Job Description

Senior Category Manager

The Senior Category Manager (SCM) will lead brand performance at key accounts by optimizing product assortments, merchandising strategies, and leveraging data-driven insights to identify growth opportunities while managing risks. This role is critical in strengthening customer relationships through strategic presentations, annual reviews, and the provision of actionable data analytics & insights to drive business growth (including available sell through and sell out data).

The SCM supports a strong working relationship between Sales and Marketing, overseeing the Trade Marketing Team to discover and develop regional marketing strategies, and maximize retailer partnerships. The SCM collaborates seamlessly across Sales, Brand, Marketing, and Product teams to ensure alignment on the 4Ps, merchandising strategies, and successful product launches.

This position is also responsible for developing category strategies, overseeing market data analysis, and designing & implementing promotional strategies aligned with business objectives.

Remote work is possible for this position.

Responsibilities

• Category Strategy : Develop and implement a comprehensive category strategy that balances the needs of the consumer, customer, and business and which supports the company’s channel, brand, and portfolio strategies.
• Market Research & Competitive Analysis: Conduct in-depth research and analysis of market data, including competitor activity, pricing, market share, and business opportunities.
• Merchandising Strategy: Establish and execute best practices for merchandising strategies that drive brand performance and optimize product placement.
• Pricing and Promotion Strategy: Collaborate on the development and execution of pricing & promotional strategies; monitor and assess their effectiveness to ensure they contribute to category growth and enhance customer engagement.
• Business Planning : Play a leadership role in the cross-function creation of market-level business plans and, go-to-market strategies that are designed to meet overall business objectives.
• Key Account Management: Work in deep collaboration with Key Account Managers to support effective planning and execution of business, category, brand and, merchandizing strategies across key accounts. Collaborate on the tracking and analysis of performance, including identifying growth opportunities and mitigating risks. Support key account teams by preparing and presenting materials at critical customer-facing meetings. Develop rapport and relationships with our most strategic key account partners.
• Training & Development: Recommend and develop training tools for internal teams and external stakeholders to support category knowledge and performance.
• Forecasting: Input on forecasting processes to improve our ability to align product demand with sales and marketing projections, ensuring supply chain readiness.
• Collaboration & Coaching: Coach internal teams on effective collaboration methods to ensure the successful execution of category strategies and business goals.
• Product & Innovation Collaboration: Collaborate on developing new product ideas and optimizing existing products, ensuring both meet consumer needs, align with market trends, and contribute to category growth.
• Trade Marketing Team Management : Manage the trade marketing team to deliver regionally-relevant marketing strategies & support. Oversee the planning & execution for Trade Marketing’s scope of work, including sales training & support tools, retailer co-op marketing initiatives (online, in-store, OOH, etc.) , and in-person trade & consumer events. Ensure strategy and tactics align with overall business objectives.

Skills & Abilities

• Proven project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple deadlines and cross-departmental impacts.
• Strong understanding of category strategy development, market trends, and consumer behavior.
• Proven track record of managing product assortments, pricing, and promotions to drive new consumers to retail and, to drive category growth.
• Ability to clearly articulate functional plans and strategies to maximize outcomes and align with company goals.
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically, with expertise in developing short-to-medium-term plans that align with long-term objectives.
• Strong accountability for function performance and key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Effective and results-focused communicator, both written and verbal.
• Cross functional collaborator with proven track-record of collaborating with and, aligning sales and marketing teams to category objectives.
• Expertise in utilizing data and analytics to support decision-making and achieve business objectives.
• Ability to recommend data-driven solutions to senior management.
• Critical thinking and the ability to analyze complex data to make informed decisions.
• Proven track record of managing budgets and resources effectively.
• Bilingual in both English and French language would be an asset.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or a related field
• 10+ years of experience in Category Management, preferably within the CPG industry
• 5+ years of people management experience

To apply, please submit your resume to this posting or email it directly to Alexandra.Bunardzic@summitsearchgroup.com . Please note only qualified individuals will be contacted.

Summit Search Group is a fair and equitable search firm. We welcome and encourage applications from all candidates regardless of ethnicity, race, religious beliefs, disability, age, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the recruitment and selection process.

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