Business Category Lead - Kroger

As a Business Category Lead (BCL) on the Kroger business, you will use your analytical skills to develop category strategies and reviews to influence Kroger's vision and go-to-market strategy for your categories, along with your leadership skills as you manage one Brand Category Advisor (BCA) and lead key category meetings.

You will lead and own the category review process, partnering closely with cross-functional partners, including the sales teams, Kroger Category Advisors, and Consumer Insights to uncover key omni-channel insights and create a strategy to drive distribution share growth. In addition, you will lead key strategic initiatives for your categories as we work to drive planogram optimization and uncover key insights to share with the Category Managers at Kroger with the goal of being the go-to partner for Kroger.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

PROBLEM SOLVING & ANALYTICS

• Develop holistic, omni-channel category strategies by leveraging the tools, insights, and analytics from internal, industry, and retailer-specific sources.
• Build an influential selling story by gathering and analyzing category, consumer behavior (purchase behavior, demographics, trends, competition), market, and customer information from multiple internal and external data sources (e.g., 84.51, Circana, Numerator, shopper insights, sales data).
• Cultivate actionable insights and strategic category initiative recommendations to drive category growth, distribution, merchandising, and shelving.

EXECUTIONAL EXCELLENCE

• Take personal accountability and ownership for distribution results, deeply understand the consumer, and prioritize what's important.

INFLUENTAL LEADERSHIP

• Interface with the customer on a regular basis to deliver consumer and category insights.
• Participate in special strategic category projects intended to evolve or advance General Mills category management influence.
• Manage one BCA as they support you within your category responsibilities and you support them with their development.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree
• 2+ years experience with sales, marketing, category management, shopper/consumer insights, customer-facing account management, analytics, and/or trade funding.
• Strong analytical skills and experience aggregating internal and external data (e.g., Nielsen/IRI, sales data) to build an influential selling story.
• Experience in the Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG) industry.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft applications (Excel & PowerPoint).
• Located near Cincinnati, OH or willing to relocate.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Prior experience working with Kroger and/or prior category management experience.
• Corporate or field sales experience working with cross-functional partners.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

• International relocation arrangements (outside of the US) will not be considered
• Applicants for this position must be currently authorized to work in the United States full-time. General Mills will not sponsor applicants for this position for work visas

We exist to make food the world loves. But we do more than that. Our company is a place that prioritizes being a force for good, a place to expand learning, explore new perspectives and reimagine new possibilities, every day. We look for people who want to bring their best - bold thinkers with big hearts who challenge one other and grow together. Because becoming the undisputed leader in food means surrounding ourselves with people who are hungry for what's next.