Manager, Category Leadership - Walmart Inc. (Sales Facing)

The J.M. Smucker Company; Bentonville (AR); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

The J.M. Smucker Co. is seeking a Manager of Category Leadership in Bentonville, AR to drive retailer growth with Walmart and Sam’s Club. You will lead category growth drivers, develop shelving strategies, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to craft data-driven, actionable plans.

You will translate shopper and retailer insights into JBP and QBR content, supported by Circana/Nielsen data. This role emphasizes storytelling, analytics, and strategic influence across the organization.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required in a relevant field.
• 6+ years in Consumer-Packaged Goods industry.
• 3+ years Category Management or Shopper Insights experience.
• Strong analytical skills, problem solving, and storytelling experience.
• Cross functional collaboration, especially customer and sales centric.
• Excellent organization and written / verbal communication skills.
• Proficient in leveraging Circana or Nielsen data, POS and panel data, Scintilla, Atlas Planogramming/Planogram software experience (Ex. JDA ProSpace, EZPOG).
• Ability to develop and translate insights into actions with excellent storytelling with data skills.
• Strategic mindset to help build and execute effective plans.
• Travel requirements: up to 20-25%.

Responsibilities

• Leads development and delivery of Customer specific Category Growth Drivers – strategy, initiatives and customized content of compelling category strategies and stories.
• Leads 4P tactical solutions for assigned customers and categories, owning shelving and assortment and partnering with cross functional teams on price/promo.
• Provides thought leadership to elevate Smucker’s voice and influence with Walmart & SAM’S.
• Leads Category first approach in Customer Category Reviews and Assessments as well as Top to Top, JBP, QBR engagement meetings with key customers and internal stakeholders.
• Influences retailer category strategies through account-specific insights, business analysis, and clear recommendations related to distribution, promotion, pricing, and shelf placement.
• Builds customer ready stories, visuals and tools that enable high quality selling conversations supported by insights and data driven recommendations.
• Anchors planning and execution in facts and performance, tracking results, promo/innovation effectiveness, and surfacing risks and opportunities.
• Identifies opportunities and risks for category and JMS, with bias for action.
• Leverages all available data and customized content against consumer, shopper and category insights to create and deliver fact-based strategic selling resulting in implementation & activation at retail.
• Supports and drives omni activation and integration into all category deliverables, workstreams.
• Appropriately collaborates with category advisor teams, while partnering with sales to drive the business.
• Understands the competitive marketplace in which JMS and customers operate.
• Communicates insights and learnings both internally and externally to a wide variety of audiences.
• Provides category and key customer business analytics.
• Actively participates in retailer meetings.
• Collaborates and influences across the various SBAs Internal Business Support.
• Management Partner with Sales, Marketing, Insights, Intelligence, Category Strategy, and other functional teams to identify business opportunities and translate insights into execution.
• Expert on all customer business analytics and resources (Circana, panel, scintilla, etc).
• Identifies requirements for tool development and data support systems to increase visibility and application of key category insights.
• Acts as a liaison back to the JMS HQ Category Leadership team.
• Customer Business Plan Development, Review & Activation.
• Provides input into customer long-term business strategy.

Skills

Analytical skills

Problem solving

Storytelling with data

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication skills

Sales insights translation

Education

Bachelor’s degree

3+ years Category Management or Shopper Insights experience

Tools

Circana data

Nielsen data

POS data

Scintilla

Atlas Planogramming/ProSpace

Job description

Manager, Category Leadership - "Walmart Inc." (Sales Facing) Location: Bentonville, AR Work Arrangements: Hybrid - onsite a minimum of 2 days per week

SUMMARY The primary responsibility of this position is to build trust and influence with Walmart and Sam’s retailers and support Smucker’s sales teams to drive our brand penetration, growth and development across designated categories and JMS Brand activation. Leads customized development of category specific retailer growth opportunities and diagnostics relative to insight driven activations against the retailer, shopper, and category dynamics. Supports sales with insights to inform JBP’s, line reviews and customer annual sales planning delivering category and JMS growth opportunity identification and execution. Go-to category expert, responsible for providing in-depth category, retail, consumer and shopper expertise in support of our sales initiatives. Liaison back to HQ category leadership/strategy team.

In this role you will: Customer Category Management Leads development and delivery of Customer specific Category Growth Drivers – strategy, initiatives and customized content of compelling category strategies and stories Leads 4P tactical solutions for assigned customers and categories, specifically owning shelving and assortment and partnering with cross functional teams on price/promo Provides thought leadership to elevate Smucker’s voice and influence with Walmart & SAM’S Leads Category first approach in Customer Category Reviews and Assessments as well as Top to Top, JBP, QBR engagement meetings with key customers and internal stakeholders Influence retailer category strategies through account‑specific insights, business analysis, and clear recommendations related to distribution, promotion, pricing, and shelf placement. Build customer ready stories, visuals and tools that enable high quality selling conversations supported by insights and data driven recommendations. Anchor planning and execution in facts and performance, tracking results, promo/innovation effectiveness, and surfacing risks and opportunities. Identifies opportunities and risks for category and JMS, with bias for action Leverages all available data and customized content against consumer, shopper and category insights to create and deliver fact‑based strategic selling resulting in implementation & activation at retail Supports and drives omni activation and integration into all category deliverables, workstreams Appropriately collaborates with category advisor teams, while partnering with sales to drive the business Understands the competitive marketplace in which JMS and customers operate Communicates insights and learnings both internally and externally to a wide variety of audiences Provides category and key customer business analytics Actively participates in retailer meetings Collaborates and influences across the various SBAs Internal Business Support Management Partner with Sales, Marketing, Insights, Intelligence, Category Strategy, and other functional teams to identify business opportunities and translate insights into execution. Expert on all customer business analytics and resources (Circana, panel, scintilla, etc) Identifies requirements for tool development and data support systems to increase visibility and application of key category insights Acts as a liaison back to the JMS HQ Category Leadership team Customer Business Plan Development, Review & Activation Provides input into customer long‑term business strategy

What we are looking for:

Bachelor’s degree 6+ years in Consumer-Packaged Goods industry 3+ years Category Management or Shopper Insights experience Proven success in building relationships within customers / retailers Experience in analysis of shopper / consumer-based CPG information Strong analytical skills, problem solving, and storytelling experience Cross functional collaboration, especially customer and sales centric Excellent organization and written / verbal communication skills Proficient in leveraging Circana or Nielsen data, POS and panel data, shopper card, Scintilla, Atlas Planogramming/Planogram software experience (Ex. JDA ProSpace, EZPOG) Ability to develop and translate insights into actions with excellent story telling with data skills Strategic mindset to help build and execute effective plans Business & Financial Acumen Travel requirements: up to 20-25%

Additional skills and experience that we think would make someone successful in this role (not required):

MBA Experience working cross functionally in a Headquarter environment

The Right Place for You

We are bold, kind, strive to do the right thing, we play to win, and we believe in a strong community that thrives together. Our culture is rooted in our Basic Beliefs, and we believe in supporting every employee by meeting their physical, emotional, and financial needs. Stay connected with us on LinkedIn. We're an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, age, national origin, disability status or protected veteran status. We’re a community of passionate, talented professionals dedicated to creating food people and pets love—while supporting the communities in which we work and live. We value what makes each person unique, champion growth and development, and foster collaboration that fuels productivity and drives our shared success. Learn more about our Thrive Together purpose At Smucker, we're passionate about creating a workplace where you truly belong. With a culture rooted in our Basic Beliefs and a competitive Total Rewards program, we aim to support every employee by meeting their physical, emotional, and financial needs. Learn more about working at Smucker Our culture is sustained and brought to life every day by the people of Smucker and our hiring process is designed to identify the right candidate for every position at our company. Learn more about our hiring process The J. M. Smucker Co. (the “Company”) is an Equal Opportunity Employer. No person will be discriminated against in hiring or in any other aspect of their employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, transgender status, marital status, familial status, disability, genetic information, protected veteran/military status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law.