Category Specialist-Nutrition

Nestle Operational Services Worldwide SA • $80K — $109K *

Arlington, VA 22204In-Person

Food & Beverages

Less than 5 years of experience

Today

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Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Analytics, or related field preferred; equivalent experience considered.
2+ years in Sales, Category Management, or related roles; CPG/food industry experience preferred.
Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, especially Excel and PowerPoint.
Experience with Blue Yonder/JDA Space Management or similar tools preferred.
Ability to analyze data from sources like Circana, NielsenIQ, and internal reporting for merchandising insights.
Familiarity with SQL, Python, or automation tools for data workflows is a plus.

Responsibilities

Support Category Managers in developing customer-specific growth strategies and recommendations.
Analyze various data sources to identify trends and growth opportunities.
Develop actionable category stories related to assortment, pricing, and merchandising.
Conduct performance analyses of category initiatives and merchandising programs.
Translate data analysis into clear insights for internal and customer-facing presentations.
Build and validate planograms based on customer objectives and merchandising guidelines.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure executable shelf solutions.

Benefits

Opportunities for professional development and training.
Collaborative work environment with cross-functional teams.
Access to advanced tools and technologies for data analysis.
Potential for career advancement within the organization.

Full Job Description

Position Summary

The Specialist, Category Strategy supports the development and execution of customer-centric category growth strategies for Nutrition as well as supporting planogram development, shelf optimization, reporting, and execution support. This role combines category analytics, shopper and retailer insights, assortment and layout strategy, and space planning expertise to create actionable recommendations that improve product visibility, shopper experience, and category performance. Working closely with Category Managers, Category Leadership Managers, Sales, Space Planning, and cross-functional partners, this role translates data and insights into compelling category stories, scalable tools, and effective shelf solutions that can be executed with speed, quality, and consistency across customers and divisions.

Key Responsibilities

Category Strategy & Analytics

Support Category Managers and Category Leadership Managers in developing customer-specific category growth strategies, business reviews, and customer-facing recommendations.
Analyze syndicated, customer, shopper, retailer, marketplace, and internal performance data to identify trends, opportunities, risks, whitespace, and growth drivers.
Develop category stories and recommendations related to assortment, pricing, promotion, merchandising, innovation, renovation, new item support, and display considerations.
Conduct performance analyses, including pre- and post-evaluation of category initiatives, merchandising programs, planogram actions, assortment changes, and shelving recommendations.
Translate analysis into clear, actionable insights and visual storytelling for internal planning, customer meetings, and business decision support.

Planogram Development, Validation & Execution

Support building, maintain, validate, revise, and execute multiple versions of planograms based on assortment, clustering alternatives, fixture variations, merchandising guidelines, retailer requirements, and customer objectives.
Review planograms for adherence to retailer strategy, merchandising standards, fixture realities, execution readiness, and quality requirements.
Provide support for display merchandising, modular events, shelf layouts, product placement, and retail partner implementation where applicable.

Assortment, Layout & Shelf Strategy

Support assortment and layout strategy development by applying shopper, category, retailer, and performance insights to strengthen shelf recommendations.
Contribute to planogram testing, heat mapping, clustering evaluations, fixture alternative assessments, and shelf construct analysis to improve category and brand outcomes.
Analyze shelf performance and recommend space allocation improvements that maximize category growth, product visibility, and shopper experience.
Monitor and measure shelf strategy effectiveness and identify opportunities for continuous improvement.

Tools, Data & Capability Enablement

Use planogram, space management, category, and reporting tools to improve accuracy, efficiency, and consistency in planogram development and maintenance.
Help develop and improve the planogram toolbox, including standardized tables, templates, reporting views, process documents, and shared knowledge resources.
Identify opportunities to test, validate, and scale tools or automation that improve planogram development, reporting, analytics, and execution workflows.

Collaboration & Thought Leadership

Partner with Category Management, Category Leadership, Sales, Space Planning, Customer Teams, Field Sales, and cross-functional stakeholders to ensure recommendations translate into executable shelf solutions.
Share reporting, best practices, learnings, and reusable tools across divisions and customer teams to improve quality, speed, and alignment.
Bring forward-thinking recommendations through proposals, planogram testing insights, heat mapping, scalable process improvements, and new ways of working that support total Nestlé growth.
Build trusted relationships with internal and external partners while demonstrating curiosity, initiative, tenacity, and a continuous-improvement mindset.

Qualifications & Experience

Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Analytics, Consumer Insights, Retail Management, Space Management, or a related field preferred; equivalent combination of education and experience considered.
2+ years of experience in Sales, Category Management, Shopper Insights, Analytics, Space Management, or a related manufacturer/retailer role; CPG and/or food industry experience preferred.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, especially Excel and PowerPoint; ability to synthesize data and translate analytics into business recommendations, execution plans, and customer-facing stories.
Experience with Blue Yonder/JDA Space Management or similar planogram/space planning tools preferred.
Ability to use retailer, marketplace, shopper, category, and performance data sources such as Circana, NielsenIQ, Numerator, retailer data, and internal reporting to address business questions and improve merchandising recommendations.
Experience using SQL, Python, automation, or similar tools to improve data extraction, analysis, reporting, or planogram workflows is a plus.

Core Capabilities

Strong analytical, storytelling, presentation, verbal, and written communication skills with the ability to translate complex information into clear recommendations.
Strong project management, prioritization, and change-management skills with the ability to manage multiple deliverables independently and in a team environment.
Demonstrated initiative, curiosity, problem-solving,

About Nestle Operational Services Worldwide SA

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