Your Opportunity as the Director, Category Leadership
This position is accountable for shaping and advancing Smucker’s Category Leadership capabilities to deliver SBA growth, strengthen customer partnerships, and elevate commercial performance across the Pet portfolio. The Director will set the strategic vision for unlocking category growth through disciplined data, insights, and shopper activation across the category, Smucker, and key retailers. This leader will develop and steward current and long-range category strategies that optimize assortment, shelf space, aisle vision, and investment choices while fully leveraging consumer, shopper, retailer, and marketplace intelligence. As a strategic business partner, this role will influence annual sales planning, revenue growth management, NRO, innovation, long-range planning, brand planning, insight priorities, and budget decisions. The Director will also build future-ready organizational capabilities by setting clear expectations, developing talent, and elevating the team’s strategic impact across the Pet SBA and JMS Enterprise.
Location: Orrville, OH (Close proximity to Cleveland/Akron)
Work Arrangements: Hybrid - onsite a minimum of 9 days a month primarily during core weeks as determined by the Company; maybe more as business need requires
In this role, you will:
Champion the translation and synthesis of consumer, shopper, retailer, and marketplace insights into enterprise-level category growth strategies and priorities.
Define high-value customer and channel opportunities that strengthen joint business plans and shape long-term growth agendas
Establish the Category Leadership vision, plan, and roadmap grounded in insight-led opportunities and enterprise priorities
Lead the development and deployment of compelling national category narratives that can be translated into customized customer growth plans
Convert category strategy into retailer-specific growth agendas, executive-level stories, and strategic initiatives that influence customer decision-making.
Prioritize and activate key retailer opportunities that advance joint business plans and unlock sustainable category growth
Shape retailer category strategies through differentiated, account-specific insights, executive influence, and pragmatic commercial recommendations
Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing Category Leadership team, setting clear expectations for strategic ownership, business impact, and enterprise collaboration.
Create meaningful growth opportunities that build leadership depth, strengthen succession readiness, and expand team capabilities
Provide direct feedback, strategic direction, and coaching that accelerates individual performance and strengthens team effectiveness
Partner with SBA leaders to drive a unified Category Leadership strategy, consistent language, and aligned ways of working across the enterprise
Strengthen connectivity between field sales, strategy, insights, and portfolio priorities to ensure integrated execution and enterprise alignment
Influence Insights priorities and budgets to ensure the organization is investing in the capabilities, data, and analytics required to support category growth
Define, scale, and embed Category Leadership best practices that raise the standard for strategic customer engagement and commercial impact
Maintain an enterprise-forward perspective on category trends, systems, capabilities, retailer needs, and marketplace dynamics to anticipate future growth requirements
Evaluate the work required in the future-state organization and proactively build the capabilities, leadership competencies, and experiences needed to lead in a more integrated and broadly scoped environment
Model Director-level expectations by demonstrating enterprise thinking and proactive ownership, decisive leadership, and the ability to set direction
Key Leadership Expectations:
Be proactive by setting direction and define priorities with PET SBA
Elevate strategic thinking across the team by connecting category opportunities to broader business growth choices
Lead with proactive ownership, sound judgment, and accountability in a more integrated and broadly scoped organization
Build future-ready capabilities by developing talent, strengthening cross-functional influence, and raising the standard for Director-level leadership
What we are looking for:
Minimum Requirements:
Bachelor’s degree.
10+ years of relevant experience in the CPG industry
5+ years of shopper insights or category management experience
Proven experience leading teams of five or more direct reports, with a track record of setting vision, building capability, and inspiring a team to execute with excellence
Enterprise-minded strategic leader with the ability to envision future-state teams, processes, capabilities, and customer relationships
Executive presence and resonant leadership, with the ability to engage, inspire, and lead inclusively while creating clarity, confidence, and accountability
Strong ability to communicate, present, influence, and align senior leaders, cross-functional partners, executive stakeholders, and C-level audiences
Highly self-directed leader with the judgment, agility, and ownership required to lead through change, manage competing enterprise priorities, and deliver results
Exceptional executive communication skills, strong business acumen, and rigorous attention to detail
Ability to travel up to 25% of the work schedule
#LI-CM1
The Right Place for You
We are bold, kind, strive to do the right thing, we play to win, and we believe in a strong community that thrives together. Our culture is rooted in our Basic Beliefs, and we believe in supporting every employee by meeting their physical, emotional, and financial needs.
Stay connected with us on LinkedIn®
We're an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, age, national origin, disability status or protected veteran status.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree
- 10+ years of relevant experience in the CPG industry
- 5+ years of shopper insights or category management experience
- Experience leading teams of five or more direct reports
- Ability to set vision, build capability, and inspire teams to execute effectively
- Enterprise-minded strategic leadership and ability to envision future-state teams, processes, capabilities, and customer relationships
- Executive presence and resonant leadership
- Ability to communicate, present, influence, and align senior leaders, cross-functional partners, executives, and C-level audiences
- Self-directed leadership, sound judgment, agility, and ownership in managing change and competing priorities
- Exceptional executive communication skills, strong business acumen, and rigorous attention to detail
- Ability to travel up to 25% of the work schedule
The J.M. Smucker Co. Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about The J.M. Smucker Co. and has not been reviewed or approved by The J.M. Smucker Co..
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Retirement Support — Retirement programs are described as strong, with a company 401(k) match, immediate vesting in some materials, and access to an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. These elements contribute to a favorable view of total compensation value.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave for all parents and on-site childcare at key locations signal a family-forward approach. Additional supports such as adoption assistance and pet-related leave reinforce this emphasis.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid time off, seasonal compressed schedules, and flexibility options are highlighted across materials. The ability to start with substantial PTO and buy additional time enhances perceived time-off breadth.
The J.M. Smucker Co. Insights
What We Do
Each generation of consumers leaves their mark on culture by establishing new expectations for food and the companies that make it. At The J.M. Smucker Co., it is our privilege to be at the heart of this dynamic with a portfolio that appeals to each generation of people and pets with products found in 90 percent of U.S. homes and countless restaurants. This includes a mix of iconic brands consumers have always loved such as Folgers®, Jif® and Milk-Bone® and new favorites like Café Bustelo®, Smucker’s® Uncrustables® and Rachael Ray® Nutrish®. By continuing to immerse ourselves in consumer and pet parent preferences for food, how it’s purchased and how the companies that make it should operate, we will maintain the important role we play in their lives. This will allow us to continue growing our business and the positive impact we have on all of those who count on us.
