Associate Category Leadership Manager

Job description

Job Summary:

If you have a proven track record of using category management to provide category insights that drive share and category growth across the categories where you compete and you are a self-starter who thrives on working in a rapidly changing industry, then consider the opportunities that lie ahead for you to broaden your leadership impact.

This position is part of the Unilever Food Solutions team and will directly support the Category Team at Sysco by identifying opportunities based on customer, category, and industry insights to grow the entire category.

This position is based in Houston, Texas.

Duties & Responsibilities:
• Directly supports Sysco corporate team with category analysis, customer insights, strategic marketing planning and thought leadership with a focus on maximizing share growth and profitability of the category.
• Develop analysis & insights that highlight assortment opportunities (at the local, regional and national levels) and identifies emerging product trends and risks
• Assist in the development of Sysco analytical capabilities and enhancements including leveraging category data to identify growth opportunities and strategies that deliver solutions to the operator
• Deliver general category management reporting to highlight business performance, as well as performs ad hoc analysis to support category initiatives and needs
• Supports category field activation team through the Category Team with necessary data and insights including sales targets at the operator level
• Provide regular customer and insights and recommendations resulting in a deeper understanding of the category
• Assist in the data and insight needs associated with the development of category business plans
• Develop strategic plans with customers that will address their overall category business plan, both in volume and profit goals to deliver industry leading results Prepare customer presentations to inspire the customer to adopt your category plans
• Turn fact based insights into action by:
• Leverage strong quantitative and qualitative analytical skills to mine internal and external data from multiple sources (Neilson, Technomic, NPD Supply Track, Data Essentials, NPD CREST, Menu Monitor and Unilever proprietary data.)
• Identify performance trends, volume, share, and profit, opportunities for our customers
• Recommend actions based on the analysis

Key Requirements:
• Bachelor Degree required in a related field; MBA preferred
• Preferred 2 + years category management experience with large and complex customers.
• Background in Food Service preferred.
• Ability to work with large amounts of data and pull out key insights
• Develops an efficient approach to clearly display findings from data (scorecards, dashboards, reporting etc.)
• Communicates effectively and routinely with Sysco Category Team
• Prioritizes work streams and manages multiple projects at the same time
• Self-starter who is internally motivated and takes initiative and ownership of tasks and projects
• Can succeed in an entrepreneurial environment
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build effective professional relationships both internally and externally at all levels.
• Strategic thinker with strong relationship building skills who can work effectively, and in a highly collaborative manner
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills
• Must have strong negotiation and influencing skills.
• Experience in Customer & Product segmentation, Category Strategy and Category Plans
• Organized and detail-oriented with strong oral and written communication skills.
• Advanced Presentation Skills, must be able to present to C Level Executives.
• Software - Fully proficient in Excel, PowerPoint, Supply Track, NPD CREST, Menu Monitor, and Technomic DRL.

Unilever offers a competitive compensation package which includes: Medical & Dental Plans, Life Insurance, including eligible spouses, domestic partners & children; Health Care Flexible Spending, Dependent Care, Retirement & Savings Plans, Tuition Reimbursement, Paid Vacation and Holidays.

Please note: as part of the job application, you will be asked to complete pre-screening questions. Completion of the pre-screening questions are mandatory in order to be considered. Please allow yourself plenty of time to complete both the application and pre-screening questions. If the pre-screening questions are partially answered or not at all, it will adversely affect the progress of your application. Please be aware that you will have to complete the pre-screening questions at once as you will be unable to return to it later.

Unilever is an organization committed to diversity and inclusion to drive our business results and create a better future every day for our diverse employees, global consumers, partners, and communities. We believe a diverse workforce allows us to match our growth ambitions and drive inclusion across the business.

Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer Minorities/Females/Protected Veterans/Persons with Disabilities

Applicants and employees are protected from discrimination under Federal law. For more information, please see EEO is the Law

Employment is subject to verification of pre-employment drug-screening results and background investigation.