Director - Category Management - Arby's

inspirebrands; Georgia; On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Inspire Brands seeks a Director, Category Management to lead Arby’s menu strategy and innovation, driving growth across beverage and food categories with focus on core and limited-time offerings.

You will partner with culinary and franchise stakeholders, manage a research budget, and guide a team of category managers to optimize profitability and performance.

Qualifications

• 4 Year Degree in Business Related Field.
• 10+ years in Category Management, restaurant experience mandatory.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills with executives and stakeholders.
• Strong data-driven and analytical capabilities.
• Ability to lead a team in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead team recommendation of short and long-term food menu strategy and tactics.
• Define the roadmap for core and white space innovation in stores.
• Monitor item/category performance to drive sales and profit growth.
• Direct 5 reports, guide priorities, and review career goals.
• Lead change management and improve team efficiency.
• Manage research budget and maximize learnings for decisions.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Communication

Analytical mindset

People management

Education

4 Year Degree in Business Related Field

Job description

The Director, Category Management will lead Arby’s menu strategy & innovation roadmap while working in a dynamic, demanding environment with a team that values bold thinking, collaboration, and results driven execution. This individual will lead the recommendation on how we drive the business through our beverage and food categories, sub-categories, and products. Inclusive of core menu and limited time offerings.

The role will require an individual to identify, develop, and test food innovation within existing core & white space categories, while managing the day-to-day processes for the Food Category Management team to ensure proper execution of category and product promotional windows. This person will also be responsible for managing the team’s research budget and generating insights on how existing categories are performing from a sales/profit standpoint and how Arby’s can optimize those categories. The role will closely partner with the culinary team, who is responsible for developing products against category management briefs and the gold standard of team member and consumer experience.

This role demands an individual who is skilled at partnering with internal and external cross‑functional groups, including franchisee stakeholders to work together to find solutions for complex projects. This role has high visibility and this individual will interact regularly with senior management to provide recommendations and guidance that supports Arby’s overall business objectives.

Responsibitilies:

• Lead team recommendation of short and long‑term food menu strategy and tactics in order to meet brand and business objectives and drive sustainable long term growth.
• Define the roadmap for core & white space innovation while leading the workstream to develop and test new items in innovation stores.
• Monitor item and category performance to deliver actionable insights for categories to maximize sales and profit growth.
• People with in the organization with 5 direct reports, leading team prioriites, providing guidance & feedback in 1:1s, and reviewing team member career goals on an ongoing basis.
• Serve as a leader in change management, continually seeking methods to improve ways of working and improve team efficiencies.
• Manage research budget and ensure the team is maximizing learnings and insights to inform decisions.

Requirements:

• 4 Year Degree in Business Related Field
• 10+ Years in Category Management - Restaurant Experience is mandatory

• Exceptional interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability in working with key executives and stakeholders to solve and drive to business outcomes.

• Strong analytical and quantitative skills; comfortable with P&L workings.

• Ability to lead a team as a people-manager in a fast‑paced environment.

• Understand s how to take products or programs through a commercialization process.

• Data-driven thinking with the ability to effectively diagnose a problem or assess a situation to drive to a smart business solution.

• Self-starter with a bias for action, who takes ownership of projects and drives them forward without constant supervision.

• Has a passion for the restaurant industry, particularly for food, & a desire to lead first, best, only

• Wil train in stores and connect with operators on an ongoing basis to evaluate opportunities for menu innovation, renovation, & operation.

• Carries a positive attitude every day and is someone who desires to grow in the role and within the marketing organization.

• Travel Required - 10% - Supplier visits, market visits, 1-2 conferences per year.

• 5 Direct Reports

Inspire is a multi‑brand restaurant company whose portfolio includes more than 33,300 Arby’s, Baskin‑Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, and SONIC restaurants worldwide. We’re made up of some of the world’s most iconic restaurant brands, but we’re much more than just a restaurant company. We’re a team of hundreds of thousands who individually and collectively are changing the way people eat, drink, and gather around the table. We know that food is much more than a staple—it’s an experience. At Inspire, that’s our purpose: to ignite and nourish flavorful experiences.