Associate Category Manager

Mars•Toronto, ON

7d•CA$86,444 - CA$113,458•Hybrid

About The Position

The Associate Category Manager in the Pet Nutrition Business is accountable for the understanding and analysis of the category and providing objective, strategic, and tactical category insights and recommendations to retail partners. You will be actively involved in identifying opportunities, including analyzing sales performance, promotional activities, item assortment, and shelving strategy and execution. You will also provide best-in-class examples and insights from the global category community and other available assets. You will be responsible for external communication with key retail partners, supporting ad hoc requests, ongoing reporting, strategy reviews, shelf planning and creation, and insight generation using current tools and other industry resources. You will report to the Team Lead. This role is based in Bolton with regular in-office collaboration expected. Flexibility is a key enabler—empowering associates to make choices that support both business outcomes and personal needs, including remote work.

Requirements

University degree in Business or a related field
Minimum 1-3 years CPG industry experience with knowledge of grocery/drug/mass channels
Excellent analytical skills and the ability to interpret data from a mix of data sources, translate insights into relevant strategies and tactics (actions/initiatives) and execute with retail partners in a clear, simple and engaging way
Ability to build effective relations and influence decisions, having the confidence to use data to reinforce your opinions
In-store and/or Customer experience and understanding of how to develop engaging and actionable category solutions
Advanced Excel skills and PowerPoint skills

Nice To Haves

Category Management experience an asset
Nielsen data analysis and Numerator insights experience an asset
Shelf Management software (JDA ProSpace or similar) knowledge an asset
Retailer POS systems experience an asset

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain strong relationships with key retail partners
Monitor performance and address issues promptly to maintain high standards.
Establish reputation as a category thought leader
Conducting ongoing analysis of the category and support in deriving insights from the analysis
Develop recommendations to support category growth
Leverage local and global insights and best practices to provide actionable strategies for retail partners
Conduct assortment analysis to provide recommendations on items not carried by the retailer that perform well in the marketplace
Draw planograms for various store formats and sizes to drive shelf quality and availability excellence, leveraging JDA
Participate in annual strategic planning with retail partners
Ensure compliance with retailer policies, industry regulations, and quality standards