Category Management & Insights Director

Mars•New York, NY

2d•$147,000 - $200,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Champion Petfoods is expanding and seeking a Category Management & Insights Director to join their rapidly growing company. Champion Petfoods is an award-winning pet food crafter with a reputation of trust spanning over 35 years. With its ORIJEN® and ACANA® brands, Champion is a key player in the global premium pet food industry. Their purpose is to 'Earn Pet Lover Trust Every Day so Pets Thrive for a Lifetime,' which forms the foundation for their highest aspirations as a company. They prioritize being a partner to the communities they surround and the environment that sustains them. This role is ideal for individuals passionate about personal and professional growth who want to contribute to the continued success of an award-winning company. The Category Management & Insights Director is responsible for providing category insights and analytics to drive growth for Dog and Cat products within North America. The mission is to deliver unparalleled value to sales, marketing, and retail partners by offering best-in-class portfolio management strategies, shelf leadership, and category insights to unlock accelerated growth. This associate will manage a team of category management and analytics professionals and collaborate closely with team members across US and Canadian sales, regional and global marketing teams, sales revenue management, and finance professionals. This role operates from their Colorado, Nashville, or New York City offices with a hybrid schedule requiring 3 days in-person.

Requirements

10+ years’ experience in Consumer Packaged Goods.
Deep expertise in category management and analytics.
Demonstrated experience building and leading high-performing teams.
Demonstrated experience building Best-in-Class ways-of-working with Sales, Insights, and Regional Marketing teams.
Advanced Experience with Panel and Scan Syndicated Data (IRI or Nielsen).
Advanced Experience with Space Management Software (JDA or Apollo).
Ability to travel 20% of the time.

Responsibilities

Provide guidance and recommendations to Sales teams to enable Champion Petfoods category leadership and growth with Retail partners.
Provide category, brand, and product analytics and insights to enable strategic planning and advantage for Champion Petfoods brands, including assortment reviews, pricing analysis, new item introductions, promotional planning and evaluation, and shopper usage analysis.
Provide ongoing information to the team and stakeholders regarding initiatives, opportunities, issues, and changes to plans.
Monitor and communicate relevant market data to customers and internal stakeholders.
Present macro-trends and solutions to stakeholders.
Research and provide direction to stakeholders on trends as they present themselves via industry journals/experts.
Develop and deliver timely reporting for the evaluation of customers and Champion Petfoods performance.
Leverage access to all information systems that affect the ability to perform category analysis and implement category management processes.
Utilize tools and processes such as item optimization, customized marketing, shelf space optimization/utilization, in-store merchandising, pricing, and promotion planning.