Field Category Manager - Drug Channel

Ghirardelli Chocolate Company • Harrisburg, PA

2d

About The Position

At Ghirardelli, we’re proud to have reached a major milestone as a one billion
dollar brand. We want to be every consumer’s first choice of premium chocolate,
and we believe we can do that through our products and the way we do business,
which are all inspired by our brand commitment to Making Life A Bite Better. We
are a company committed to both personal and professional growth and believe
that each employee contributes directly to Ghirardelli's growth and success.

The Drug Channel Category Manager is responsible for driving category growth by
partnering directly with retailer stakeholders in a non-biased captaincy
capacity while also supporting the Drug Channel field sales team. The position
leads retailer specific category strategy, planogram and merchandising
recommendations, and insight driven solutions, while also ensuring strong
activation and execution through the sales organization.

This role acts as a key connector between the retailer, the field, and
headquarters by bringing forward customer needs, market trends, competitive
insights, and growth opportunities to shape future strategy and deliver best in
class category leadership.

This position owns the category perspective for the retailer and helps develop
and activate strategic plans that drive premium chocolate growth through
category leadership, shopper insights, planogram optimization, and strong cross
functional collaboration.

Requirements

• Retailer Category Leadership and Advisory
• Planogram, Space, and Merchandising Leadership
• Field Sales Partnership and Activation
• Insights, Reporting, and Storytelling
• Cross Functional Influence and Team Enablement

Responsibilities

• Lead the planning and development of retailer specific category insights and strategies that support the retailer’s goals and drive category growth
• Serve as a category thought leader with the buyer and key retailer stakeholders through category reviews, insights, and strategic recommendations
• Develop a deep understanding of retailer strategies, initiatives, and performance to proactively identify opportunities and risks
• Guide retailer partners in developing long term category plans, including the strategic vision for premium chocolate
• Lead with proactive thought leadership, by anticipating business needs, challenging the status quo and introducing innovative solutions
• Provide strategic leadership in seasonal planning sessions to support, develop and optimize the retailer’s total chocolate strategy
• Lead evaluation and activation of retailer category strategies and 4P solutions with a focus on planogram optimization and merchandising execution
• Own planogram and assortment recommendations, including reset timing, accuracy, and improvement opportunities
• Identify opportunities related to macro space planning, fixture improvements, feature strategy, merchandising standards, and shelf productivity
• Develop clear, actionable recommendations that can be executed through sales and field teams
• Partner closely with field sales leaders and sales analysts to identify retailer-specific gaps and convert insights into executable growth plans
• Embed category opportunities into sales planning processes and ensure alignment between category recommendations and selling priorities
• Support key customer meetings and work sessions by providing insights, recommendations, and story driven materials
• Assist in the development of materials that support JBPs, LRPs, SPD, and customer planning discussions
• Apply syndicated data, internal sales data, shopper insights, and retailer specific POS or loyalty platforms to develop strong recommendations
• Create fact-based presentations to support key initiatives such as assortment, promotion strategy, planogram performance, and display execution
• Identify and share category trends, competitive insights, and marketplace opportunities to support internal strategy development
• Serve as a key voice of the customer and voice of the field by bringing learnings back to internal partners such as marketing, customer marketing, and R&D
• Train and support field category managers, sales analysts, and broader teams on category tools, processes, and best practices
• Help improve tools, templates, and deployment processes by gathering field feedback and partnering with HQ teams to continuously improve effectiveness

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: No Education Listed