Category Manager

The Mary Ruth’s Category Manager will join our growing Retail team, reporting to the Director, Category Management & Sales Planning. The Category Manager will bring deep analytical expertise and leverage this to develop comprehensive category stories for retail buyers, monitor various category performance and trends, and make data-driven recommendations to support successful product launches and sales. This role is highly technical and will combine that technical ability with retail and category knowledge to serve as the retail analytics SME and enable ongoing growth and expansion.

This is a full-time, salaried, exempt, remote role with a salary range of $80,000 to $90,000 USD/year.

• Own day-to-day use of Mary Ruth's syndicated data stack (SPINS, NielsenIQ, Circana and Walmart Scintilla) and act as the primary analytical resource for the Retail team.
• Build buyer-facing category stories for joint business plans (JBPs), line reviews, and QBRs across top accounts such as Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, Sprouts, Costco, and Sam's Club, including the category context, competitive read, and Mary Ruth’s brand recommendation.
• Run competitive and white space analysis across VMS, tracking competitor launches, ingredient and format trends, pricing, and promotional activity; proactively flag and share threats and risks before the next review window.
• Diagnose category and brand performance issues to determine root cause and accurately distinguish causation from correlation across distribution, velocity, price, promotion and assortment.
• Own shelf and distribution analysis, distribution voids by account, assortment recommendations, planogram input, and category review preparation.
• Analyze new item launch performance against benchmarks and, as needed, recommend any corrective action for positioning, distribution, or promotion.
• Review and improve the quality of broker-supplied category outputs before they reach buyers.
• Maintain a master category presentation template and ensure consistency of data definitions, sources, and periods across all buyer-facing materials.
• Other responsibilities as assigned.

• Minimum 4+ years in category management, category development, or shopper insights in CPG is required.
• Advanced, hands-on proficiency with at least two of the major syndicated data platforms (SPINS, NielsenIQ, and Circana), including creating and building custom reports.
• Experience with retailer-direct data platforms (Walmart Luminate/Scintilla, Costco CRX, Target POL, or comparable) preferred.
• Demonstrated experience building and presenting category reviews to national retail buyers.
• Working knowledge of planogram principles, assortment optimization, and distribution void analysis.
• Advanced PowerPoint for data storytelling and intermediate to advanced Excel (e.g. pivot tables, V-lookups) required.
• Proficiency in using AI tools for analysis, drafting, and automation is required together with the judgement and specific knowledge to verify outputs and identify inaccurate figures.
• VMS or wellness category experience preferred.

• Must be able to exert up to 10 pounds of force occasionally or a negligible amount of force frequently to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects, including the human body.
• This role involves sitting most of the time but may also involve moving for brief periods of time.

• Competitive compensation, commensurate with experience.
• Paid sick time.
• Paid holidays.
• Flexible paid time off.
• Paid volunteer time off.
• Medical, vision, and dental insurance.
• Flexible Spending Account - FSA.
• Company matched (4%) 401k.
• Eligibility for discretionary bonus.
• Employee and immediate-family discounts on all products (upon 60 & 90 days of…