Category Marketing Manager

Ventura Foods • Irvine, CA

39d • Remote

About The Position

The Category Marketing Manager is responsible for driving growth and innovation within the Mayonnaise category by translating operator and market insights into compelling value propositions, differentiated products, and effective go-to-market strategies. This role partners cross-functionally with Sales, Customer Success, Culinary, R&D, and Digital Marketing to lead product development, commercialization, and category marketing initiatives that strengthen Ventura Food’s market position with national accounts, distributors, and foodservice operators. The position plays a critical role in building category leadership, enabling the sales organization, and delivering profitable growth through data-driven marketing strategies and portfolio management. The ideal candidate would reside within the United States.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, or related field.
• 5+ years of marketing, category management, or product management experience.
• Experience within the foodservice, food manufacturing, or B2B food industry.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional product development or commercialization initiatives.
• Has category management experience and can establish and implement an annual marketing plan.
• Has proven cross-functional and commercialization leadership and is able to develop new products using research and customer feedback and launch effectively with sales and customers.
• Understands and executes B2B marketing and sales enablement.
• Strong interpersonal, presentation, and storytelling skills.
• Able to develop brand fundamentals, agency briefs and evaluate and execute creative and media plans.
• Can contribute to strategy development and understands financial impact.
• Has excellent planning and organization, project management and time management skills.

Nice To Haves

• MBA or advanced business degree.
• Experience working with national accounts, distributors, or foodservice operators.
• Background in category management, portfolio strategy, or insights-driven marketing.

Responsibilities

• Analyze category performance, operator trends, and competitive dynamics to identify growth opportunities and inform category plans.
• Translate market insights into actionable business recommendations including product innovation, pricing strategy, and portfolio optimization.
• Develop category expertise and serve as the internal subject matter expert across Ventura Foods.
• Lead cross-functional new product development initiatives from concept through commercialization in partnership with R&D, Culinary, Sales, and Operations.
• Define product positioning, value proposition, pricing strategy, and launch plans for new product introductions.
• Conduct post-launch performance reviews to optimize product performance and identify future innovation opportunities.
• Develop integrated go-to-market strategies including sales tools, promotions, and digital marketing campaigns.
• Partner with Digital Marketing to execute lead generation programs and measure campaign effectiveness and ROI.
• Build compelling product narratives and category stories that resonate with operators, distributors, and national account customers.
• Support national accounts and distributor partners with product recommendations, formula selection, and category solutions.
• Develop category training content and videos to build Ventura's Food category leadership and enable effective selling.
• Contribute to annual category growth planning including pricing, product mix, and promotional strategy.
• Lead brand SKU rationalization and category portfolio optimization.

Benefits

• Medical, Prescription, Dental, & Vision – coverage beginning on your 1st day for eligible employees
• Profit Sharing and 401(k) matching (after eligible criteria is met)
• Paid Vacation, Sick Time, and Holidays
• Employee Appreciation Events
• Employee Assistance Programs
• Annual bonus (based on the incentive program terms and conditions)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees