Responsibilities:

Lead Category Strategy and Growth

• Develop and execute short- and long-term category,product,and packaging strategies that supportSonicsbusinessobjectivesand drive sustainable sales and profit growth.

• Identifyemerging consumer trends, marketplace opportunities, and white space platforms to inform the innovation road map and future growth initiatives.

• Partner withcategory management director andsenior leadership to establish category priorities and strategic recommendations.

Own Innovation Pipeline

• Lead the end-to-end innovation process from concept development through commercialization, including opportunity identification, business case development, product testing, launch planning, and post launch evaluation.

• Build and managethebeverage, snack, and sidespipeline of innovation initiatives across core menu, limited time offers, and packaging.

• Collaborate with culinary to develop, refine, andvalidatenew products and platforms.

Lead Market Testing and Launch Execution

• Oversee market test strategy, execution, and performance evaluation to ensure initiatives are operationally sound and commercially successful.

• Drive launch readiness activities, including stage gate deliverables, execution checklist, operational alignment, training requirements, and launch materials.

• Identifyand mitigate risks while ensuring projectsremainon schedule and meet businessobjectives.

Own Category Performance and Insights

• Monitor category, product, promotion, and test performance toidentifyopportunities for growth, optimization, and profitability improvement.

• Lead consumer research efforts andleveragemarketplace, competitive, and operational insights to inform category strategy and innovation priorities.

• Develop data-driven recommendations and present findings to senior leadership.

Management & Direct Reports:

• 1 Category Specialist

Requirements:

• 4 Year Degree Preferred

• 7+ years of experience in a category or brand management position

• Business acumen, including understanding of market trends, consumers,competitorsand P&L fluency.

• Experience taking product ideas from ideation to execution.

• Ability to think strategically and creatively.

• Ability to collect and synthesize information, making it relevant, understandable, and actionable for key stakeholders.

• Excellent communication and presentation skills, especially the ability to explain difficult concepts in applicable business terms. Strong ability to summarize strategies into (PowerPoint) presentations in clear and understandablemessage.

• Strong computer skills: Excel, Word, PowerPoint arerequired.

• Is detail oriented with a focus on accuracy, process management, and executionexcellence.

• Project Management and strong ability to work with cross-functional teams.

• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment, multi-task,prioritizeand be detail oriented.

• Self-starter personalitywith excellent organizational skillswho can operate with some supervisionand has the ability to manage multiple projectsand timelines simultaneously.

• Idealcandidate has an inquisitive nature, a passion for learning and solving problems and a growth mindset.

• Abilityto thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and adapt to changing business priorities.

• A go getter who carries a positive attitude every day and whodesiresto grow in the role and within the marketing organization.