Director, Category Leadership

Position Overview:Serve as a Category Leader for Giant Eagle and Military Channel customers to deliver best in class insights to drive customer growth. Employ total channel and beverage category strategic thinking by leveraging unique insights from a variety of internal and industry sources. Actively influence customer and system decision making with fact-based and category-centric thought leadership. Own direct relationships with customer to collaboratively build strategies and tactics designed for future category growth.What You'll Do for UsFunction Related Activities/Key Responsibilities:Be the industry, channel & category subject matter expert to facilitate retailers/ beverage strategyServe as a strategic advisor to customer leadership, building credibility through deep customer understanding and consistent value creation.Provide leadership & continued stewardship for retailer's beverage categoriesRecommend space opportunities and risks for the beverage categoryIdentify and articulate opportunities as part of the annual customer category situation assessment processFocus on retailer category development while also partnering closely with Sales to support development on sales strategy which will win in the marketplaceWhat You'll NeedEducation Requirements:Minimum Bachelor's degree5+ years in CPG industry and retail customer experience (manufacturer, retailer, or distributor)Preferred MBA or other Masters Degree8-10+ years in CPG industry and retail customer experience (manufacturer, retailer, or distributor)Variety of customer experience is an advantageRelated Work Experience/Functional Skills:*Proficiency in at least one of the following areasCategory / Space Management, Shopper InsightsAdvanced analytical capabilityStrong working knowledge of syndicated data (e.g. Nielsen or Circana)Advanced Microsoft Office Suite skillsProven oral and written communication, story-telling, and influencing skillsAbility to manage and prioritize multiple projects and a