Category Growth Manager - Shopper Insights & Merchandising

Heartland Food Products Group; Indianapolis (IN); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Heartland Food Products Group, Carmel, Indiana, is seeking a Category Manager to drive growth across Heartland brands through data-driven insights, assortment, pricing, shelving, and promotions for retail partners.

You will partner with Sales and Retail partners, translate consumer and shopper data into actionable strategies, support line reviews and resets, and help optimize planograms and shelf layouts to boost share and shopper conversion.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Sales, Consumer Insights, or related field.
• 5–8 years of experience in Category Management, Shopper Insights, or Analytics.
• Strong experience with syndicated data (NIQ, Circana, SPINS, etc.).
• Advanced Excel and PowerPoint skills.
• Experience with Power BI.
• Strong analytical and storytelling capabilities.
• Proven ability to synthesize large quantities of data into simple, actionable insights.
• Experience supporting retail line reviews and resets.

Responsibilities

• Analyze category, brand, and SKU performance using syndicated and customer data.
• Identify shopper trends, white space opportunities, and growth drivers.
• Develop category growth hypotheses grounded in consumer and shopper behavior.
• Monitor competitive activity, innovation, and performance trends.
• Lead assortment optimization and SKU rationalization recommendations.
• Support new item launches with assortment and distribution strategies.
• Evaluate assortment productivity and shelf efficiency.
• Partner with Sales with line reviews and reset planning.

Skills

Analytical storytelling

Data-driven decision making

Category Management

Retail analytics

Syndicated data experience

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Sales, Consumer Insights, or related field

Tools

NIQ data

Circana data

SPINS data

Excel

PowerPoint

Power BI

Job description

Heartland Food Products Group, Carmel, Indiana, is seeking a Category Manager to drive growth across Heartland brands through data-driven insights, assortment, pricing, shelving, and promotions for retail partners.

You will partner with Sales and Retail partners, translate consumer and shopper data into actionable strategies, support line reviews and resets, and help optimize planograms and shelf layouts to boost share and shopper conversion.