Position Summary The Specialist, Category Management & Shelf Strategy supports the development and execution of customer-centric category growth strategies for Nutrition while leading 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 - Build, 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, Fiel
