Title: Director of Category Development / Senior Manager
Location: Greeley, CO 80638
Duration: Full Time
Client: Confidential
Work Authorization:
Interview: Video Interview
Job Description
We have partnered with a large meat packaging company in the Greeley, CO area to provide them with a Director of Category Development Manager / Senior Manager. Please review the description below and let us know if you are interested.
Prioritized Must-Have Skills
- Must have experience using IRI, Nielsen or any other POS data source.
- Must have 7+ years in category development, insights, RGM, brand/marketing, or commercial strategy.
- Must be proficient with syndicated data and insight platforms.
- Must have digital marketing and analytics experience.
- No more than 3 jobs in the last 10 years.
Key Responsibilities
The Director leads the long-term Category/Business/Channel Strategy process and the short-term business development engine, while ensuring functional owners—Business Leaders, Category Managers, RGM, Brand, R&D, and Channel Owners—retain full decision rights. This role owns the process, frameworks, cadence, and integration that align the enterprise.
- Embodies and actively demonstrates our company values.
- Takes initiative; disciplined, self-directed, and motivated to uncover and develop market opportunities while driving cross-functional initiatives in a matrix structure.
- Excels at leading without authority by influencing through insights, frameworks, and clarity; acts as an integrator and facilitator of commercial inputs.
- Highly organized; manages multiple projects, routines, and incoming requests with consistency and follow-through.
- Builds processes, frameworks, and logic that enable better and faster decision-making.
- Develops strong relationships with R&D, Brand, Category, Sales, and Channel leaders; navigates conflicting agendas to align teams.
- Communicates clearly and confidently with customers and executive leadership.
- Quickly understands business dynamics and links daily work to enterprise objectives.
- Strong analytical capability; translates data into insights and insights into strategy.
- Maintains external market orientation and continuously updates market views.
- Operates with a growth and research mindset; tests assumptions and improves ways of working.
Long-Term / Strategic Leadership
Business / Category / Channel Strategy
- Lead the business strategy process defining ambition, market model, where to play, and how to win.
- Ensure shared understanding of category roles, competitive position, and growth horizons.
- Work cross-functionally to define plans and roadmaps.
Brand & Marketing Strategy
- Partner with Brand and Marketing teams to develop consumer, customer, and brand objectives.
- Own the strategic discipline for branded portfolio, consumer target, positioning, and 4Ps strategy.
- Ensure all brand decisions ladder up to category strategy.
Innovation Platforms & Insight Development
- Lead long-term innovation platforms grounded in consumer, operator, and customer insights.
- Connect category and channel opportunities to R&D and Product Development.
- Provide structured, insight-driven opportunity definitions for stage-gate prioritization.
Commercial Capability Roadmap
- Own tools, systems, processes, dashboards, and decision frameworks.
- Build organizational category fluency and commercial discipline.
- Standardize insight-to-action workflows across the enterprise.
Go-to-Market Strategy Process
- Create GTM frameworks across Retail, Foodservice, QSR, and emerging verticals.
- Partner with Channel Owners and Sales for insight-led approaches.
- Build aligned GTM plans around company goals.
- Drive alignment on channel choices and customer positioning.
Short-Term – Business Development
- Integrate Brand, Product, and Sales roadmaps using an insight-led approach.
Brand – Consumer / Customer Development
- Provide actionable consumer/operator insights.
- Address short-term market shifts with clear action plans.
Product & Portfolio Activation
- Guide assortment, SKU roles, and pack strategy using category logic.
- Partner with Supply Chain, R&D, and Category teams for execution.
- Ensure alignment between goals and market logic for economic impact.
Channel Strategy Activation
- Develop channel playbooks based on category dynamics and customer needs.
- Provide clarity on trends, competition, and immediate opportunities.
Customer Development & Commercial Storytelling
- Develop customer-facing category narratives and JBP inputs.
- Enhance customer credibility with integrated insights.
- Equip Sales with consistent category stories.
Short-Term – Performance & Market Intervention
- Mobilize cross-functional alignment supporting P&L owners.
- Diagnose market, category, and customer performance gaps.
- Align RGM, Sales, Category, Marketing, and Operations on actions.
- Clarify levers: mix, price, pack, assortment, promo, and GTM adjustments.
- Ensure performance actions align with shared goals.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree required; MBA preferred.
- 7+ years in category development, insights, RGM, brand/marketing, or commercial strategy.
- Proven cross-functional leadership in a matrix environment.
- Exceptional strategic thinking, communication, and storytelling skills.
- Proficiency with syndicated data and insight platforms.
- Strong business acumen; multi-channel food industry experience preferred.
- Can perform job functions with or without reasonable accommodation.
Other Key Requirements
- May require travel to other facilities or company events.
- 100% in-office work.
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