Director Category Management

Wellness Pet Company; Burlington (MA); Hybrid; USD 163,000 - 248,000; Full time

Job summary

Wellness Pet Company is seeking a Director of Category Management to lead our category strategy and retailer insights within the Commercial organization. You will oversee a cross-functional team and partner with Sales, Marketing, Brand, Finance, IT to drive growth through data-driven insights.

You will translate syndicated data and POS/shopped data into strategic recommendations, lead executive presentations, and own the data infrastructure alongside IT, including Power BI adoption.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Analytics, or a related field; MBA preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in Category Management, Shopper Insights, Commercial Analytics, Sales Strategy, or a related CPG discipline.
• Proven leadership experience managing and developing high-performing teams.
• Strong strategic, analytical, and communication skills, with the ability to influence senior internal and external stakeholders.
• Deep experience with syndicated data such as IRI/Circana, Nielsen, as well as customer-provided POS and shopper data.
• Proven ability to translate data and insights into commercial strategies that drive business results.
• Expert-level skills using Microsoft Excel, Power BI, or similar business intelligence platforms.
• Strong understanding of category management fundamentals, including assortment, merchandising, pricing, promotion, competitive analysis, and shelf optimization.
• Proven experience developing and delivering compelling customer-facing selling stories and executive presentations.
• Successful experience managing and ensuring compatibility of large data sets across multiple platforms and establishing a consistent source of truth.
• Strong business acumen and ability to connect category insights to revenue, profit, and market growth.
• Well-organized and able to manage multiple competing and shifting priorities and deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Lead the category management and retailer insights strategy within Commercial organization.
• Oversee a team of category management professionals and collaborate cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Brand, Finance, and IT.
• Serve as a senior category management partner to internal leadership and external retail customers; lead customer presentations and board-facing materials.
• Analyze syndicated, POS, shopper, and consumer data to inform assortment, merchandising, pricing, promotion, and competitive performance.
• Lead analysis of business and channel performance to optimize strategies and investments.
• Oversee post-promotional analysis including ROI and Lifetime Value, translating findings into recommendations.
• Own the evolution of Wellness’ commercial data and reporting capabilities; partner with IT to advance Power BI and other analytics.
• Lead, coach, develop, and retain a high-performing category management team.
• Establish a proactive market intelligence approach and communicate opportunities/risks to senior leadership.
• Partner with Sales, Marketing, Brand, Finance, IT to translate insights into measurable results.

Skills

Category management

Data analytics

Leadership

Stakeholder influence

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Analytics, or related field

MBA preferred

Tools

Power BI

Excel

Job description

The Wellness Pet Company is on a mission. Every day, we strive to make the best pet food scientifically proven to deliver a difference pets will feel and pet parents will see. We are a team united by a shared passion for pets and the people who love them. As a community of people working together, Wellies start and end with the consumer – always. At Wellness, we bring our best, stay on the scent of what matters most, get hungry and dig deep to uncover new possibilities, and move with agility when opportunity arises. Above all, we believe the strongest results come from working together and winning as a pack. Sound good to you? Come for a walk with us today!

Our Team is based out of our office in Burlington, Massachusetts, where we work in-office Monday through Thursday each week, and remotely on Fridays. Team members must reside?within or be willing to relocate to a commutable distance from our Burlington office.

What You’ll Accomplish

The Director, Category Management is responsible for leading the category management and retailer insights strategy within the Commercial organization. Overseeing a team of category management professionals and collaborating cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Brand, Finance, and other departments, this individual will play a critical role in shaping commercial strategy, optimizing business performance, and driving sustainable growth through data-driven insights. They will serve as a senior strategic business partner, providing deep category, consumer, shopper, and retailer expertise to drive actionable strategies across the omni-channel environment.

• Category Strategy & Leadership: Lead the development and execution of category management strategy, identifying key category, consumer, shopper, retailer, and competitive drivers to inform commercial growth strategies.
• Business Intelligence: Translate complex data into actionable business intelligence that drives revenue, profit, market share, and category growth. Develop best-in-class selling stories, category recommendations, and strategic direction.
• Executive & Customer Engagement: Serve as a senior category management partner to internal leadership and external retail customers. Lead customer presentations, category reviews, executive communications, and board-facing materials.
• Consumer & Retailer Insights: Analyze and interpret syndicated, POS, shopper, and consumer data through the lens of assortment, merchandising, pricing, promotion, and competitive performance to identify opportunities and inform commercial strategy.
• Commercial Performance: Lead analysis of business and channel performance, including sales/share, brand, retailer, and competitive performance, to optimize commercial strategies and investments.
• Promotional Effectiveness: Oversee post-promotional analysis, including ROI, Cost to Acquire, and Lifetime Value, and translate findings into recommendations that improve future promotional and commercial investments.
• Data & Analytics Leadership: Own the evolution of Wellness’ commercial data and reporting capabilities, establishing a consistent source of truth. Partner with IT to advance Power BI and other analytical capabilities and manage key syndicated data partnerships.
• Team Leadership: Lead, coach, develop, and retain a high-performing category management team. Establish priorities, build capabilities, and ensure the team delivers high-impact insights and recommendations to the Commercial organization.
• Market Intelligence: Establish a proactive approach to monitoring market, trade, consumer, shopper, and competitive trends and communicate key opportunities, risks, and implications to senior leadership.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner with Sales, Marketing, Brand, Finance, IT, and other functions to ensure category insights translate into aligned strategies and measurable business results.

Who We’re Looking For

Team Wellie is a group of people who are all in on winning for the consumer and the pets they love. And so, we are seeking an individual who:

• Brings their best
• Stays on the scent
• Gets hungry and digs deep
• Is quick on their paws
• Wins as a pack

In addition, for this specific role, we need someone who:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Analytics, or a related field; MBA preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in Category Management, Shopper Insights, Commercial Analytics, Sales Strategy, or a related CPG discipline.
• Proven leadership experience managing and developing high-performing teams.
• Strong strategic, analytical, and communication skills, with the ability to influence senior internal and external stakeholders.
• Deep experience with syndicated data such as IRI/Circana, Nielsen, as well as customer-provided POS and shopper data.
• Proven ability to translate data and insights into commercial strategies that drive business results.
• Expert-level skills using Microsoft Excel, Power BI, or similar business intelligence platforms.
• Strong understanding of category management fundamentals, including assortment, merchandising, pricing, promotion, competitive analysis, and shelf optimization.
• Proven experience developing and delivering compelling customer-facing selling stories and executive presentations.
• Successful experience managing and ensuring compatibility of large data sets across multiple platforms and establishing a consistent source of truth.
• Strong business acumen and ability to connect category insights to revenue, profit, and market growth.
• Well-organized and able to manage multiple competing and shifting priorities and deadlines.

Why Wellness Pet?

We care about the wellbeing of our people, their families, and their pets. We treat every Wellie to a best-in-class benefits package, a warm and welcoming environment, and a place where you can learn and grow professionally. More information about what makes us special can be found on our website. The Wellness Pet Company is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We foster an inclusive work environment and are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, or veteran status.

The annual salary range for this position is $162,900 to $247,600, based on a full-time work schedule, anticipated responsibilities, market benchmarks, and organizational equity. Compensation may vary within that pay range depending on the selected candidate’s professional background, experience, operational needs, and other considerations permitted by law. The full compensation details will be communicated upon finalization of the employment offer and may include eligibility for participation in a bonus program.