Manager, Category Intelligence at Ferrara Pan Candy Co., Inc. in Chicago, Illinois

Job Description:

Job Location: Chicago





Want to make an impact?



The primary role of the Category Intelligence Manager is to develop and implement a 3-Year Tools and Capabilities Roadmap for the Category Leadership organization. Reporting directly to the Director of Category Intelligence, this individual will triangulate data from multiple sources and tools to advance the organization's understanding of key dynamics of our categories, retailers, marketplace and overall industry. Additionally, the role will identify data and tools gaps, scout solutions and construct robust training materials and plans to cultivate category leadership capabilities. The Category Intelligence function is part of our Category Leadership team. The Manager role is key to driving our business forward in a data-driven world.


We are looking for someone who is motivated by innovative uses of technology to help drive action for the business and gets excited about curating stories with data and bringing new ideas or applications of existing models/analyses to our team.




Ways you will make a difference

• Provide in-depth category analysis to uncover key drivers of performance, offering strategic recommendations for distribution/assortment, shelving and category growth.
• Collaborate with internal teams and external partners on cross-functional projects, providing category insights to inform broader commercial strategies
• Develop and leverage planograms to strategize on product placement, including strategies for space measurement, shelving, and cross-category opportunities
• Advance our analytics capabilities from mere data collection to generating insightful, actionable business strategies, employing a holistic "What, So What, Now What" approach
• Maintain a mindset of continuous improvement in techniques, and identifies new tools and technologies to increase effectiveness
• Ability to devise an effective solution in unstructured situations and navigate through ambiguity
  

• Insatiably and intellectually curious - motivated to dig into data, inspired to deliver accurate and actionable insights
• Ability to learn quickly, problem solve creatively and communicate persuasively; and then act with agility
• Collaborative, able to work with several internal and external stakeholders and present data in a professional and organized fashion.
• Strong oral/written communication and storytelling skills
• Having an ownership mentality with a drive to be a partner to the business
• Comfort working independently and through ambiguity
• Bias for action and passion for delivering results
  

• Bachelor's degree with 4-7 years of experience in consumer goods, preferably in food or other high velocity impulse categories (FMCG)
• Exceptional project management abilities, capable of prioritizing multiple projects simultaneously under tight deadlines.
• High proficiency in syndicated data sources (Circana, Nielsen, etc) - POS and Panel data platforms;
• Knowledge/Experience with retailer loyalty platforms and shipment data; Specific consideration given to 84.51 Stratum and/or Luminate experience
• High Proficiency in MS Office tools, specifically Excel navigation and Powerpoint
• Proficient/Expert in planogram/Space Management software (JDA preferred) with experience creating or reviewing planograms, and using them to strategize on product placement
• Proficient/Expert in Data analytics tools