develop and deliver customer-specific category roadmaps that support category performance and long-term retailer and business objectives.
- Integrate multiple data sources—including space analytics, syndicated data, retailer data, shopper insights, consumer research, and market trends—to identify opportunities and develop actionable recommendations.
- Translate complex analyses into compelling customer-facing stories that influence retailer decisions and strengthen category leadership.
- Build strategic recommendations focused on assortment, shelving, merchandising, space productivity, omnichannel execution, and the future evolution of the retail environment.
- Identify category opportunities at national, regional, and local market levels through advanced analytics, retailer insights, and changing consumer behaviors.
- Leverage retailer strategies, category trends, and market intelligence to develop forward-looking category roadmaps aligned to customer and business priorities.
Omnichannel Strategy, Space & Retail Excellence
- Lead the development of omnichannel category roadmaps that connect physical retail, e-commerce, click-and-collect, digital merchandising, and emerging retail formats.
- Evaluate changing shopper behaviors, channel dynamics, and retailer strategies to ensure category recommendations remain relevant across all points of purchase.
- Partner with customer teams to identify opportunities that improve category performance through optimized space, merchandising, and omnichannel execution.
- Assess the impact of evolving retail models, store formats, digital capabilities, and emerging technologies to identify opportunities for category leadership and future store development.
- Champion thought leadership around the future of retail, helping customers and internal teams understand how category strategies must evolve across physical and digital environments.
- Incorporate emerging retail trends, technology, and shopper behaviors into category roadmaps and strategic recommendations.
Customer Partnership & Business Unit Support
- Partner closely with Customer Teams and Business Unit Sales & Strategy (BUSS) teams to develop retailer-specific category strategies aligned with customer objectives.
- Serve as the category, retailer, and space strategy subject matter expert for assigned business units and customer teams.
- Provide category, retailer, and space insights that support commercial planning, strategic decision-making, and customer engagement activities.
- Translate retailer feedback, category trends, space opportunities, and field insights into actionable recommendations that inform category roadmaps and business priorities.
- Equip sales, BUSS, and customer teams with actionable insights, category stories, retailer intelligence, and space-based recommendations that can be effectively activated in-market.
- Support key customer meetings, joint business planning sessions, category reviews, and executive business reviews through compelling, insight-based storytelling.
- Establish feedback loops that continuously capture retailer and field perspectives to improve category recommendations, priorities, and execution.
Cross-Functional Leadership & Enterprise Collaboration
- Lead strategic collaboration across Business Units (BU), Business Unit Sales & Strategy (BUSS), Commercial Capabilities, Retail Teams, Supply Chain, Marketing, Insights, Analytics, and Revenue Growth Management functions.
- Align category roadmaps with broader commercial objectives while ensuring recommendations are operationally feasible, retailer-relevant, and grounded in category insights.
- Partner with Commercial Capabilities teams to develop tools, frameworks, and best practices that strengthen category leadership and customer-facing effectiveness.
- Collaborate with Supply Chain and business partners to ensure category recommendations consider inventory, fulfillment, and operational realities.
- Influence innovation, assortment, merchandising, space planning, and go-to-market decisions through fact-based insights and retailer-informed recommendations.
- Foster alignment across stakeholders to drive execution against shared business priorities.
Innovation, Test & Learn & Retail Solutions
- Identify emerging retail opportunities, technologies, and industry trends that can unlock new sources of category value and competitive advantage.
- Lead the development and coordination of test-and-learn initiatives designed to evaluate new retail solutions, merchandising concepts, space optimization approaches, future-store formats, and omnichannel execution opportunities.
- Partner with customer teams and cross-functional stakeholders to design pilots, establish success metrics, measure results, and scale successful initiatives.
- Create a culture of experimentation and continuous improvement by leveraging data and insights to validate new approaches and accelerate learning.
- Share best practices, key learnings, and scalable retail solutions across business units and customer teams.
- Monitor industry innovation and emerging retailer strategies to identify opportunities that shape the future of category management and retail execution.
Team Leadership & Development
- Lead, coach, and develop a team of category strategy, insights, analytics, space planning, and retail intelligence subject matter experts aligned to a business unit.
- Foster a culture of curiosity, innovation, collaboration, accountability, and continuous learning.
- Establish clear priorities, development plans, and performance expectations that drive business impact and employee growth.
- Promote analytical rigor, strategic thinking, thought leadership, and storytelling excellence across the team.
- Build organizational capability in category strategy, retailer strategy, space analytics, omnichannel execution, and future-of-retail thinking.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Economics, Analytics, Statistics, Consumer Behavior, or a related field.
- 8+ years of experience in category strategy, category management, category leadership, retail analytics, shopper insights, sales strategy, or related commercial functions.
- 3+ years of experience leading and developing high-performing teams.
- Demonstrated ability to synthesize multiple data sources into actionable business recommendations and category roadmaps.
- Strong understanding of retail, omnichannel commerce, category management principles, retailer strategies, and shopper behavior.
- Experience working with syndicated data, retailer data, consumer insights, space analytics, and category performance metrics.
- Proven success influencing senior leaders, cross-functional stakeholders, and external customer partners.
- Exceptional communication, storytelling, presentation, and relationship-building skills.
Preferred
- MBA or other advanced degree.
- Experience working directly with national and regional retail customers.
- Expertise in category strategy, omnichannel retail, space optimization, retail merchandising, future-store concepts, and advanced consumer insights.
- Experience leading customer pilots, retail innovation initiatives, or test-and-learn programs.
- Familiarity with Circana/IRI, NielsenIQ, retailer loyalty data, space planning tools, shopper panel data, and advanced analytics platforms.
Pay: $160,000.00 - $200,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person
