Director Category Management, Qunol

Opella•Montville Township, NJ

1d•$150,000 - $210,000

About The Position

The Director, Category Management plays a critical strategic leadership role within Qunol, responsible for shaping the long‑term category vision and elevating Qunol’s presence across the Vitamins, Minerals & Supplements (VMS) category, where Qunol is recognized as the #3 VMS player. This role drives enterprise level insights, leads customer-facing thought leadership, and influences both internal and retailer strategies to unlock sustainable category and brand growth. As the organization’s senior category strategist, you serve as the proactive trend‑finder and expert on emerging consumer, category, and competitive dynamics particularly within Qunol’s core growth spaces. You will partner closely with Sales, Sales Strategy, and Marketing to integrate category thinking into commercial planning, while also engaging directly with senior retail partners to shape their category strategies. This role blends strategic vision, analytical leadership, and hands‑on execution developing category frameworks, uncovering growth opportunities, and driving retailer-ready recommendations that position Qunol as a best‑in‑class insights partner.

Requirements

10+ years of CPG industry experience (VMS, OTC, consumer health, or wellness strongly preferred) with a track record of category strategy leadership.
Proven ability to translate complex datasets into strategic direction and influence senior stakeholders.
Expert in syndicated data (Nielsen, IRI, NIQ), shopper panel insights, and advanced analytics.
Exhibit the ability to lead the strategic direction of the Category Management function while operating independently, influencing direction, priorities, and best practice development across the organization.
Strong retailer influence experience, including leading category reviews and guiding strategic direction with buyers and senior leadership.
Experience developing and deploying enterprise-wide shelving or planogram standards.
Exceptional communication skills and advanced data storytelling capability.
Strong collaboration skills with Sales, Marketing, Trade, Insights, and Finance.
Experience with retailer specific shelving research
Exceptional communication and customer-facing presentation skills, with proven ability to build fact-based, visually compelling decks.
Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree preferred.

Nice To Haves

Experience evaluating trade and promotional effectiveness preferred.

Responsibilities

Own and refine the long‑term VMS category vision, translating market trends, consumer shifts, and competitive activity into strategic direction that informs Qunol’s enterprise priorities.
Build and deliver omni-channel category strategies that drive sales, share, and retailer collaboration across both brick-and-mortar and digital channels with the ability to align senior stakeholders.
Serve as Qunol’s senior subject matter expert on the VMS landscape.
Define the enterprise insights learning agenda, guiding the use of syndicated data, shopper research, and advanced analytics to uncover growth opportunities and inform strategic recommendations for assortment, pricing, shelving, promotion, and whitespace expansion leverage industry best practices
Lead shopper insights development in partnership with internal teams and external research agencies.
Influence senior retail partners through category narratives, strategy frameworks, reviews, and Joint Business Planning inputs.
Establish enterprise‑wide category merchandising principles and Best‑in‑Class shelving standards inclusive of planogram guidance, assortment optimization, adjacencies, and digital shelf strategy.
Shape promotional strategy with Trade Marketing and Sales to evaluate market dynamics and promotional ROI.
Lead cross-functional alignment to embed category strategy into customer planning and enterprise decision-making.
Contribute to a high‑performance, collaborative culture through thought leadership and partnership.