Hybrid Category Growth Manager, Consumer Products

MRA-The Management Association; Rockford (IL); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits plan

401K with match

16-week Paid Parental Leave

14 paid holidays

Generous PTO

Job summary

Medela LLC in McHenry, IL is seeking a Category Manager who blends analytics, strategy, and retail execution to shape our consumer products portfolio. You’ll analyze consumer behavior, retailer performance, and market trends to uncover growth opportunities and inform launches, pricing, and channel strategy.

You’ll partner with Sales, Marketing, Product Management, Finance, and Supply Chain to develop category plans, build dashboards, and deliver data-driven recommendations that strengthen

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Economics, Finance, or a related field.
• 4+ years in Category Management, Category Strategy, Shopper Insights, Consumer Insights, Product Marketing, Commercial Excellence, or related function.
• Experience with consumer products in CPG, Consumer Durables, Juvenile Products, Consumer Healthcare, Housewares, Electronics, Sporting Goods, or medical devices sold through retail channels.
• Experience using syndicated market data such as Circana (IRI), NielsenIQ, GfK, Numerator, or similar.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to translate data into actionable recommendations.
• Experience supporting product launches, pricing strategies, assortment decisions, and retail channel planning.

Responsibilities

• Analyze consumer, shopper, customer, market, and channel data to identify trends, growth opportunities, and competitive insights.
• Translate data into actionable recommendations to improve category performance and growth.
• Support development of retail channel strategies by evaluating opportunities, shopper behavior, and competition.
• Help define go-to-market strategies for new launches, including channel prioritization and pricing recommendations.
• Analyze syndicated market data alongside internal performance to identify opportunities for growth.
• Monitor category performance and changing consumer purchasing behaviors to provide insights.
• Support pricing strategy through competitive analysis and market evaluation.
• Develop customer presentations communicating insights, trends, and growth opportunities.
• Research evolving consumer needs, retail trends, and competitive activity to identify opportunities.
• Recommend assortment and distribution strategies to improve availability and retail performance.
• Collaborate with Sales, Marketing, Product Management, Finance, and Supply Chain on initiatives and launches.
• Build dashboards and reports communicating category health and performance.
• Support customer meetings with data-driven recommendations to strengthen retailer partnerships.

Skills

Analytical skills

Category management

Cross-functional work

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in business

Tools

Excel

Power BI

Tableau

Circana/IRI

Job description

Medela LLC in McHenry, IL is seeking a Category Manager who blends analytics, strategy, and retail execution to shape our consumer products portfolio. You’ll analyze consumer behavior, retailer performance, and market trends to uncover growth opportunities and inform launches, pricing, and channel strategy.

You’ll partner with Sales, Marketing, Product Management, Finance, and Supply Chain to develop category plans, build dashboards, and deliver data-driven recommendations that strengthen