Category Development Manager

About the role

The Category Manager helps identify opportunities for growth by turning data and market insights into actionable business recommendations. Working closely with internal teams and customer partners, this role supports category strategies, drives collaboration, and helps deliver solutions that meet customer and consumer needs.

Responsibilities

• Build strong relationships with customer partners and serve as a trusted resource for category insights and growth opportunities.
• Develop expertise in category trends, consumer behavior, competitive activity, and product performance across both in-store and online channels.
• Support assortment, merchandising, pricing, promotional, and new product strategies that drive category growth.
• Analyze data from multiple sources to identify opportunities, risks, and performance gaps, and translate insights into actionable recommendations.
• Partner with Sales, Marketing, Insights, eCommerce, and other cross-functional teams to support business planning, performance tracking, and growth initiatives.
• Present recommendations and category insights in a clear and compelling way to customers and internal stakeholders.
• Develop deep expertise in the beverage category and broader market trends.
• Utilize sales, consumer, market, and retailer data to identify growth opportunities and support strategic decision-making.
• Lead category reviews and provide recommendations related to assortment, pricing, merchandising, and promotional effectiveness.
• Support shelf and merchandising optimization initiatives to improve the customer and shopper experience.
• Analyze new product performance, sales trends, product mix, and merchandising effectiveness.
• Create and maintain dashboards, scorecards, and reporting tools that track business performance and key metrics.
• Deliver custom analyses, trend reporting, and business recommendations for internal and external stakeholders.
• Stay informed on industry trends and category management best practices to continuously improve capabilities and business impact.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Analytics, or related field preferred
• 3–5 years of experience in CPG, retail, or syndicated data with a focus on category management, sales, analytics, or shopper insights
• Strong experience leveraging syndicated (e.g., Nielsen, Circana), POS/loyalty (e.g., 84.51, dunnhumby), and panel data to drive sales and share growth
• Proven ability to build collaborative partnerships with retail customers and cross-functional teams
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word)
• Strong communication and presentation skills
• Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Working knowledge of retail merchandising and in-store execution

Qualifications

• CPCM certification and/or Master’s degree
• Experience in sales or analytical sales support, including customer-facing engagement
• Experience working with third-party agencies (brokers, data/insight providers)
• Beverage/DSD experience
• Experience with analytical tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, SQL, Alteryx, ProSpace)

Skills

• Strong communication and presentation skills
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word)
• Collaborative partnership building
• Data analysis and interpretation
• Strategic thinking and decision-making
• Customer relationship management
• Merchandising and in-store execution
• Industry trends and best practices

Benefits

• Comprehensive Medical, Dental and Vision Plans
• 401k Match
• Family Leave
• PTO & Paid Holiday Schedule
• Pet, Legal, and Life Insurance
• Tuition Reimbursement

Pay

The base salary range for this position is $92,000 - 138,000 + cash incentives. Actual salary offers may vary based on work experience. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified.

Schedule

This position may be based in any of the following locations: Chicago, IL, Dallas, TX