Category Manager, Channels

Responsibilities

Joining the PCB Category Management Team as the Category Manager of Channels offers a unique opportunity to lead and shape the category strategy for a leading brand in the Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG) industry. This role is crucial in driving category growth and establishing long-term partnerships with key retailers. You will have the chance to leverage your expertise in category management to influence major business decisions and drive profitable growth. Our supportive and innovative environment provides ample opportunities for professional development and career advancement.

This individual will conduct best-in-class shopper and category analysis using multiple syndicated and custom data sources to generate actionable and specific recommendations across product, pricing, promotion, and placement. Customizing strategy and executing aligned efforts by using effective communication and influence that drives category growth while meeting retailers’ goals is a priority for this position.

The ideal Candidate should leverage critical thinking and problem-solving skills to recognize and anticipate issues and opportunities by elevating analyses beyond reporting and translate insights into strategy retail actions.

Responsibilities And Key Performance Objectives (KPOs)

• Develop and Execute Category Strategy: The successful candidate will develop a comprehensive category strategy tailored to their specific retailers. This involves understanding retailer needs, leveraging consumer and category insights, and gaining cooperation from all relevant stakeholders to deliver fully integrated consumer, shopper, category and marketplace insights and trends to guide strategic choices and tactical executions. Success will be measured by the establishment of strong category partnerships with their retailers, and achieving category growth ahead of the market for the short and long term.
• Drive Category Growth through Insights and Recommendations: The candidate will conduct robust, customized retailer analysis using national research, category management capabilities, analytical tools, and data visualization to identify and communicate business opportunities or challenges and provide actionable category management insights and recommendations in areas such as product assortment, placement, pricing, and promotion. The effectiveness of these efforts will be evaluated through increased category sales and retailer recognition of Post as the cereal experts.
• Manage Customer Category Review Process: The candidate will be responsible for managing the customer category review process, including presenting shelf recommendations and developing planograms (POGs) that drive category growth. They will own implementation of perfect shelf initiative at their retailers, working with Category Development to understand overall strategy as needed. Success is measured by the acceptance and implementation of these recommendations by the retailer.
• Align with Sales and CS&E Teams to Maximize Opportunities: The candidate will align and coordinate inputs from their PCB Sales Teams and the Commercial, Strategy and Execution teams to identify and close the biggest opportunities for customer growth. They will support Category Management outputs such as Customer Playbooks, Annual Planning, Quarterly Business Reviews and prepare for key customer meetings where resets, line reviews and strategic alignment are discussed. This includes taking a leadership role in Joint Business Planning meetings and presenting recommendations for category growth. Success will be measured by the successful execution of these plans and the achievement of sales targets.
• Develop Customized Selling Tools and Stories: By the end of the first year, the candidate will develop customized, fact-based selling tools and stories that support Post growth initiatives and demonstrate how these initiatives drive overall category growth. The success of this objective will be assessed through the effectiveness of these tools in driving sales and enhancing retailer relationships.

Challenges To Overcome In This Role

• Balancing the diverse objectives and expectations of varied retailers while developing a cohesive category strategy.
• Ensuring timely execution of category management plans amidst tight deadlines and budget constraints.
• Continuously optimizing category strategies based on real-time data and feedback, requiring agility and adaptability.
• Maintaining clear and effective communication across multiple teams and stakeholders to ensure alignment and collaboration.

Work Environment

The Category Manager will work in a remote environment and be expected to connect effectively via virtual tools and platforms. They must also be willing to travel to PCB headquarters in Lakeville, MN and to their requisite Retailer headquarters locations, as needed.

The role involves close collaboration with various sales teams, brand partners, CS&E team members and key retailers. Our company culture is team-oriented, innovative, and supportive, fostering an environment where employees are encouraged to share ideas and take initiative.

The candidate will use tools such as Syndicated Data (Nielsen/IRI, Spectra, Panel Data), Space Planning (JDA), and Microsoft Office Suite for data analysis and presentation.

Growth Opportunities

Achieving the KPOs will position the candidate for career advancement within the company. Success in this role demonstrates strategic thinking, effective execution, and the ability to drive profitable growth, making the candidate a strong contender for higher-level positions in category management, sales strategy, or field sales.

Process Of Success

• First 30 Days: Learn about the company’s category management strategies, meet key stakeholders, and understand current category plans and retailer relationships.
• 60 Days: Develop a short-term action plan, start collaborating with the sales team and retailers, and begin gathering consumer and category insights.
• 90 Days: Implement the initial category strategy, start tracking performance, and make initial optimizations based on early data.
• 6 Months: Present the first set of category recommendations, ensure alignment with the sales and CS&E teams, and begin managing the customer category review process.
• 1 Year: Complete the development of customized selling tools, optimize category strategies based on insights, and achieve the predefined KPOs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree
• 3-5+ years of experience in the CPG industry in Cat Man, Sales, Business Analytics and/or Insights.
• 1-2+ years in Category Management and/or Category Development specifically
• Strong expertise data analytics, leveraging syndicated data (IRI/Nielsen), retailer portal data and shopper insights portals is preferred, especially in the Mass, Dollar, eCom and/or Club Channel
• Highly skilled in data visualization, leveraging facts + insights to build compelling stories with actionable recommendations, and compelling presentation building
• Exceptional communication skills that include verbal, written, presentation and follow-through
• Passion for winning, can-do attitude, superior drive for results, demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively and create influential partnerships with the customer and cross-functional business partners.

The pay range for this position is $86,899 - $128,609 per year.