Category Manager - Remote

Overview

At Eagle Foods we are builders.  We are builders of brands, categories, and people.  Eagle Foods enjoys a rich heritage with brands that have proven category leadership for more than 150 years.  Eagle is a diversified food company producing and marketing sweetened condensed and evaporated milk, snacks and convenient meal solutions products.  As a company, Eagle Foods is passionate about fostering an entrepreneurial spirit that boldly builds better people and better brands while focusing on the positive impact our company, our products and our people have on the world.  Eagle Foods has a bold family of brands that consumers have come to rely on for decades, including Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk and Evaporated Milk, Magnolia® Sweetened Condensed Milk, PET® Milk, Popcorn Indiana, Cretors Popcorn, Helper and Suddenly Salad.  Eagle Foods products are marketed and distributed across all U.S. retail channels, including grocery stores, club stores and mass-merchandisers, as well as foodservice and export, U.S. military, and private label business.

Responsibilities

Job Description Summary

The Category Manager serves as the category expert, driving growth by leveraging syndicated data, shopper insights, and industry trends to deliver actionable strategies and go-to-market recommendations. This role partners cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain, Finance, and other teams to develop sales enablers, optimize assortment, and influence retail placement decisions. The Category Manager will conduct regular competitive reviews, lead monthly business performance analyses, and provide post-promotional reporting to stakeholders across the enterprise. Acting as an independent contributor, the role requires strong analytical expertise, advanced Excel/PowerPoint skills, and the ability to translate data into compelling category stories and sustainable strategies.

Essential Functions

• Serve as the category expert for our brands by delivering best-in-class category and shopper insights along with actionable go-to-market recommendations.
• Partner with field sales and cross-functional teams (Marketing, Sales Strategy & Planning, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Finance) to drive total category growth by analyzing syndicated data, shopper and consumer insights, and category/industry trends that support brand initiatives and product launches.
• Lead the development and delivery of innovative and impactful Sales Enablers to support sell-in across all customers.
• Conduct regular competitive reviews and reporting across retailers, providing category and shopper insights that drive assortment, distribution, placement, and aisle recommendations.
• Partner with Marketing to lead monthly business reviews on category, brand, and competitive performance by:
• Preparing analyses and reports on sales, competitive activity, and promotional results.
• Monitoring and advising on trends and business performance across retailers using internal and external data sources (e.g., Nielsen custom and syndicated data, consumer household panels, customer data portals).

Essential Functions Cont.

• Support annual planning and channel/customer-specific projects as needed.
• Own DSMP (Distribution, Shelving, Merchandising, Pricing) KPI tracking to monitor execution across all customers.
• Compile and present Post-Promotional Analytics reports to stakeholders across the enterprise, including field-sales, internal sales, marketing, finance, and executive leadership.
• Manage and maximize standardized reporting to ensure consistent and valuable category insights.
• Influence the line review process by leveraging shopper insights and data to recommend optimal assortment, planogram space allocation, and flow.
• Lead training sessions on new analytical tools and resources for the Sales team.
• Function as an independent contributor with no direct reports.

Qualifications

Experience & Skills

• Demonstrated best-in-class analytical skills with a strong ability to turn data into insights
• Proven ability to build compelling category stories using data and analytics
• Clear and consistent written and verbal communication skills
• Self-starter with the ability to evaluate business fundamentals from both opportunity and challenge perspectives, and convert insights into sustainable strategies and action plans for growth
• Strong knowledge of syndicated data sources (Nielsen/IRI) and trade spend reporting tools
• Effective project management skills with the ability to prioritize and manage multiple complex projects simultaneously

Eagle Foods will provide reasonable accommodations to allow an employee to perform the essential functions of the job.

Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to use hands to finger, handle, or touch objects or controls.  The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, sit, reach above shoulders, taste and/or smell, or talk and/or hear.

The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.  Specific vision requirements of this job include close vision, peripheral vision, color vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

Working Conditions: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.

The employee occasionally works in proximity to fumes or air-borne particles, toxic or caustic chemicals, and in non-weather related extreme cold. 

The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Equal Opportunity Statement:

Eagle Foods is an equal employment opportunity employer. The Company’s policy is not to discriminate against any applicant or employee based on race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, military status, genetic information or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. Eagle Foods also prohibits harassment of applicants or employees based on any of these protected categories. It is also Eagle Food’s policy to comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws respecting consideration of unemployment status in making hiring decisions.