Senior Category Manager

Shearer’s is a privately held producer, leading co-manufacturer, and distributor of quality snack foods sold under private labels across the nation. Ranking number one in private brand and contract manufactured salty snacks, as well as the number two supplier of private brand cookies and crackers in North America, you love our products, although you may not be familiar with our name! We utilize our manufacturing expertise to serve as a strategic supplier to our partners, who are nationally recognized retail and restaurant brands. With exceptional competence in product development, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution, we continue to embrace significant growth in each segment of our business. Headquartered in Massillon, Ohio, we have over 5,000 associates in 11 state-of-the-art manufacturing and distribution sites in North America. You can visit our website at www.Shearers.com.

Senior Category Manager 

Job Summary

The Senior Category Manager is responsible for building a strong partnership with all Shearer’s customers by leveraging data and insights to develop powerful selling stories that drive Shearer’s portfolio expansion and increase share of retailer items/shelf. As a senior manager in the organization, this individual must assist in driving strong cross-functional collaboration to build best practices in insights and category leadership. This role reports to our Sales SVP and will assist in strategy development, assortment recommendations, new item presentation, category business reviews, and all aspects of shelving and organizing products in a category friendly way online and offline. Utilizing consumer and shopper insights, you will develop innovative solutions to deliver mutually beneficial business growth. 

Your seat at the table

• Establish category management defining strategies to provide the framework for customer/account specific plans focused against merchandising, product assortment, placement, pricing, and promotion online and offline
• Serve as the category expert internally, creating compelling, actionable & measurable category plans and working collaboratively with cross-functional teams including sales, strategy, shopper marketing, and insights
• Develop and present comprehensive, concise, and objective category reviews incorporating shopper, consumer, retailer, syndicated and loyalty data
• Maintain tracking and reporting of company and customer assortments to monitor progress against goals, identify incremental opportunities to drive the business
• Present insights and provide strategic point of view in customer, internal, and board meetings as well as ad hoc discussions as applicable
• Develop long-term partnership with customers through tactical and strategic customer relationships, including senior level
• Collaborate with customer team to expand category leadership in omnichannel and digital solutions
• Bring intellectual curiosity and a forward-thinking mentality to maintain awareness of market trends and competitor strategies and adjust Shearer’s strategy accordingly
• Participates in the development of best practices in Category Management, and pursues the knowledge needed to improve departmental capabilities and professional agility

What you bring to the table

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Management, Finance, Accounting, Data Analytics, or related field, MBA preferred
• A minimum of 4-6 years of progressive sales, category management, trade marketing, analytics, consumer or shopper insights experience
• Proven experience leading customer engagements in both space and assortment, pricing strategy, trade promotion strategy, and omnichannel solutions, building indispensable, collaborative partnerships with retail customers
• Ability to develop and deliver a strategic plan, measuring and monitoring results, and make recommendations to achieve growth targets through category leadership
• Ability to present and calibrate critical challenges at the executive level
• Expertise in the Category Management process and proficient in syndicated and panel data as well as familiarity with pricing, promotion and assortment optimization software knowledge and experience working with customer POS data systems (experience with data sources such as Nielsen, IRI, NPD, Numerator, dunnhumby, Spectra/demographics)
• Advanced Microsoft Office Suite skills (Excel, Word and PowerPoint)
• Exceptional communication skills – verbal, written & presentation
• Strong planning/organizing skills; the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and create structure and process where it does not currently exist
• Strong understanding of industry and national category management and shopper insight trends, frameworks and best practices
• Extensive knowledge of retail merchandising and in store execution tactics

We Offer a Feast of Benefits

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Flexible Spending Account, Retirement Savings Plan with Match, Short Term Disability, Long Term Disability, Group Critical Accident Insurance, Group Critical Illness Insurance, Employee Assistance Plan and numerous opportunities to volunteer in the communities in which we operate.

You will be considered for employment in our inclusive workplace

Because at Shearer’s, we are committed to providing equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

This is your invitation to apply now!

Note: Shearer’s does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to any recruiting alias or employee. Shearer’s is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.

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