Manager, Category Leadership COE

Job Location: Chicago

Want to make an impact?

The primary role of the Category Leadership Manager is to perform strategic analyses to develop critical insights, solutions, and strategic category action plans for the organization. Reporting directly to the Director of Category Leadership COE, this individual will triangulate data from multiple sources, tools and shopper insights and build persuasive and cohesive communications resulting in activations by internal and external stakeholders. The Category Leadership team is responsible for developing and sharing (internal and external) actionable insights and understanding key dynamics of our categories, retailers, marketplace and overall industry. The role is key to driving our business forward in a data-driven world.

We are looking for someone who is motivated by innovative uses of technology to help drive action for the business and gets excited about curating stories with data and bringing new ideas or applications of existing models/analyses to our team.

Ways you will make a difference

Provide in-depth category analysis to uncover key drivers of performance, offering strategic recommendations for distribution/assortment, shelving and category growth.Collaborate with internal teams and external partners on cross-functional projects, providing category insights to inform broader commercial strategiesDevelop and leverage BIC planograms to strategize on product placement, including strategies for space measurement, shelving, and cross-category opportunitiesAdvance our analytics capabilities from mere data collection to generating insightful, actionable business strategies, employing a holistic “What, So What, Now What” approachMaintain a mindset of continuous improvement in techniques, and identifies new tools and technologies to increase effectivenessAbility to devise an effective solution in unstructured situations and navigate through ambiguity

Skills that will make you successful

Insatiably and intellectually curious – motivated to dig into data, inspired to deliver accurate and actionable insightsAbility to learn quickly, and then act with agilityStrong creative and problem-solving abilityCollaborative, able to work with several internal and external stakeholders and present data in a professional and organized fashion.Strong oral/written communication and storytelling skillsHaving an ownership mentality with a drive to be a partner to the businessComfort working independently and through ambiguityBias for action and passion for delivering results

Experiences that will support your success

Bachelor's degree with 4-7 years of experience in consumer goods, preferably in food or other high velocity impulse categories (FMCG)Exceptional project management abilities, capable of prioritizing multiple projects simultaneously under tight deadlines.High proficiency in syndicated data sources (Circana, Nielsen, etc) - POS and Panel data platformsHigh Proficiency in MS Office tools, specifically Excel navigation and PowerpointProficient/Expert in planogram/Space Management software (JDA preferred) with experience creating or reviewing planograms, and using them to strategize on product placementProficient/Expert in Data analytics toolsKnowledge/Experience with retailer loyalty platforms and shipment data

Ideal candidate will also have

Experience with Tableau, Power BI or other data visualization packagesAbility to understand and leverage additional syndicated sources such as Numerator, Mintel, Kantar