Category Manager

Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) is looking for a highly motivated, analytically minded professional to join its Grocery East Category Management team.

The Category Manager plays a valuable role in building a strong partnership with ADUSA by providing strategic, consultative category guidance to deliver market leading growth for the Keurig Dr Pepper DSD portfolio. This individual will conduct high quality analysis and synthesize multiple data sources to generate insights and actionable recommendations, while leveraging effective communication & influencing skills to orchestrate action within the operational realities of key external retailer environments.

This is a remote position and can be based in one of the following states: Pennsylvania (PA), New York (NY), New Jersey (NJ) or Massachusetts (MA)

What you will do:

• Develop and cultivate business relationships with key external retailer contacts (ADUSA) that establish KDP as the indispensable partner for all category management needs
• Develop & deliver fully integrated consumer, shopper, category and marketplace insights and trends to guide ADUSA strategic choices and tactical executions, to drive market leading growth for the short and long term
• Serve as a conduit in driving win/win decisions, recommendations, and market influence through making and articulating fact-based decisions, deckbuilding, and sound storytelling in formal recommendations related to shelving, merchandising, pricing, and assortment.
• Implement framework for understanding and assessment of financial repercussions for both ADUSA and KDP for all POG changes
• Work closely with the Total Grocery Category Management team to share and develop Best Practices, Collaborate on win-win solutions, macro performance assessments and opportunity gap analysis
• Conduct robust analysis using research, category management capabilities, financial acumen, analytical tools, and data visualization to identify and communicate business opportunities or challenges
• Penetrate and collaborate with multiple internal cross-functional teams and the customer to connect business opportunities and develop both strategic and tactical solutions
• Provide category management reporting, trend analysis, customized reports, and special project work directly to the internal / external leaders as necessary
• Leverage critical thinking and problem-solving skills to recognize and anticipate issues and opportunities by elevating analyses beyond reporting and translate insight into retail action
• Serve as the expert on all thing’s category to cross-functional team members

• Bachelor’s Degree required, MBA a plus
• A minimum of 3 years of business experience in Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG) with a focus on category management (mandatory), business analytics and/or shopper insights
• Experience in Sales and/or analytical sales support and driving customer facing dialogue and initiatives.
• Exceptional communication skills – verbal, written & presentation and follow-through
• Strength in leveraging facts and insights to build compelling stories with actionable recommendations.
• Superior drive for results with demonstrated ability to build indispensable, collaborative partnerships with the customer and internal business partners, across functional teams.

• Capability to develop and influence strategies and tactics at both retailer and manufacturer, vertical and horizontal.
• Experience handling unique challenges with a nimble, and solution minded approach to effectively get things done across vastly different customers with different strategies and routes to market.

• Extensive experience understanding, utilizing, and employing syndicated data to drive internal and external wins through sales and share growth. Encompassing such data sources as: IRI / Circana, Nielsen, Numerator, and retailer-specific point of sale (POS), etc.
• JDA Space Planning software
• Highly skilled in Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Access, Word and PowerPoint)
• DSD experience / knowledge