What are the responsibilities and job description for the Category Manager position at Market Performance Group?
Brief Description
CATEGORY MANAGER
About MPG
Market Performance Group (MPG) is a leading end-to-end, strategy & services omnichannel commerce agency focused on creating the best PATH FORWARD — from market strategy to in-market reality — for today’s fastest-growing consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers. Over the years, we’ve built a strong reputation as a trusted partner and valuable resource to a broad range of companies, from Fortune 500 to Private Equity, in categories that include health & wellness, food & beverage, home and hardlines. We revel in the opportunity to guide our clients on their path forward, building and activating strategies that ensure success. Everything we do is driven by our unrelenting commitment to leverage our deep operational experience, unparalleled omnichannel expertise, and industry relationships to drive performance in today’s dynamic omnichannel marketplace.
At MPG, we value our people and their contributions; they are critical to building the MPG Brand. Our leadership team has significant experience driving topline revenue and bottom-line profit, having held senior operating roles at leading CPG manufacturers and retailers. Our highly regarded, seasoned team of 400 strategy and commercialization professionals brings strong operational experience and a collaborative approach. All team members are singularly focused on providing clients with pragmatic, real-world market approaches, built on the strong consumer, category and marketplace insights needed to create sustainable, profitable brand growth.
Position Overview
The Category Manager, Grocery, is responsible for delivering insights and actionable recommendations across the Grocery channel and assigned retailers. This role analyzes multiple data sources, identifies business opportunities, and develops solutions that support category and client growth. The individual will partner closely with client and internal sales and Category Development team to activate insights, assess performance, and support marketplace execution and growth.
Key Responsibilities
Category Insights & Reporting
MPG offers a generous package of health benefits, including medical, dental, vision, STD/LTD, paid maternity/paternity leave and life insurance. Our compensation program provides market industry base salary, bonuses, and 401K. In addition to paid holidays, we reward an employee’s extra efforts through unlimited paid time off.
Diversity and Inclusion
MPG provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.
We are committed to ensuring that Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEI&B) are at the foundation of our culture. Through DEI&B, we embrace the beauty in all of the unique qualities of our employees, communities and clients. MPG’s DEI&B efforts empower us to collectively reach our full potential. by fueling innovation, connection, and growth. We recognize the value of having a diverse and engaged team. We are an organization driven by PEOPLE. Our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging was born from our core values. We believe that by leveraging the unique perspectives and experiences of our employees, MPG can unlock more comprehensive, innovative, and long-standing results for both our client and retailer partners. As our journey continues to evolve, we have made intentional commitments to further champion DEI&B. The foundation of our pledge starts with our promise to each other, our clients, and the community.
© 2025 Market Performance Group
All rights reserved
CATEGORY MANAGER
About MPG
Market Performance Group (MPG) is a leading end-to-end, strategy & services omnichannel commerce agency focused on creating the best PATH FORWARD — from market strategy to in-market reality — for today’s fastest-growing consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers. Over the years, we’ve built a strong reputation as a trusted partner and valuable resource to a broad range of companies, from Fortune 500 to Private Equity, in categories that include health & wellness, food & beverage, home and hardlines. We revel in the opportunity to guide our clients on their path forward, building and activating strategies that ensure success. Everything we do is driven by our unrelenting commitment to leverage our deep operational experience, unparalleled omnichannel expertise, and industry relationships to drive performance in today’s dynamic omnichannel marketplace.
At MPG, we value our people and their contributions; they are critical to building the MPG Brand. Our leadership team has significant experience driving topline revenue and bottom-line profit, having held senior operating roles at leading CPG manufacturers and retailers. Our highly regarded, seasoned team of 400 strategy and commercialization professionals brings strong operational experience and a collaborative approach. All team members are singularly focused on providing clients with pragmatic, real-world market approaches, built on the strong consumer, category and marketplace insights needed to create sustainable, profitable brand growth.
Position Overview
The Category Manager, Grocery, is responsible for delivering insights and actionable recommendations across the Grocery channel and assigned retailers. This role analyzes multiple data sources, identifies business opportunities, and develops solutions that support category and client growth. The individual will partner closely with client and internal sales and Category Development team to activate insights, assess performance, and support marketplace execution and growth.
Key Responsibilities
Category Insights & Reporting
- Provide an objective viewpoint on business, category, shopper, and customer insights using syndicated data, retailer POS, and panel tools.
- Lead recurring POS and syndicated reporting with clear insights, trends, risks, and recommended actions.
- Develop retail business reviews, line reviews, shopper insights, and category/segment deep dives; maintain standardized frameworks for use across customers.
- Build and present line and category reviews grounded in shopper analysis, performance trends, POG assessments, and marketplace information.
- Monitor category and channel trends and communicate relevant marketplace shifts, including NielsenIQ/Panel findings, Spate trends, and broader industry inputs.
- Provide high-level insights across pricing, promotion, assortment, and distribution fundamentals.
- Serve as a category-first expert to internal and client teams; support communication of insights, trends, and category opportunities.
- Keep teams informed of marketplace changes and shopper dynamics that may impact selling materials or planning.
- Support alignment across brands and sales teams by ensuring consistent selling stories and category messaging.
- Share learnings on in-store and online execution with internal partners to inform planning and materials.
- Supply data-driven inputs for JBP and retailer T2T preparations.
- Develop customer- and channel-specific category assessments based on shopper and marketplace insights.
- Influence line review and assortment recommendations by providing insight-led recommendations across the 4Ps.
- Partner with stakeholders to generate strategic insights that inform business performance, planning, and growth.
- Identify opportunities to scale insight frameworks and improve reporting efficiency.
- Support the adoption of insights best practices and emerging category analytics approaches
- Bachelor’s degree required
- 8 years in Consumer Packaged-Goods industry (Business Analytics and Insights, Sales, or Category Management)
- 8 years of experience in consumer/retail data and analytics, ideally with expertise in retail POS portals (Circana, 84.51, 1010, etc.), Nielsen/NielsenIQ Scanning and Homescan Panel and proficiency in Circana/IRI Scanning, Numerator Panel, etc.
- Plus: Experience with Retailer Platforms (Dunnhumby, 84.51/Market 6, etc.), JDA/Space Management, Assortment Tools, Price & Promotion, or Media-Driven Analytics
- Full command of Microsoft tools - Excel, PowerPoint and Word for business reporting and insight generation
- Plus: Experience with Business Intelligence and Visualization tools such as Domo, Tableau and/or Microsoft Power BI and/or SQL/SAS/R
- Ability to think critically about client partner goals, category/brand/retail/strategies, and how data and analytics can action those
- Demonstration of strong analytical skills and a creative/innovative approach to problem-solving
- Ability to deliver on client analytical needs and elevate insight discovery with high-quality deliverables
- Ability to work in a fast-paced, high-demand environment and effectively prioritize, multi-task, and deliver on time with quality accordingly
- Strong collaboration skills both within the team and with the customer/client
- Excellent communication skills both verbal and written, as well as advanced presentation skills, that allow for success in a virtual team environment
- You are naturally curious and comfortable analyzing multiple datasets to uncover meaningful insights.
- You simplify complex data into clear, actionable stories that support internal, retail-facing, and client needs.
- You thrive in fast-paced environments and deliver accurate, high-quality work under tight deadlines.
- You understand the needs of retailer-facing teams and build insights, templates, and tools that support them.
- You collaborate well across teams, ensuring consistent category messaging and aligned recommendations.
- You take initiative, identify opportunities to improve tools and processes, and maintain high standards for reporting and analysis. You take initiative, identify opportunities to improve processes and work smarter, not harder, and maintain high standards for reporting, analysis, and presentation quality.
MPG offers a generous package of health benefits, including medical, dental, vision, STD/LTD, paid maternity/paternity leave and life insurance. Our compensation program provides market industry base salary, bonuses, and 401K. In addition to paid holidays, we reward an employee’s extra efforts through unlimited paid time off.
Diversity and Inclusion
MPG provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.
We are committed to ensuring that Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEI&B) are at the foundation of our culture. Through DEI&B, we embrace the beauty in all of the unique qualities of our employees, communities and clients. MPG’s DEI&B efforts empower us to collectively reach our full potential. by fueling innovation, connection, and growth. We recognize the value of having a diverse and engaged team. We are an organization driven by PEOPLE. Our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging was born from our core values. We believe that by leveraging the unique perspectives and experiences of our employees, MPG can unlock more comprehensive, innovative, and long-standing results for both our client and retailer partners. As our journey continues to evolve, we have made intentional commitments to further champion DEI&B. The foundation of our pledge starts with our promise to each other, our clients, and the community.
© 2025 Market Performance Group
All rights reserved
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