Director, Category Leadership

The J.M. Smucker Company; Akron (OH); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

The J.M. Smucker Company in Orrville, OH is seeking a Director, Category Leadership to shape our SBA growth and strengthen customer partnerships across the Pet portfolio. Hybrid work with at least 9 onsite days per month.

You will drive data-driven category strategies, align with retailers, and build future-ready capabilities by guiding talent and cross-functional collaboration.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field.
• 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.
• Executive presence with ability to engage and influence senior leaders.
• Willingness to travel up to 25%.

Responsibilities

• Champion insights translation into enterprise growth strategies.
• Define high-value customer and channel opportunities.
• Establish Category Leadership vision, plan, and roadmap.
• Lead development of category narratives for growth plans.
• Convert strategy into retailer growth agendas.
• Prioritize retailer opportunities and provide strategic recommendations.
• Lead and develop a high-performing Category Leadership team.
• Partner with SBA leaders to align strategy across the enterprise.
• Strengthen connectivity between field sales, strategy, and priorities.
• Define and embed best practices for category leadership.

Skills

Leadership

Executive presence

Strategic thinking

Communication skills

Cross-functional collaboration

Data-driven decision making

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

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

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