Category Manager

Why work at HARIBO?

The original and iconic Goldbears, created in 1922, have delighted kids and grown-ups for over 100 years! Our associates are our most valuable asset. At HARIBO of America we are committed to a comprehensive benefit program that helps our employee stay healthy, feel secure, and maintain a positive work life balance. We provide fully paid health insurance premiums and generous HSA contribution, 11 paid Holiday plus Paid Time Off/PTO, competitive 401(k), tuition reimbursement, and more. Additionally, we offer community involvement opportunities and career growth opportunities.

Category Manager

Start: immediately in Rosemont, IL (Remote, field-based position) / United States
Our Category Management team is growing! As a Category Manager and a member of our center-of-excellence Category Management team, the Category Manager plays a strategic role supporting HARIBO of America’s sales growth. **Please note-- this is not procurment or buyer position**
Supporting our field Sales organization, the Category Manager will deliver insight led strategies to support our fact-based sales development teams to help HARIBO's continued growth as the leader in the gummi candy category. This data driven role will work behind-the-scenes as well as joining our sales team at customer (retailer) calls. This role works cross-functionally with both internal and external stakehodlers to maximize category growth and drive competitive advantage for HARIBO.

Responsibilities

• Develop retailer-specific category growth strategies to maximize category growth and drive competitive advantage for HARIBO
• Utilze deep expertise of syndicated sales data ( NielsenIQ, IRI, Circana, etc) to support and influence HARIBO's strategy
• Deliver actionable 4P insights related to retail sales – Product, Placement, Pricing, Promotion - that directly fuel selling efforts and joint business planning
• Create customer (retailer) facing selling stories, modular support decks, innovation sell-in materials, promotional recaps, and seasonal reviews
• Participate in sales meetings, customer (retailer) presentations, and HQ/headquarter calls with our field Sales teams (NAMs, BDMs, etc)
• Support modular planning processes including item rationalization, assortment optimization, shelf planning, and new item setups
• Contribute to broader Sales Center of Excellence initiatives, ensuring insights and processes scale across retailers and channels
• Utlize scalable reporting tools and dashboards (using IRI/NielsenIQ, Numerator, and Power BI) to drive data-based decision-making

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree
• 5+ years of experience in Category Management or Category Management related roles within the CPG/Consumer Packaged Goods industry (working directly for the consumer brand/consumer product)
• Deep expertise in syndicated sales data tools such as IRI, Circana, NielsenIQ, or other related syndicated sales data tools
• Prior experience presenting category management data and recommendations to key decision makers, internal and external stakeholders

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience in candy, confectionery, snacks, or salty snack categories is strongly preferred
• The ideal candidate will live near a major airport due to the amount of nationwide travel required for this role

Skills

• Deep expertise in syndicated sales data tools such as IRI, Circana, NielsenIQ, or other related syndicated sales data tools
• Exceptional communicator and presenter with a track record of simplifying complexity and delivering executive-ready insights, and telling a story with data.
• Turn insights into action
• Ability to influence internal and external stakeholders
• Advanced Excel skills
• Exceptional ability to simply complex data into compelling, action-oriented selling stories
• Strategic thinking with strong business acumen and passion for driving sustainable, insights-led growth

Compensation

Target Hiring Pay Range: $118,000 - $144,000 annually