Associate Category Manager

This Associate Category Manager will turn shopper, sales, and category data into clear actions that grow a major national retailer's Dairy aisle across digital and in-store channels. The work centers on category reporting, assortment and space planning, planogram execution, category reviews, pricing and promotion analysis, and translating insights into recommendations for retailer and internal partners.

The strongest fit has 2-3 years of CPG category management, customer insights, sales strategy, or retail analytics experience and has personally supported planograms or shelf-space work. Experience with Target processes, Circana or Nielsen data, JDA or comparable space-planning tools, POG Gen, and Shel IQ is especially valuable.

Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Schedule: Usually in the office Tuesday and Wednesday; occasional onsite customer meetings in December and January
Work Setting: Hybrid
Role Type: Contract
Contract Duration: 6 months
Pay Rate: $32.92 per hour

Benefits

• Eligible CRG contract employees may access medical, dental, and vision coverage after 30 days of employment.
• Weekly pay and direct deposit.
• Referral bonus opportunities and assignment support from CRG's recruiting and account-management team.
• 401(k) eligibility after 12 months as a CRG employee.
• Minnesota earned sick and safe time accrues at 1 hour for every 30 hours worked, up to 48 hours (6 eight-hour days) per year, subject to applicable law and plan administration.
• Benefit eligibility, plan details, waiting periods, and employee costs are confirmed during onboarding.

Responsibilities

• Apply category-management principles through rigorous data analysis and consumer and shopper insights.
• Own weekly category scorecards, pricing reports, digital-performance reporting, ad recaps, and monthly Circana share reporting.
• Combine syndicated, POS, panel, loyalty-card, and financial data to identify sales, share, assortment, pricing, promotional, and opportunity gaps.
• Conduct category decompositions and translate trends, opportunities, and business challenges into clear insights-to-action.
• Support category reviews, transitions, and revisions through new-item recaps, seasonal analysis, assortment assessments, and post-revision results.
• Execute planogram work, including product-library updates, prefill information, sales-by-store analysis, planogram-folder management, and Shel IQ execution.
• Drive planogram development and implementation in support of the category strategic growth plan and retailer assortment standards.
• Co-develop strategic business plans designed to improve category volume, contribution, share, and omnichannel performance.
• Prepare buyer-status follow-ups, store-walk materials, retailer data pulls, promotional recaps, and other rapid-turn analyses.
• Partner across consumer insights, eCommerce, sales, and center-of-excellence teams to build tailored retailer solutions.
• Present concise, persuasive recommendations to multiple levels of retailer and internal leadership in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree.
• 2-3 years of experience in CPG category management, customer management, shopper or customer insights, sales strategy, or closely related retail analytics work.
• Hands-on space-planning, shelving, planogram, or assortment-execution experience.
• Working knowledge of syndicated and retailer data such as Circana, Nielsen, POS or panel data, loyalty-card data, or Numerator.
• Ability to connect analytics from multiple sources to practical category, assortment, pricing, promotion, and shelf recommendations.
• Strong Excel and PowerPoint skills, with the ability to produce recurring scorecards and executive-ready stories.
• Excellent planning, analytical, communication, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to work the stated hybrid schedule in downtown Minneapolis and attend occasional onsite retailer meetings.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct Target account, Target category-review, assortment, or planogram-process experience.
• Experience with JDA or Blue Yonder Space Planning, POG Gen, Shel IQ, or comparable shelf-planning software.
• Food, beverage, dairy, refrigerated, grocery, or adjacent high-velocity CPG category experience.
• Experience supporting omnichannel category strategy across both digital and physical shelves.