Category Insights Analyst

Position Summary

As a Category Insights Analyst, you will serve as a critical analytical and insights resource for clients with less than $20 million in retail sales within a designated regional sales market. In this role, you will accelerate information delivery, streamline reporting processes, and provide valuable business insights through analysis, forecasting, sales planning, and post-promotional evaluations. You will also develop pricing recommendations and actionable strategies that support client development and drive Advantage growth.

A significant portion of this role involves collecting, analyzing, and reporting data from a variety of sources, including syndicated, retailer, shipment, and consumption data (e.g., NIQ, Circana, retailer-specific data, and internal reporting systems). Working closely with regional sales teams, clients, and internal stakeholders, you will identify reporting needs, conduct business analyses, and create both standardized and ad hoc reports that translate data into actionable recommendations.

As the subject matter expert for consumption and category data across your assigned accounts, you will play a key role in helping clients grow their business through data-driven insights. You may also contribute to the development and implementation of tools and processes that improve data quality, reporting efficiency, and business intelligence capabilities.

About the Company

The Company is one of North America's leading sales and marketing agencies specializing in outsourced sales, merchandising, category management, and marketing services for manufacturers, suppliers, and producers of consumer packaged goods (CPG) and food products.

We serve a wide variety of retail channels, including:

• Grocery
• Mass Merchandise
• Specialty Retail
• Convenience
• Drug
• Dollar
• Club
• Hardware
• Consumer Electronics
• Home Centers

Our mission is to bridge the gap between manufacturers and retailers while providing consumers access to the best products available in the marketplace.

What We Offer

• Comprehensive Medical, Dental, Vision, and Life Insurance
• 401(k) with Company Match
• Training and Professional Development Opportunities
• Generous Paid Time Off
• Career Growth and Advancement Opportunities

Key Responsibilities

Associate Development

• Provide coaching, training, and direction to team members to support professional growth and achievement of performance objectives.
• Ensure project deliverables consistently meet organizational and client quality standards.

Client and Customer Management

• Build and maintain strong, value-added relationships with assigned clients, customers, and internal stakeholders.
• Leverage syndicated, panel, client, geodemographic, and market research data to develop strategic recommendations.
• Deliver actionable, measurable insights that position Advantage as a trusted business advisor.
• Identify opportunities for business growth through proactive analysis and data-driven solutions.

Thought Leadership

• Develop, present, and communicate insight-driven recommendations to clients, customers, and internal stakeholders.
• Integrate category, consumer, and shopper insights into compelling business stories that drive decision-making.
• Analyze market trends, competitive landscapes, pricing, promotions, assortment strategies, shelf optimization, and shopper behavior to identify growth opportunities.
• Translate complex analyses into clear, actionable business recommendations.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with sales teams and cross-functional stakeholders to develop strategies and tactics that drive business performance.
• Consult on category management initiatives and business-building opportunities informed by market and customer insights.

Strategic Partnership

• Establish trusted relationships with internal and external partners.
• Develop a strong understanding of customer objectives, strategies, and capabilities to support the achievement of business goals.
• Influence strategic decision-making through insights and fact-based recommendations.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Analytics, Economics, Statistics, or a related field required.

Experience

• 5-8+ years of experience in category management, shopper insights, business intelligence, strategy, analytics, or a related discipline within the CPG, FMCG, retail, or consulting industries.
• 3+ years of people leadership experience managing teams of five or more associates.
• Experience utilizing syndicated data sources such as NIQ, Circana, or comparable industry data platforms.

Preferred Certifications

• Professional Category Management Certification preferred, including:
• Category Management Association (CMA)
• Certified Knowledge Management Global (CKMG)
• The Partnering Group (TPG)
• Delta Associates
• Similar industry-recognized certifications

Travel Requirements

• Travel and driving are not essential functions of this position.

Supervisory Responsibilities

Direct Reports

• Hire, train, coach, develop, and retain direct reports.
• Conduct performance management activities utilizing established company processes, tools, and resources.
• Provide direction, guidance, and support to ensure team success.

Indirect Reports

• May delegate work assignments and provide guidance, mentorship, and support to associates without direct reporting relationships.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Demonstrated leadership, coaching, mentoring, and team development capabilities.
• Strong ability to influence business decisions through fact-based insights and data-driven recommendations.
• In-depth understanding of category management principles, including assortment, pricing, promotion, shelving, and shopper marketing.
• Exceptional analytical, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills with the ability to transform complex data into actionable business insights.
• Strong presentation and communication skills with the ability to simplify and communicate complex quantitative analyses to diverse audiences.
• Proven ability to collaborate effectively with clients, customers, sales teams, and cross-functional business partners.
• Advanced proficiency in leveraging syndicated, retailer, and internal data sources to identify trends and opportunities.

Strong business acumen with the ability to connect insights to measurable business outcomes

#LI-DW1 #LI-Remote

Job Will Remain Open Until Filled 

The Company is one of North America’s leading sales and marketing agencies specializing in outsourced sales, merchandising, category management, and marketing services to manufacturers, suppliers, and producers of food products and consumer packaged goods. The Company services a variety of trade channels including grocery, mass merchandise, specialty, convenience, drug, dollar, club, hardware, consumer electronics, and home centers. We bridge the gap between manufacturers and retailers, providing consumers access to the best products available in the marketplace today.

Responsibilities

• Reporting: Utilize various data sources, including consumption sales data and shopper insights to provide business insights that supports sales in delivering against ADV and client business objectives / core KPI’s for specified region. 
• Trade & Pricing: Contribute to the development of retail trade & promotional pricing recommendations, supporting the Sales Team with in-depth pre- and post-promotional analysis. Insights and learnings to enhance trade effectiveness and efficiency for ADV Clients. 
• Marketplace Expertise: Analyze market trends, competitive activities and channel shifts to act as SME for regional marketplace. Develop expertise on each retailer in assigned geography. 
• Business Reviews: Assist the Category Analytics & Insights Manager in the development of line reviews, business overviews and selling stories to help support ADV client selling opportunities 
• Collaborate on Merchandising: Collaborate with Space Management team to develop best in class planograms to advocate for shelving standards to achieve our client’s objectives.  

Qualifications

Education Requirements: Bachelor’s degree (Professional certification in category management a plus)

Experience Requirements: Less than 1 year experience in relevant field (Consumer Packaged Goods experience preferred)

Travel requirement: No travel requirements

Supervisor Responsibility

Direct Reports: This position does not have supervisory responsibilities for direct reports

Indirect Reports: Does not have direct reports, but may delegate work of others and provide guidance, direction and mentoring to indirect reports

Required Knowledge and Skills

• Strong analytics, interpretive, and problem-solving skills with ability to turn data into actionable insights
• Working knowledge of syndicated scan data and business reporting applications
• Experience using data visualization tools
• Ability to communicate complex quantitative analysis in a clear, precise, and actionable manner
• Strong Excel skills including pivot tables and v-lookups; aptitude for learning relational databases and multi-dimensional data tools

Environmental & Physical Requirements

Office / Sedentary Requirements: Incumbent must be able to perform the essential functions of the job. Work is performed primarily in an office environment. Typically, requires the ability to sit for extended periods of time (66%+ each day), ability to hear telephone, ability to enter data on a computer and may require the ability to lift up to 10lbs.

Additional Information Regarding Job Duties and Job Descriptions
Job duties include additional responsibilities as assigned by one’s supervisor or other manager related to the position/department. This job description is meant to describe the general nature and level of work being performed; it is not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required for the position. The Company reserves the right at any time with or without notice to alter or change job responsibilities, reassign or transfer job positions, or assign additional job responsibilities, subject to applicable law. The Company shall provide reasonable accommodations of known disabilities to enable a qualified applicant or employee to apply for employment, perform the essential functions of the job, or enjoy the benefits and privileges of employment as required by the law.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of associates so classified.

The Company is committed to providing equal opportunity in all employment practices without regard to age, race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, religion, physical or mental disability, or any other category protected by law. As part of this commitment, the Company shall provide reasonable accommodations of known disabilities to enable an applicant or employee to apply for employment, perform the essential functions of the job, or enjoy the benefits and privileges of employment as required by law.