Senior National Director, Category Management

About the role

The Senior National Director, Category Management serves as the single point of accountability for the business performance of one or more product categories, owning category strategy and integrated P&L performance across all states and products. This role is responsible for driving revenue growth, gross margin expansion, net pricing optimization, and trade investment decisions while aligning cross-functional teams around a unified category strategy.

Responsibilities

• Own and defend the category's financial performance against plan, including: Revenue, Gross Margin, Net Price, Trade Spend.
• Deliver monthly variance analyses and performance commentary.
• Lead quarterly portfolio and business reviews with executive leadership.
• Serve as the single accountable owner for all significant category recommendations.
• Integrate input from Sales, Marketing, Finance, Supply & Demand Planning, and Pricing/RGM into one unified recommendation.
• Ensure every recommendation clearly demonstrates the impact on revenue, margin, and profitability.
• Lead the monthly category planning and forecasting process.
• Secure cross-functional alignment and sign-off on category forecasts.
• Present the official category forecast used by leadership for business planning.
• Maintain accountability for forecast accuracy and business performance results.
• Develop growth plans built on clearly defined opportunities, including: Specific products, Target markets, Key customer accounts, Timelines, Accountable owners.
• Ensure growth initiatives are measurable, evidence-based, and free of overlap or double-counting.
• Identify root causes of revenue, margin, volume, or share variances.
• Develop corrective action plans and recovery recommendations.
• Escalate key decisions through appropriate governance forums.
• Drive issues to resolution, ensuring performance gaps result in actionable decisions.
• Partner with Product Development to manage the category portfolio.
• Make launch, expansion, maintenance, and discontinuation recommendations based on: Velocity, Distribution, Margin performance, Market opportunity.
• Optimize portfolio effectiveness and overall category profitability.
• Partner with Pricing and Revenue Growth Management (RGM) to evaluate pricing and promotional strategies.
• Approve promotions based on financial and P&L impact.
• Maintain pricing integrity and trade-spend guardrails.
• Escalate pricing and investment exceptions through established approval channels.

Requirements

• Demonstrated ownership of a large-scale product or category P&L, including accountability for revenue growth, gross margin, net pricing, trade investment, promotional strategy, and overall profitability at the Director level or above.
• Strong expertise in category management, portfolio strategy, product lifecycle management, new product launch strategy, and portfolio optimization within consumer packaged goods, cannabis, or similarly regulated consumer industries.
• Proven experience designing, implementing, or significantly enhancing commercial operating cadences, Integrated Business Planning (IBP), Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), or Sales & Operations Execution (S&OE) processes.
• Advanced knowledge of demand forecasting, supply-demand balancing, forecast accuracy management, and plan-versus-actual-versus-forecast performance analysis.
• Deep understanding of Revenue Growth Management (RGM) principles, including pricing strategy and governance, promotion planning, ROI analysis, gross-to-net management, trade spend optimization, and margin enhancement initiatives.
• Strong financial acumen with the ability to interpret P&L performance, identify business drivers, evaluate investment decisions, and translate analysis into actionable commercial recommendations.
• Advanced analytical capabilities with experience leveraging retail and POS data platforms, consumer insights, Microsoft Excel, financial modeling, and business intelligence tools such as Power BI or Tableau.
• Able to distinguish between preliminary commercial reporting and finance-validated performance results when evaluating category performance and communicating business outcomes.
• Excellent executive-level communication, presentation, negotiation, and influence skills, including the ability to drive alignment across senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Demonstrated success influencing and aligning Sales, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, Product Development, Revenue Growth Management, and other cross-functional stakeholders without reliance on a large direct-report structure.
• Strategic thinking, decision-making under ambiguity, change management, continuous improvement, and execution discipline.
• Demonstrated ability to influence stakeholders, drive alignment, and lead complex business initiatives across multiple functions in a matrixed environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Finance, Economics, Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Data Analytics, or a related field required.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in Category Management, Brand Management, Product Management, Commercial Strategy, Revenue Growth Management, or related commercial leadership functions.
• Experience within consumer packaged goods (CPG), beverage, alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, or other highly regulated consumer product industries.
• Demonstrated ownership of a product category, portfolio, business unit, or commercial P&L with accountability for revenue growth, profitability, pricing, and investment decisions.
• Experience leading cross-functional business planning, forecasting, portfolio optimization, and commercial strategy initiatives.
• Proven ability to influence senior leadership and drive alignment across Sales, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, Product Development, and other cross-functional stakeholders.
• Experience utilizing data, analytics, market intelligence, and consumer insights to support strategic business decisions.

Skills

• Category Management
• Revenue Growth Management (RGM)
• Product Management and Portfolio Optimization
• Commercial Strategy Development
• Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP)
• Integrated Business Planning (IBP)
• Demand Forecasting and Forecast Accuracy Management
• Pricing Strategy and Trade Promotion Management
• Consumer Insights and Retail Analytics
• Data Analytics and Business Intelligence

Benefits

N/A

Pay

N/A

Schedule

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