Location: Los Angeles, CA; Hybrid - 3 days a week in office (Open to Candidates in Chicago Area - River North neighborhood)
Job Description
The Category Insight Manager will be responsible for all-things data and research related within Country Archer. A qualified candidate will possess the ability to translate data into insights, insights into implications, and implications into business decisions and action.
At Country Archer, the Sales and Marketing teams work hand-in-hand to devise commercial strategy, grow distribution, and partner on ways to drive in-store velocities. As such, while this role reports into the VP of Marketing, the Category Insights Manager will largely support the Sales team by determining key business drivers within each customer, uncovering opportunities for growth, and creating best-in-class sales presentations to ensure the organization builds a reputation as a professional, thorough, and thoughtful category manager.
Additionally, the Category Insights Manager will support the Marketing Team by keeping a pulse on the marketplace, identifying white space opportunities for innovation, providing recommendations for new product development, and helping determine the size-of-prize for those items within the commercialization pipeline.
Lastly, this role will report regularly to the Executive Leadership Team and the organization as a whole in the form of monthly business reviews, Board of Directors meeting decks, and company-wide townhalls.
The ideal candidate also has a proven track record in cultivating and maintaining successful third-party data relationships, enabling accelerated growth through identifying category trends, and providing strategic recommendations to organizations to capitalize on key insights.
Responsibilities:
o Syndicated data analysis to create slides for sales materials, including the Master Sales Deck, channel and customer-specific sales presentations, and sell sheets
o Quarterly Category Management reviews to the Executive Team and the Sales Team to provide insights on how key customers and competitors are behaving
o Partner with Sales leads on evaluating, negotiating, and executing customer-specific data packages
o Monthly reporting to the Sales Team on business performance
o Ad-hoc analysis to support specific customer needs
o Occasional attendance at customer meetings to present to buyers
o Competitive analysis and general category insights
o White space identification and size-of-prize analysis for innovation opportunities, both inside and outside of the Meat Snacks category
o Uncovering key insights to drive sales materials and reasons-to-believe for new item presentations
o Consumer research (concept tests, TURF analysis, brand health trackers) to better understand consumer perspectives on our brand and on new product opportunities
o Monthly business reviews covering latest period market performance and pre-identified “hot topics”
o Monthly and quarterly support for Board of Directors materials
o Strategic recommendations on customer and commercial strategy
- Syndicated Data Agency Management
o Own the relationship with SPINS and Numerator
o Ensure timely negotiation and renewal of contracts
o Regular evaluation of dashboard, reports, and data sources
Qualifications
- 5+ years of Category Insights Management
- Deep understanding of syndicated data, including metrics, platforms and provider capabilities
- Experience owning 3rd party data relationship (IRI / SPINS / Nielsen)
- Proven track record of success partnering with customers, sales, and brokers to accelerate growth
- Comfortable multi-tasking and working on competing priorities
- Exceptional Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint skills
- Highly organized and able to simplify and break down complex data and subjects into easy-to-understand concepts and action items.
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal, including the ability to work across various functional boundaries.
- Can do attitude necessary for a startup environment where we need to wear multiple hats and do what it takes to get the job done.
- Strong sense of urgency and a self-starter with a desire to grow personally and professionally.
- Comfortable with ambiguity: ability to map out processes and approaches without prior examples, experience or explicit, directive guidance.
Travel Requirements
- Attendance to at minimum three tradeshows per year (Expo West in March, Sweets and Snacks in May, NACS in October)
- Occasional travel to customer/buyer meetings; likely 2-3 times per year
- Attendance at an average of 1-2 Sales Team Offsites that take place away from the Los Angeles office
- Non-LA based employees will be required to travel once a month to the Los Angeles office for Monthly Business Reviews. Some of these trips will overlap with the travel instances listed above.