Category Manager

Company Description

JDE USA, headquartered in Maynard, MA, is a fast-growing premium consumer packaged goods company that is a standalone subsidiary of JDE Peet’s, the largest pure-play coffee and tea company globally. JDE Peet’s business is fueled by a supply chain reaching more than 100 countries, unleashing the possibilities of coffee & tea through their strong portfolio of global, regional and local brands. These brands are built upon a rich history and heritage deeply rooted in the diverse coffee & tea cultures in which we work. The JDE Peet’s portfolio supplies coffee and tea to everyone, no matter who they are, where they are, or what their preferences are. JDE USA offers Tea Forté globally and L’OR Coffee in the U.S.

Job Description

The Category Manager role is perfect for an individual interested in working in a fast-paced, high-growth, and entrepreneurial environment. The Category Manager is responsible for delivering best in class insights and analytics that support the sales team in developing and executing strategic growth plans.

This individual will proactively share recommendations and category management best practices across the organization to drive scale. They will be the subject matter expert for all sales analysis in the tea and coffee categories fostering a culture of data-driven decision making and accountability for metrics and results. Key responsibilities include maintaining a deep understanding of category dynamics and developing strategic recommendations based on findings, developing and maintaining omnichannel reporting tools, category and customer focused analytic support for sales presentations, post promotion analytics, trade strategy recommendations and development and deployment of monthly scorecards to internal stakeholders.

The ideal candidate will have a high level of comfort working independently as well as collaborating with cross functional partners to deliver results. This is a hybrid position which requires a minimum of 2 days a week in the Maynard, MA office.

What you’ll Do:

• Leverage syndicated (IRI/Circana, NPD, Pyxis, Numerator) and retailer data to provide actionable insights and build informed growth strategies.
• Partner with Consumer Insights and Marketing teams to deliver integrated consumer, shopper and category insights and actionable recommendations.
• Accelerate data analysis by developing tools that integrate multiple data sources and deliver a holistic omnichannel view of category performance.
• Create monthly category scorecards for tea and coffee tracking sales trends, distribution, pricing, promotion and competitive activity and distribute to internal stakeholders with key findings.
• Initiate and lead quarterly category review sessions to educate the sales team on key category trends and insights.
• Create in store and online assortment plans that maximize sales growth for both tea and coffee.
• Build customer presentations that deliver retailer centric and fact base selling stories to drive category decisions.
• Proactively develop category management presentations for customer line reviews.
• Deliver post promotion analysis with recommendations to optimize trade plans.
• Drive forecast accuracy improvement by providing insights on channel, customer and category market trends as part of the integrated business planning process.
• Identify and proactively elevate business risks and opportunities that are backed with data and translated into actionable recommendations.
• Provide custom category management reporting and special project work to the leadership team as needed.
• Maintain expertise of category management best practices, processes and applications.

Qualifications

• BA/BS degree from an accredited institution required
• A minimum of 7 years of CPG experience with a focus on category management or business analytics/shopper insights
• Nielsen or Circana/IRI experience required, experience with NPD, Pixys or Numerator a plus.
• Proficiency with MS Office Suite, with demonstrated mastery of Excel and PowerPoint to create effective sales presentations
• Demonstrated strategic storytelling skills that leverage insights to build actionable recommendations
• Experience translating channel, category and customer insights into growth strategies
• Exceptional communication skills (verbal, written and presentation)
• Proven ability to identify and solve problems then implement solutions
• Willingness to adapt quickly in a rapidly changing environment
• Ability to work independently and collaborate cross functionally
• Strong organizational and time management skills
• Collaborative, proactive, driven and self-motivated
• Experience working with NetSuite is a plus