Manager - Commercial Strategy

Wm Bolthouse Farms Inc

2d•$110,000 - $120,000•Remote

About The Position

This role is a critical link between our sales, marketing, and customer teams—responsible for driving category growth, maximizing market opportunities, and ensuring that our portfolio delivers value to both customers and consumers. As a Manager of Commercial Strategy, you will lead go-to-market strategy, influence assortment and shelving decisions, and partner with sales, marketing, finance, and retail customers to optimize business performance. The role requires an understanding of product assortment, price, placement, and promotion to drive insights that lead to actions, and in turn, contributes to company sales and profits.

Requirements

CPG Category, consumer, & shopper knowledge
Extensive knowledge of category management principles and ability to apply to the Produce category
Strong communication skills (written and oral)
Exceptional analytical and project management skills
Excellent presentation, consensus-building and leadership abilities
Proven ability to work with cross-functional teams and influence others
Excellent time management, critical thinking and problem-solving skills
Self-driven to achieve goals; high energy level is essential; strong, dedicated work ethic
Able to source, collect and manipulate data to derive meaningful, actionable insights
Must be very proficient in Microsoft Office Applications, expert level in Excel and PowerPoint
Experience with building databases and mining syndicated data sources for insights (IRI/Nielsen)
Travel: ~20% required for account calls and sales meetings
Bachelor's degree
4+ years Sales, Category Management, Revenue Management, Customer Development, or other relevant experience in the CPG industry (including 2+ years in Analytics)

Nice To Haves

Produce category experience
Master’s Degree / MBA

Responsibilities

Customer Strategy: Set clear focus and lead strategic investment planning to maximize commercial opportunities and partnership with key customers
Go-to-Market Strategy: Utilize category insights to address G2M strategy and improve sales and profitability across assigned retailers and channels.
Analytics & Insights: Leverage syndicated data (e.g., Nielsen, IRI, Circana), shopper insights, and internal performance metrics to identify trends, gaps, and growth opportunities.
Cross-Functional Partnership: Work closely with Sales, Marketing, Revenue Management, and Supply Chain to align category strategies with overall business unit goals – inclusive of assortment optimization, price pack architecture, and promotional strategy execution.
Business Planning: Support annual joint business planning with customers by delivering category growth stories, shopper insights, and innovation opportunities.
Innovation Support: Partner with brand and innovation teams to influence product development and ensure successful launches at retail.
Maintain reporting tools ensuring up-to-date information is available to all sales and management personnel.
Provides on-going trend analysis of customer data (business performance and drivers) to seize value-creating opportunities re: new distribution, promotional effectiveness, trends and competitive activity; works with Sales to take corrective action as necessary
Along with National Sales Directors and Category Management, develop strategies for joint business planning, category reviews, and new item presentations.
Provides input into customer planning cycle based on knowledge of category and shopper trends, competitive issues, etc.
Help analyze and recommend action for go-to-market responses due to competition/channel activity
Performs other duties as apparent or assigned