Associate Category Manager - Retail Sales

Sartori Company•Plymouth, WI

20d•Remote

About The Position

The Associate Category Manager is a highly collaborative role that supports and influences cross-functional teams. The position develops and executes category strategies and trade marketing plans to drive growth, enhance market share, and maximize profitability. It owns the narrative for customer meetings and coaches the sales team, using market trends, category performance, and trade activities to optimize performance and strengthen Sartori’s position as a category leader in Specialty Cheese. The role partners with sales representatives, analyzes market and consumer data, builds selling narratives, develops relationships with retail category management and merchant teams, and tracks category performance. It supports trade promotion evaluation and planning, creates and optimizes omnichannel trade initiatives, builds analytical dashboards, and provides insights to leadership. The Associate Category Manager collaborates with sales, marketing, supply chain, finance, retailers, and distributors, and advocates for using AI and emerging technologies to improve category management, trade marketing, growth, and efficiency. The role is primarily remote, with onsite presence at the Pleasant View location in Plymouth, Wisconsin, based on business needs. Remote work must be performed within Wisconsin or another state approved under company policy. Periodic travel of up to 35% is required to Sartori facilities and customer or vendor sites.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Business Analytics, Economics, Finance, Food Marketing, or a related field.
At least 2 years of experience in Category Management, Trade Marketing, or a similar role within the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry.
Expert-level retail data analytics and visualization skills using Scan, Panel, and other data sources.
Experience presenting to internal and retail customer teams.
Valid driver’s license, proof of insurance, and reliable transportation for work-related travel.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA).

Responsibilities

Partner with sales representatives to establish Sartori’s position as a category leader within Specialty Cheese.
Analyze market trends, consumer insights, and the competitive landscape to identify category growth opportunities.
Build and communicate selling narratives aligned with business objectives.
Develop relationships with retail customer category management and merchant teams.
Establish, track, and communicate category performance metrics, adjusting strategies as needed.
Synthesize syndicated and proprietary data, including IRI, Nielsen, Numerator, 84.51, and POS data, to recommend assortment optimization, pricing architecture, and shelving solutions.
Support the Director of Sales Strategy in evaluating and optimizing trade promotions and recommending improvements.
Guide the annual promotional planning process with the sales team.
Design, track, and optimize omnichannel trade initiatives to elevate brand visibility and deliver positive ROI.
Use analysis tools to interpret sales data and develop actionable strategies and tactics.
Build dashboards and deliver insights related to brand, category, shopper, and trade marketing.
Provide actionable insights to leadership based on data findings.
Collaborate with sales, marketing, supply chain, and finance to connect work to company objectives.
Coordinate with retailers and distributors to optimize product placement and promotions.
Build understanding of other departments, their roles, and processes to support the broader organization with ideas and fact-based narratives.
Leverage AI and emerging technologies to advance category management and trade marketing.
Champion a growth mindset by integrating, measuring, and refining new tools and approaches to drive sustainable growth and efficiency.