Role reports to:Director Category Excellence FDC
Location:North America, United States, New Jersey, Summit
Work Location:Hybrid
What you will doThe Category Manager is responsible for serving as the primary Category Captain and strategic advisor for Meijer across 8-10 categories within the Health, Beauty, and Wellness space. This role will lead category growth initiatives, category reviews, shelf strategy, and planogram development while providing unbiased, fact-based recommendations that drive category performance and shopper satisfaction. The successful candidate will partner closely with Meijer Category Managers, Merchandising Teams, Customer Development, Shopper Insights, and Brand teams to identify opportunities across assortment, shelving, merchandising, pricing, promotion, and omni-channel execution. This individual will be expected to leverage multiple data sources, including Circana, Dunnhumby, JDA/Blue Yonder, and ProSpace, to develop compelling category stories and actionable recommendations. The ideal candidate combines strong analytical skills, retail category management expertise, customer-facing influence skills, and deep experience developing and implementing category strategies in a fast-paced CPG environment.
Key Responsibilities:Category Captaincy Leadership- Serve as the primary Category Captain and trusted advisor for 8-10 categories at Meijer.
- Develop and maintain strategic partnerships with Meijer merchants, category managers, analysts, and space planning teams.
- Deliver category leadership that prioritizes total category growth and shopper needs.
- Lead annual category reviews, line reviews, and strategic business planning sessions.
- Identify category trends, emerging shopper behaviors, and marketplace opportunities.
Category Strategy & Insights- Analyze category performance using Circana, Dunnhumby, shopper card, panel, and internal data sources.
- Develop strategic recommendations across: Assortment optimization Shelf strategy Pricing Promotion effectiveness Merchandising opportunities Innovation placement
- Build compelling, customer-facing category stories that translate insights into action.
- Conduct category diagnostics and identify opportunities for incremental category growth.
Space & Planogram Excellence- Lead planogram development utilizing JDA/Blue Yonder Category Management and/or ProSpace software.
- Develop Best-in-Class planograms that optimize space productivity and shopper navigation.
- Conduct space-to-sales analyses and recommend shelving improvements.
- Support category resets, remodels, and seasonal merchandising initiatives.
- Manage planogram versioning and implementation recommendations.
Dunnhumby & Shopper Analytics- Leverage Dunnhumby loyalty data to identify: Shopper segments Household penetration opportunities Switching behavior Basket affinity Promotional effectiveness Retention and acquisition opportunities
- Translate shopper insights into actionable category strategies.
- Partner with Shopper Insights teams on consumer research initiatives.
Cross-Functional Leadership- Partner closely with Customer Development, Shopper Insights, Brand Marketing, Supply Chain, and Sales teams.
- Influence strategic decisions with customer and internal stakeholders.
- Support innovation planning, assortment reviews, and strategic growth initiatives.
- Share best practices and category learnings across the broader organization.
Field & Retail Execution- Conduct regular store visits to understand shopper behavior and merchandising execution.
- Monitor category performance and identify opportunities for continuous improvement.
- Evaluate competitive activity and marketplace trends.
Requirements- Bachelor's Degree in Business, Marketing, Analytics, Retail, or related field.
- 5-8+ years of experience in Category Management, Shopper Insights, Customer Analytics, or related CPG functions.
- Demonstrated experience serving as a Category Captain or category advisor with a major retailer.
- Advanced expertise with: Circana (IRI/Nielsen equivalent experience considered) Dunnhumby loyalty and shopper analytics JDA / Blue Yonder Category Management ProSpace
- Strong experience developing planograms and conducting space analyses.
- Advanced Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint skills.
- Exceptional storytelling, presentation, and influencing abilities.
- Experience leading customer-facing category reviews and strategic recommendations.
- Availability to travel 50%
- This position is based in Summit, NJ. Remote work options may be considered on a case-by-case basis if approved by the Company for candidates residing in Michigan.
Preferred- Experience supporting Meijer or other major grocery/mass retailers.
- Knowledge of Health & Beauty Care, OTC, Wellness, Personal Care, or Consumer Healthcare categories.
- Experience with Numerator, shopper panels, or advanced visualization tools (Power BI, Tableau).
- Experience mentoring analysts or managing category project work.
What's in it for youAnnual base salary for new hires in this position ranges:
$124.100,00 - $175.200,00
This takes into account a number of factors including work location, the candidate's skills, experience, education level & other job-related factors.
- Competitive Benefit Package*
- Paid Company Holidays, Paid Vacation, Volunteer Time & More!
- Learning & Development Opportunities
- Kenvuer Impact Networks
- This list could vary based on location/region
*Note: Total Rewards at Kenvue include salary, bonus (if applicable) and benefits. Your Talent Access Partner will be able to share more about our total rewards offerings and the specific salary range for the relevant location(s) during the recruitment & hiring process.
