Manager, Category AFH

Mars, Incorporated and its Affiliates; Chicago (IL); Remote; USD 108,000 - 149,000; Full time

Job summary

Mars, Incorporated and its Affiliates is seeking a Manager of Category Foodservice and Vending/Unattended Retail to lead category insights and strategic recommendations across assortment, shelving, and merchandising. You will translate insights into actionable actions, partnering with internal teams to drive growth and decision-making with key foodservice and vending partners.

The role emphasizes external communication with partners, ad hoc reporting, strategy reviews, shelf planning, and

Qualifications

• Post secondary education or work experience equivalent.
• Minimum 5+ years CPG industry experience in Category Management, Category Strategy, Insights, or related commercial functions.
• Advanced analytical capabilities with syndicated, POS and customer data sources (Nielsen Discover, Circana, IRI, etc.).
• High level analytical capability: synthesize data into concise, action-oriented recommendations.
• Experience translating analytics into strategic insights that drive business growth.
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills for varied audiences.
• Strong ability to teach/consult business insight development through data analytics.

Responsibilities

• Act as Customer Advisor and Category Leader.
• Lead insight-driven category growth strategies that create value for customer and Mars.
• Provide data-backed recommendations on assortment, shelving, space allocation, merchandising.
• Lead annual and ongoing category planning with growth opportunities and strategic action plans.
• Use distributor, operator, consumer, and syndicated data to uncover insights and translate findings into recommendations.
• Create and deliver compelling, insight-led presentations for customer meetings and reviews.
• Champion best practices in category management, analytics, reporting, and storytelling.
• Partner with Sales and customers to identify growth opportunities and Joint Business Planning.
• Collaborate with internal teams to develop insights and opportunities for growth.
• Conduct ad hoc analyses to evaluate performance and unveil opportunities.

Skills

Analytical capabilities

Data analytics

Communication skills

Presentation skills

Teaching / consulting

Education

Post secondary education or work experience equivalent

Tools

Circana Discover

Nielsen Discover

Excel

PowerPoint

POS data sources

JDA / Space Planning

Power BI

Job description

Job Description:

Manager, Category Foodservice and Vending/Unattended Retail

Job Description:

The Manager - Category Management in the Mars Snacking foodservice and vending/unattended retail business is accountable for the understanding and analysis of the category and providing objective, strategic, and tactical category insights and recommendations to foodservice and vending/unattended retail partners. You will translate insights into actionable recommendations across assortment, shelving, merchandising and modular development to drive category performance. Serve as trusted advisor to the customer while partnering with internal stakeholders to provide strategic insights & analytics that support business growth and decision making.

You will be responsible for external communication with key foodservice and vending/unattended retail partners, supporting ad hoc requests, ongoing reporting, strategy reviews, shelf planning and creation, and insight generation using current tools and other industry resources. You will report to the Director of Channel Strategy and Intelligence.

This role is remote, but travel (up to 30%) is required.

What are we looking for?

Required Qualifications

• Post secondary education or work experience equivalent

• Minimum 5+ years CPG industry experience Category Management, Category Strategy, Insights, or related commercial functions.

• Advanced analytical capabilities with experience leveraging syndicated, POS and customer, operator data sources to develop actionable business recommendations. Experience with Nielsen Discover, Circana (Supply Track, CREST, IRI), Excel, Power Point, etc.

• High level analytical capability. Assimilating and interpreting data from multiple disparate data sources into concise action-oriented recommendations.

• Demonstrated experience translating analytics into strategic insights that drive business growth and support decision-making.

• Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with the ability to tailor complex information to audiences with varying levels of expertise.

• Strong ability to teach /consult business insight development through data analytics

Preferred Qualifications:

• Foodservice and vending/unattended retail or convenience store experience.

• Experience with distributor and operator data platforms; Circana Supply Track ALR Distilr, Vistar Power BI, Sysco PGI, US Foods Shared Table, PFG Meal Ticket.

• Experience with foodservice-specific market research and insights platforms Technomic Ignite and Datassential.

• Experience with space planning software; JDA/Space Planning experience is a plus but not required.

What will be your key responsibilities?

• Customer Advisor and Category Leadership

• Lead insight-driven category growth strategies that create value for both customer and the organization.

• Act as a trusted category advisor to the customer merchants and category teams, providing data-backed recommendations on assortment, shelving, space allocation, merchandising,

• Lead annual and ongoing category planning by identifying growth opportunities, sizing potential impacts, and developing strategic action plans aligned with customer objectives.

• Leverage distributor, operator, consumer, and syndicated data to uncover insights, identify performance drivers, and translate findings into clear business recommendations.

• Create and deliver compelling, insight-led presentations for customer meetings, category reviews, business reviews, turning complex data into clear and actionable business opportunities.

• Champion best practices in category management, analytics, reporting, and storytelling to elevate category capabilities and drive continuous improvement.

• Partner with Sales and customers to identify growth opportunities, support Joint Business Planning, and establish Mars as a trusted category advisor.

• Collaborates with internal teams to develop insights and opportunities that fuel category growth and commercial success.

• Conduct ad hoc analyses to evaluate business performance and unveil opportunities.

Thebase pay range for this position at commencement of employment is between the below range, however, base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including but not limited to, market location, job-related knowledge, skills, andexperience. The total compensation package for this position may also include other elements, if eligible, including variable pay & general allowances (depending on the positionand employee’s work schedule). Subject to the terms and conditions of applicablepolicies andplans then in effect, and depending on the position offered and the employee’s work schedule (i.e., part-time schedule), eligible employees are automatically enrolled in a 401(k) plan, as well as participate in Company-sponsored medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance plans for the employee and the employee’s eligible dependents, and may be eligible to take up to 18 weeks of paid parental leave.Employees will also receivethe following paid-time off (which may be prorated based on start date and the employee’s work schedule):120 hours of vacation per year, paid sick time for eligible Associates of 100% pay continuation for a maximum of 40 hours per calendar year,and 12 paid holidays throughout the calendar year that include both fixed and flexible holidays.

USD 108,160.00 - USD 148,720.00