Sr. Category Manager

Solely Inc.; United States; On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible remote work environment

Travel to key accounts

Job summary

Solely is seeking a Senior Category Manager to own category intelligence and retail strategy for fruit snacks. You will lead data-driven insights, build compelling narratives for retail partners, and drive distribution wins with buyers.

This role collaborates with KAM, Marketing, and Finance to shape category leadership and growth. You will report to the Chief Revenue Officer, own syndicated data subscriptions, ROI assessments, and planogram-driven opportunities in a fast-growing,

Qualifications

• 5 to 8 years of experience in category management, shopper insights, or sales strategy within consumer packaged goods — ideally in food or better-for-you snacking.
• Expert-level proficiency with SPINS and Numerator — you pull your own data, build analyses, and translate numbers into a story quickly.
• Experience managing a data vendor relationship (contract ownership, platform configuration, renewal) preferred.
• Demonstrated experience building and presenting category reviews or line review materials for major retail accounts.
• Strong commercial instincts — you understand what a buyer cares about and how to connect insight to action.
• Ability to work in a fast-moving, lean organization where you own your function end to end; no one is doing the analysis for you.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; you write clean, concise materials and can hold your own in a buyer meeting.
• Proficiency in Excel or Google Sheets for modeling; comfort with PowerPoint or Google Slides for presentation building.

Responsibilities

• Own category strategy and insights across fruit snacks and better-for-you snacking.
• Manage data vendor relationships (SPINS, Numerator) including renewals, onboarding, and ROI evaluation.
• Track market trends, competitive movement, white space, and consumer behavior shifts; surface findings proactively.
• Build a rolling competitive intelligence framework covering pricing, distribution, assortment, velocity, and promotions.
• Develop a deep point of view on category direction and position Solely to lead that narrative with retailers.
• Lead category reviews and line reviews for major accounts (natural, conventional, mass, club).
• Create data-backed selling stories that present Solely as a category partner with growth leadership.
• Own planogram strategy and space-to-sales analysis; collaborate with brokers and retail teams.
• Develop category selling materials and tailor insights by account and channel.
• Collaborate with Marketing on consumer insight integration and demand planning context.
• Support distribution pitches with business cases and volume opportunity models.

Skills

Category management

Shopper insights

Sales strategy

Data analysis

Vendor management

Excel/Sheets

PowerPoint/Slides

Tools

SPINS

Numerator

Circana/IRI

Nielsen

Job description

Solely|Remote (US)|Reports to: Chief Revenue Officer

ABOUT SOLELY

Solely makes real fruit snacks — fruit jerky and fruit gummies crafted from whole fruit, with no added sugar and no filler ingredients. We sit at the intersection of two powerful consumer trends: the shift away from conventional candy and the growing demand for snacks that deliver genuine satisfaction without compromise. Our positioning is simple: permissible indulgence. Real fruit. Real taste. Nothing to feel guilty about.

We are a high-growth brand, scaling across natural, conventional grocery, club, and mass channels. We move fast, operate lean, and expect everyone on the team to think and act like an owner.

THE ROLE

We are hiring a Senior Category Manager to own the category intelligence and retail strategy function at Solely. This is a high-visibility, high-leverage role that sits at the heart of how we win at shelf.

You will be the company's expert on the fruit snacks and better-for-you snacking categories — how they're growing, who's winning, why, and what it means for how we show up with buyers. You will build the category narratives that give our retail partners a reason to bet on Solely, and you will generate the data, selling tools, and insight needed to close distribution, defend shelf space, and grow our presence account by account.

This role reports directly to the Chief Revenue Officer and partners closely with Key Account Management, Marketing, and Finance. It is a strategic and commercial role — part analyst, part storyteller, part category leader.

WHAT YOU'LL OWN

Category Strategy and Insights

• Serve as Solely's category authority across fruit snacks, fruit-based snacking, and the broader better-for-you snack set
• Own all syndicated data subscriptions (SPINS, Circana/IRI, Nielsen) and consumer panel data (Numerator) — pull, interpret, and translate data into actionable insights that drive commercial decisions
• Manage the vendor relationships with SPINS and Numerator directly: own the contracts, renewals, and platform configurations; serve as the internal point of contact for onboarding, troubleshooting, and maximizing the value of each subscription; evaluate ROI and make recommendations on scope or changes at renewal
• Track market trends, competitive movement, white space, and consumer behavior shifts on a regular cadence; surface findings proactively, not reactively
• Build and maintain a rolling competitive intelligence framework covering pricing, distribution, assortment, velocity, and promotional activity across key accounts and channels
• Develop a deep point of view on where the category is heading — and position Solely to lead that narrative with retail partners

Retailer Category Management

• Lead category reviews and line review preparations for key retail accounts including natural (Whole Foods, Sprouts), conventional grocery (Kroger, Albertsons, Ahold, HEB), mass (Target, Walmart), and club (Costco, Sam's)
• Build compelling, data-backed selling stories that present Solely not just as a vendor but as a category partner — demonstrating category growth leadership, shopper relevance, and incremental ring
• Develop shelf and assortment recommendations that maximize category performance while growing Solely's footprint (facings, placement, adjacencies)
• Own planogram strategy and space-to-sales analysis; collaborate with brokers and retail teams to influence planogram outcomes
• Serve as the analytical backbone for new distribution pitches — build the business case, model the volume opportunity, and equip key account managers with retailer-specific selling tools

Commercial Enablement and Cross-functional Support

• Create and maintain a library of category selling materials: one-pagers, category decks, account-specific data summaries, and competitive benchmarks
• Partner with Key Account Managers to tailor category insights by account and channel; be available to join buyer meetings where category expertise is a differentiator
• Collaborate with Marketing on consumer insight integration — connect category trends to brand positioning, innovation development, and campaign messaging
• Support demand planning and forecasting by providing category context for volume assumptions tied to distribution events, promotional periods, and competitive shifts
• Work with Finance to size revenue opportunities tied to category-driven distribution wins or assortment expansions

Organizational Leadership

• Report to the CRO and contribute to monthly and quarterly commercial reviews with category performance context
• Contribute to board-level materials as needed, providing category narrative and competitive context
• Help build the category management function as the company scales — develop processes, templates, and data infrastructure that improve how Solely uses category intelligence across the business

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Must-Have

• 5 to 8 years of experience in category management, shopper insights, or sales strategy within consumer packaged goods — ideally in food or better-for-you snacking
• Expert-level proficiency with SPINS and Numerator — you pull your own data, build your own analyses, and translate numbers into a story quickly; familiarity with Circana/IRI or Nielsen is a plus
• Experience managing a data vendor relationship (contract ownership, platform configuration, renewal negotiation) preferred
• Demonstrated experience building and presenting category reviews or line review materials for major retail accounts
• Strong commercial instincts — you understand what a buyer cares about, how to frame a category argument, and how to connect insight to action
• Ability to work in a fast-moving, lean organization where you own your function end to end; no one is doing the analysis for you
• Excellent written and verbal communication; you write clean, concise materials and can hold your own in a buyer meeting
• Proficiency in Excel or Google Sheets for modeling; comfort with PowerPoint or Google Slides for presentation building

Strong Preference

• Experience at a high-growth CPG brand in the $100M to $500M revenue range
• Hands‑on experience across multiple retail channels — conventional grocery (Kroger, Albertsons, Ahold), mass (Target, Walmart), and natural/specialty (Whole Foods, Sprouts) are all valued; breadth across channels is a stronger signal than depth in only one
• Experience with club channel dynamics, particularly Costco
• Exposure to broker‑driven sales models and the ability to work effectively with broker category teams
• Background in snacking, fruit, or better‑for‑you categories
• Experience contributing to or supporting innovation pipeline decisions using category data

What This Role Is Not

This is not a pure analyst role. If you are most comfortable running reports and handing off insights to others, this may not be the right fit. We need someone who connects data to commercial outcomes, engages directly with sales and buyers, and drives the category agenda with conviction.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

• Base salary: competitive, commensurate with experience (range shared during initial screening)
• Annual performance bonus: 10 to 15% of base, tied to company and individual performance
• Flexible remote work environment; periodic travel to key accounts, trade shows, and company offsites
• Direct access to senior leadership with real influence on commercial strategy

WHY SOLELY

We are building something that matters. Real fruit snacks in a category dominated by artificial flavors and commodity products. We have proof — consumers find us and they come back. Our job now is to make Solely impossible to miss at retail.

If you want to build a category management function from a strong but early foundation, work directly with the CRO, and have a material impact on how a growing food brand wins at shelf, this is the role.

We do not hire for potential and then manage from a distance. We hire people who are already excellent at what they do, give them real ownership, and get out of the way.

Solely is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a team that reflects the diversity of the consumers we serve.