Director Category Marketing

Marzetti Company; Columbus (OH); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Marzetti Company seeks a Director of Category Marketing to lead category strategy and drive sustainable growth for Marzetti Foodservice. You will partner with Sales, Customer Marketing, Finance, Revenue Management, R&D/Culinary and Operations to set priorities and align the organization around annual and long-range objectives.

The role leads the Category Marketing team, shaping portfolio, margin and investment decisions while guiding category-driven innovation from concept to execution across

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business or related field is required or MBA preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in CPG marketing, category/brand/product management or related roles; foodservice experience preferred.
• Strong financial and business acumen, including experience with P&L management and forecasting.
• Demonstrated experience leading strategic planning, portfolio management, innovation and commercialization.
• Experience leveraging secondary, syndicated and custom research to inform strategy, and leading agency partners to deliver business and marketing objectives.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence effectively without direct authority.
• Strong analytical and decision-making skills, with the ability to translate insights into action and operate in a fast-paced, evolving business environment.
• Excellent storytelling and presentation skills.
• Collaborative, growth-oriented leader with strong ownership, curiosity and a passion for food, customers and innovation.

Responsibilities

• Lead annual and longer-term category strategies, defining growth priorities and where-to-play/how-to-win choices.
• Translate category, customer, consumer and competitive insights to identify opportunities, risks and recommendations.
• Establish category objectives, key initiatives and measures of success.
• Partner with Customer Marketing and Sales to translate category priorities into customer and channel opportunities.
• Own category (Branded & Customer SKUs) financial performance across volume, revenue, mix, margin and profitability.
• Partner with Finance, Trade and Pricing to establish category margin targets and decision thresholds.
• Lead portfolio profitability, pricing/mix and margin-improvement decisions.
• Oversee category marketing budgets.
• Lead Marketing's category perspective within the IBP process.
• Own the business assumptions behind the demand outlook and align inputs from Sales and Customer Marketing with Demand Planning.
• Understand capacity, supply and inventory implications and make category, customer prioritization and portfolio recommendations as required.
• Partner with Supply Chain on constraints, risks and longer-term capacity requirements including capital and business case development.
• Ensure innovation, customer initiatives and portfolio changes are represented appropriately in business plans.
• Develop and lead the category innovation and renovation funnel.
• Establish business case, value proposition and financial expectation for category innovation.
• Lead cross-functional alignment for category-driven projects through Stage Gate and commercialization. Provide approval for customer S Stage Gate projects.
• Partner with Customer Marketing on customer-driven opportunities to ensure alignment with strategy, margin expectations and portfolio priorities.
• Develop portfolio assortment strategy and SKU productivity balancing customer needs, operational complexity, capacity and financial performance.
• Lead SKU optimization and rationalization decisions.
• Identify and prioritize value engineering, quality improvement, renovation opportunities and regulatory requirements with cross-functional teams.
• Lead category architecture / brand positioning and value propositions.
• Partner with Customer Marketing to translate category strategies into channel and customer activation; guide development of selling tools and agency support.
• Monitor category, competitive, and marketplace trends to identify risks and growth opportunities.
• Build and nurture a high-performing Category Marketing team.
• Create clarity around priorities, decision rights and accountability.
• Communicate category performance, opportunities, risks and recommendations to senior leadership.
• Build strong general-management, financial and category management capabilities across the team.

Skills

Leadership

Category marketing

P&L management

Forecasting

Strategic planning

Portfolio management

Innovation

Cross-functional leadership

Analytical skills

Storytelling & presentation

Education

Bachelor's degree in Marketing or related field

MBA (preferred)

Job description

Overview

The Director of Category Marketing plays a key leadership role in shaping and executing category strategies for Marzetti Foodservice that deliver sustainable growth and profitability. This role is responsible for driving category planning, P&L and margin management, portfolio strategy, integrated business planning/forecasting, value engineering, innovation, and category/brand marketing for assigned categories.

The Director partners with Sales, Customer Marketing, Finance, Revenue Management, End-to-End Planning, R&D/Culinary and Operations to establish clear category priorities and align the organization around annual and long-range business objectives. The role leads the Category Marketing team and provides leadership and recommendations on portfolio, innovation, margin and investment decisions.

Responsibilities → What You'll Do

Category Strategy & Planning

• Lead annual and longer-term category strategies, defining growth priorities and where-to-play/how-to-win choices.
• Translate category, customer, consumer and competitive insights to identify opportunities, risks and recommendations.
• Establish category objectives, key initiatives and measures of success.
• Partner with Customer Marketing and Sales to translate category priorities into customer and channel opportunities.

Category P&L & Margin Management

• Own category (Branded & Customer SKUs) financial performance across volume, revenue, mix, margin and profitability.
• Partner with Finance, Trade and Pricing to establish category margin targets and decision thresholds.
• Lead portfolio profitability, pricing/mix and margin-improvement decisions.
• Oversee category marketing budgets.

Integrated Business Planning

• Lead Marketing's category perspective within the IBP process.
• Own the business assumptions behind the demand outlook and align inputs from Sales and Customer Marketing with Demand Planning.
• Understand capacity, supply and inventory implications and make category, customer prioritization and portfolio recommendations as required.
• Partner with Supply Chain on constraints, risks and longer-term capacity requirements including capital and business case development.
• Ensure innovation, customer initiatives and portfolio changes are represented appropriately in business plans.

Category Innovation

• Develop and lead the category innovation and renovation funnel.
• Establish business case, value proposition and financial expectation for category innovation.
• Lead cross-functional alignment for category-driven projects through Stage Gate and commercialization. Provide approval for customer S Stage Gate projects.
• Partner with Customer Marketing on customer-driven opportunities to ensure alignment with strategy, margin expectations and portfolio priorities.

Portfolio & Value Engineering

• Develop portfolio assortment strategy and SKU productivity balancing customer needs, operational complexity, capacity and financial performance.
• Lead SKU optimization and rationalization decisions.
• Identify and prioritize value engineering, quality improvement, renovation opportunities and regulatory requirements with cross-functional teams.

Category / Brand Marketing

• Lead category architecture / brand positioning and value propositions.
• Partner with Customer Marketing to translate category strategies into channel and customer activation; guide development of selling tools and agency support.
• Monitor category, competitive, and marketplace trends to identify risks and growth opportunities.

People & Organizational Leadership

• Build and nurture a high-performing Category Marketing team.
• Create clarity around priorities, decision rights and accountability.
• Communicate category performance, opportunities, risks and recommendations to senior leadership.
• Build strong general-management, financial and category management capabilities across the team.

Qualifications → What You'll Bring

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, or related field required; MBA preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in CPG marketing, category/brand/product management or related roles; foodservice experience preferred.
• Strong financial and business acumen, including experience with P&L management and forecasting.
• Demonstrated experience leading strategic planning, portfolio management, innovation and commercialization.
• Experience leveraging secondary, syndicated and custom research to inform strategy, and leading agency partners to deliver business and marketing objectives.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence effectively without direct authority.
• Strong analytical and decision-making skills, with the ability to translate insights into action and operate effectively in a fast-paced, evolving business environment.
• Excellent storytelling and presentation skills.
• Collaborative, growth-oriented leader with strong ownership, curiosity and a passion for food, customers and innovation.