Sr. Category Manager

About Us: Trilliant Food & Nutrition is a leading manufacturer of premium coffees and powdered beverages, proudly headquartered in Little Chute, Wisconsin. With a legacy rooted in quality, innovation, and service, Trilliant delivers branded and private label solutions across retail, foodservice, and e-commerce channels. Horseshoe Beverage Company, based in Neenah, WI, is a leading ready-to-drink beverage manufacturer dedicated to delivering an exceptional beverage experience. By combining industry-leading talent and cutting-edge equipment, we drive innovation and consistently deliver the highest quality products to our customers--first and fast. Our brand portfolio includes Victor Allen's®, Dutch Bros® beverages and Nurri™, our better-for-you protein beverage line. We are passionate about beverages - and about building a team that's just as energized. We invite you to explore opportunities at Trilliant or Horseshoe, to see if your talents and career aspirations may fit with our openings. Our Core Values: Position Overview: We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Senior Category Manager to join our Team at Trilliant Food & Nutrition. The Senior Category Manager will be responsible for developing and executing category strategies that drive growth and profitability for the company. This role requires a strong understanding of market trends, consumer behavior, and competitive analysis. The Senior Category Manager will need to collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including marketing, sales, commercialization, and R&D, to optimize product assortment, pricing, promotions, and placement. The desired candidate should have extensive category management experience with top US retailers. The ideal candidate will be a strategic thinker with a passion for data-driven decision-making and have a proven track record of delivering results in a fast-paced environment. Responsibilities: Category Strategy Development: Develop and implement category plans that align with overall business objectives, focusing on market share growth and consumer needs. Data Analysis and Reporting: Utilize data analytics tools to prepare weekly, monthly and ad hoc reports to present learnings to senior management and cross functional team members. prepare meticulous customer deliverables for upcoming reviews, reset and joint business planning. Market and Consumer Insights: Conduct comprehensive market analysis to identify trends, consumer insights, competitive activity, and growth opportunities. Utilize data to make informed decisions on product assortment, pricing, and promotions. Retailer Collaboration: Build inseparable relationships with key retail partners. Build customer decks & present category strategies and insights to drive category growth for the company and our valued partners. Price & Promotional Strategy: Monitor competitive pricing and recommend strategies needed to remain competitive in the market. Analyze the effectiveness of promotions and advise strategies based on performance. Forecasting & Demand Planning Collaboration: Partner with supply chain and demand planning teams to translate category and shopper insights into accurate volume forecasts. Executive & Retailer Presentations: Synthesize category, shopper, and competitive data into clear, action-oriented narratives for senior leadership and retailer buyers. Diagnose root causes behind performance shifts, distill findings into a prioritized point of view, and present recommended next steps directly to executives and retail partners in business reviews, resets, and joint business planning sessions. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with internal teams to ensure alignment on category strategies and execution plans. Create a collaborative environment to achieve shared goals and be an exemplary thought leader. Vendor & Partner Management: Manage relationships with syndicated data and insights vendors (e.g., NielsenIQ, Circana, Scintilla) and other third-party research or agency partners overseeing contracts, data feeds, and service delivery to ensure reliable, timely access to the market and shopper data that underpins category strategy and retailer deliverables. Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, or a related field. Category management certification is required. 5+ years of experience in category management within the CPG industry. Past Category Captain experience is desired. Strong analytical skills & creative thinking. Proven ability to develop and execute category strategies that drive growth. Excellent communication and presentation skills. Proficiency in data analysis tools (e.g., Nielsen, Numerator & Stratum) and Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Power BI). Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and meet deadlines. Strong negotiation and relationship-building skills. Strategic thinker with a customer-centric mindset. Self-motivated, results-driven, and have a relentless desire for knowledge and answers. What We Expect of Our Applicants and Future Employees: Honesty -- you tell the truth, even when it's uncomfortable, and you don't hide mistakes or shortcuts. Integrity -- you do the right thing, even when no one is watching or when it would be easier not to. Diversity -- you respect people who look, think, and work differently than you do. Quality -- you take pride in your work and hold yourself to a high standard, no matter the task. Respect -- you treat everyone with courtesy, from the person next to you on the line to the person in the corner office. Responsibility -- you follow through on what you say you'll do, without needing to be reminded. Accountability -- when you make a mistake, you own it, learn from it, and help fix it. Hours, Location and Pay: We offer a competitive base pay rate and benefits package for full-time employees. This role works standard business hours Monday-Friday at our Little Chute, WI manufacturing facility. Additional hours as needed to support business needs. Physical and Mental Demands: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit, hear, use hands to type data, use a personal computer and telephone. This employee may occasionally have to operate business machines and lift and/move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required in this job include close vision and the ability to adjust focus. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Mental demands include multi-tasking, decision making, problem solving, comparing, copying, computing, compiling, analyzing, coordinating, and synthesizing data. Potential for exposure to chemicals, heights, loud noises, mechanical equipment, wet environments, and other potential hazards exists. Safety Statement: At Trilliant and Horseshoe, safety is every employee's first responsibility. We expect all employees to adhere to all safety practices, have the moral courage to stop other individuals from performing unsafe acts, and immediately report unsafe conditions. Disclosures: The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. All personnel may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities from time to time, as needed. Responsible for following food safety/regulatory policies and procedures, executing responsibilities as identified in standard operating procedures, and reporting food safety/regulatory concerns to the Production or Quality Manager. Trilliant Food & Nutrition and Horseshoe Beverage Company are Drug Free Workplaces. All applicants are subject to a drug screen and background check as a condition of employment. Trilliant Food and Nutrition and Horseshoe Beverage participate in the E-Verify process. EEO/AA including Vets and Disabled If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact us by email at View email address on click.appcast.io and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Trilliant Food and Nutrition and Horseshoe Beverage are Equal Opportunity Employers. The principles of the OECD and UN have been taken into consideration and used as guidance in our human rights practices and procedures.