Category Manager

Heartland Food Products Group is a Carmel, Indiana–based consumer packaged goods company focused on sugar reduction, better-for-you beverages, and wellness-oriented food products. The company develops, manufactures, and markets low- and no-calorie sweeteners, liquid water enhancers, coffee products, creamers, beverage concentrates, nutritional beverages, and related private-label offerings.

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Our best-known brand is Splenda , and our portfolio also includes Java House cold brew coffee and SlimFast . Heartland serves retail, foodservice, e-commerce, business-to-business, contract-manufacturing, and private-label channels, with products distributed internationally across North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

In May 2026, Heartland announced a definitive agreement to acquire Whole Earth Brands' Americas business, which includes the Equal, Whole Earth, Swerve, and Chuker brands. The acquisition expands Heartland's sweetener and wellness portfolio across North America and Latin America.

Role Overview

The Category Manager is responsible for driving category growth and consumer value by delivering data-driven insights, assortment, pricing, shelving, and promotional recommendations to retail partners for the full Heartland brands portfolios. This role serves as a trusted advisor to field sales and retail partners, using consumer, shopper, and market data to develop strategies that grow the total category while strengthening the Heartland portfolio.

The ideal candidate combines analytical rigor with storytelling, translating insights into actionable, customer-ready recommendations.

Key Responsibilities

Category & Shopper Insights

• Analyze category, brand, and SKU performance using syndicated and customer data
• Identify shopper trends, white space opportunities, and growth drivers
• Develop category growth hypotheses grounded in consumer and shopper behavior
• Monitor competitive activity, innovation, and performance trends

Assortment Strategy

• Lead assortment optimization and SKU rationalization recommendations
• Support new item launches with assortment and distribution strategies
• Evaluate assortment productivity and shelf efficiency
• Partner with Sales with line reviews and reset planning

Shelving & Merchandising

• Develop planograms, shelf principles, and merchandising strategies
• Optimize shelf layout to improve shopper navigation and conversion
• Build data-backed shelving recommendations aligned to retailer strategies
• Support execution of resets and in-store merchandising initiatives

Pricing & Promotion (Category Lens)

• Analyze price tiers, pack sizes, and competitive price gaps
• Partner with Revenue Growth Management (RGM) to evaluate promotion effectiveness
• Support pricing and promo recommendations that drive sales and share
• Partner with RGM and Sales on customer-specific strategies

Customer & Sales Support

• Create customer-ready presentations for line reviews, JBP meetings, and business updates
• Act as the category expert for assigned retailers
• Support Sales with fact-based selling and opportunity sizing

Key Deliverables

• Category growth strategies and playbooks
• Assortment and shelving recommendations
• Planograms and shelf optimization analyses
• Retailer-specific category reviews
• Executive-ready insight presentations

Qualifications

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• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Sales, Consumer Insights, or related field
• 5–8 years of experience in Category Management, Shopper Insights, or Analytics
• Strong experience with syndicated data (NIQ, Circana, SPINS, etc.)
• Advanced Excel and PowerPoint skills
• Experience with Power BI
• Strong analytical and storytelling capabilities
• Proven ability to synthesize large quantities of data into simple, actionable insights
• Experience supporting retail line reviews and resets

Preferred

• Experience working directly with major retailers
• Familiarity with space planning tools (JDA, Blue Yonder, Nielsen Spaceman)
• Experience with shopper research and panel data
• Exposure to omnichannel or e-commerce category management

Competencies & Attributes

• Shopper-first mindset
• Strong commercial and retailer acumen
• Ability to translate data into clear recommendations
• Collaborative, cross-functional partner
• Detail-oriented with executive presence

Strong collaboration with Consumer Insights and IT

This role is in Carmel, Indiana and 100% in office.