Group Director Category Leadership Convenience Retail and Emerging Channels

Description

Responsible for leading a team which works with our customers on beverage strategies and tactics to maximize the opportunity for both the category and Coca-Cola. Key deliverables include opportunity assessment, beverage strategy development as part of a category blueprint, shopper insights, assortment and space recommendations, main shelf placement and display best practices, etc.

Customer scope of responsibility includes the large national Convenience Retail customers to include 7-11, Circle K, QT, Wawa, Caseys, Race Trac, etc. Also includes Amazon, Whole Foods and the Military Channel

Position Responsibilities

• Ensures alignment between Retailers and Coca-Colas strategic priorities.
• Makes beverage strategic and tactical recommendations by leveraging unique insights from POS, shopper card, panel data as well as other industry sources.
• Plays a pivotal role in influencing customer decision making by building relationships with senior executives to collaboratively build strategies and tactics designed for future category growth
• Stewards’ development & implementation of process for sharing best practices, as well as sharing specific retailer shopper and category insights within Coca-Cola to drive/shape future corporate strategy.
• Leads the interaction with cross-functional leads to address key business questions and develop volume and revenue growth strategies that allow both companies to meet and exceed plan expectations.
• Ensures that category management tools, data, and shopper insights are effectively leveraged to grow distribution, space, and optimized assortment for all beverage categories including DSD and Warehouse brands.

KEY FOCUS AREAS

Strategic Thinking and Strategy Development:

• Develop and drive Coca-Cola strategic processes and plans
• Partner in the development of annual business plan; drive category strategy and opportunities; ensure plan has a relevant category strategy which will win in the market place
• Focus on retailer category development
• Provide leadership & continued stewardship for retailer’s beverage categories (Sparkling, Still and Warehouse)
• Recommends space opportunities and risks for the beverage category
• Partner with Sales Teams in development of retailer account plans and programs to drive Coca-Cola market share
• Lead the annual customer category situation assessment process

Project Management:

• Lead the work of a cross functional team consisting of Category Managers, Shopper Insights, and Space Strategy Managers
• Collaborate with cross functional departments (Sales, Channel Strategy and Development, RGM etc) on projects focused on becoming our customers most valued supplier

Relationship Management:

• Develop solid working relationships with key retailer divisional/category managers to drive NARTD beverages into all aspects of their shopper engagement strategy in-store
• Act as brand champion for Coca-Cola by defining and driving overall brand objectives through the practice of category management techniques, delivering comprehensive category programs internally and across retail partners to drive product and brand initiatives
• Build strong team-oriented relationships with other key internal business units and/or global partners that result in new business and/or cross-category opportunities

People Leadership & Development:

• Recruit and retain a high-performance team, while creating and maintaining growth opportunities within and outside of the broader Category Leadership department
• Ensure best and current customer oriented thinking is utilized within Category Space Capability department.

Education: Bachelor’s Degree Required. MBA or other graduate degree a plus.

EXPERIENCE

Minimum Required:

• 10+ Years in CPG Industry
• Senior level experience within the consumer goods/beverages industry
• Strong knowledge of category management principles and analytic techniques
• People leadership/management – specifically, experience leading leaders of others
• Customer experience across multiple channels – e.g., Large store, Small store, and Foodservice/On Premise channels
• Demonstrated success in leading geographically dispersed team

Preferred Level:

• 15+ Years in CPG Industry
• Experience across multiple disciplines beyond category management (Shopper Insights, Revenue Growth Management, etc)

Travel – 20-30%

Our Purpose and Growth Culture:
We are taking deliberate action to nurture an inclusive culture that is grounded in our company purpose, to refresh the world and make a difference. We act with a growth mindset, take an expansive approach to what’s possible and believe in continuous learning to improve our business and ourselves. We focus on four key behaviors – curious, empowered, inclusive and agile – and value how we work as much as what we achieve. We believe that our culture is one of the reasons our company continues to thrive after 130+ years. Visit Our Purpose and Vision to learn more about these behaviors and how you can bring them to life in your next role at Coca-Cola.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class. When we collect your personal information as part of a job application or offer of employment, we do so in accordance with industry standards and best practices and in compliance with applicable privacy laws.