Sr. Director, Category Strategy & Planning

Job ID: 1373 

Alternate Locations: United States-Massachusetts-South Deerfield 

Newell Brands is a leading $8.3B consumer products company with a portfolio of iconic brands such as Graco®, Coleman®, Oster®, Rubbermaid® and Sharpie®, and 25,000 talented employees around the world. Our high-performance culture, unparalleled curiosity about the world around us, and talented people fuel our success. Our culture is enabled through our core values which guide all we do and how we win as One Newell. They are Integrity, Teamwork, Passion for Winning, Ownership & Leadership.

Job Summary:

The role Sr Director, Category Strategy & Planning is to commercialize sales and brand marketing programs within all channels of distribution.  Role leads the team that identifies and execute channel-specific business-building opportunities and works cross functionally to deliver Brand sales, profit, and market share results.   

Responsibilities:

Liaison Between Sales & Marketing

• Leads Customer Strategy team that is key liaison to Brand Marketing and Customer Planning which is the key liaison to Field Sales
• Represents the voice of the customer internally with Segment team and the voice of the Segment \ Brand externally with Field Sales
• Continuously seeks to drive objective alignment between both internal & external customers to deliver mutually beneficial results.

Category / Channel/ Customer Strategy & Execution

• Leads Customer Strategy team in partnering with Category Development to:
  • Maintain and refresh the Strategic Customer Segmentation for the business segment
  • Develop Where to Play and How to Win customer recommendations by Category & Brand.
  • Develop annual commercial strategy and channel \ customer DSM expectations that are communicated through the Category Playbooks
• Drives Segment leadership alignment on identifying Big Bets and significant investment proposals to advance mutually beneficial Newell priorities with customers.
• Leads the Business Unit CSP team in the sizing category growth opportunities, setting DSMP expectations for brand innovation and sales funnel initiatives
• Drives the monitoring and execution of Category \ Brand initiatives in the marketplace.  
• Leads the Channel Development team that leads the identification and vetting of new business opportunities and driving them through the sales funnel to customer acceptance and execution.  

Annual Plan Development & Delivery

• Leads the annual CSP deployment of budget targets across customers and channels to ensure category \ Brand targets are met or exceeded.
• Ensures CSP team meets annual planning timelines and deliverables specified by the One Newell operating rhythm.  Includes development of Category Playbooks, DSMP targets, and selling stories for all key business initiatives expectations for U.S. customers,
• Completes roll-up of annual plans to help inform budgeting process and determine where gaps exist. Drives resolution process to address and close gaps between field sales and Business Unit \ Category
• Drives alignment between Field Sales and Brand Marketing in the development of in-period contingencies when annual plan is at risk or opportunities to overdrive are present,
• Responsible for Business Unit \ Category Planning Call as an input to S&OP cycle ( DRM). Focuses on driving continuous improvements to forecast accuracy and attainment.
• Leads Product supply prioritization, allocation recommendations, and sales communication when prolonged supply \ demand in-balance issues exist.
• Leads the monitoring of Innovation Sell-In and Reporting for Business Unit or Category.  Develops contingency actions when\where needed to deliver Innovation execution excellence.

Customer P&L Management

• Leads and Coaches Customer Planning in identify opportunities optimize customer and channel P&Ls.
• Leads sales review of optimization opportunities (Exit or Fix) on negative margin SKUs/ at Customer level.
• Responsible for financial analysis on Price Exceptions and ITN investments outside of existing guardrails to ensure alignment with category \ segment strategy and to deliver positive Return on customer Investments.

Customer Price Strategy Execution

• Leads Customer Strategy partnership with RGM and Brand Finance to develop annual everyday and promotional retail price points, promotional frequency, desired retail price gaps, key price thresholds by brand.
• Partners with RGM to identify negative ROI promotions and identify areas for trade promotion optimization.
• Annually communicates brand price strategy to Field Sales by customer \ channel through release of Category playbooks.
• Monitors and highlights when competitive pricing strategy needs to be reviewed, challenged or adjusted,
• Leads Segment pricing action strategy when required, providing internal thought leadership and preparing sales for customer communication \ negotiation \ execution  

Supports Customer Engagements

• Ensures and coaches Customer Planning in supporting successful milestone customer engagements inclusive of Innovation Summits, Joint Business Plan Presentations, Line Reviews, and Trade Shows

Managerial Responsibilities

• Leads the Talent recruitment, selection, performance management, and career planning activities for Category Strategy, Customer Planning, and Channel Management direct reports.

Key Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree; required
• 15+ of experience with a CPG or durable company, ideally in channel management, brand management, insights or sales, preferably with retail/ mass channel
• Experience working in a matrixed organization with demonstrated ability to partner with multiple teams to achieve results.
• Extensive US retail customer knowledge
• Experience working in a live trade accrual system
• Strong business acumen with the ability to influence different key players within an organization
• Ability to calculate, manage risk, and effectively manage change
• Strong interpersonal and intrapersonal skills with proven success of managing and developing high performing teams
• Ability to travel 25% of the time may be required

Key Performance Indicators: Newell Budget Attainment (Core Sales Growth, GM Rate Attainment, Market Share), WFA, Sales Forecast Attainment

The Connecticut base pay range for this position is from $206,000 to $251,000. Salary will be based on prior experience related to the skills required for this position.

Newell Brands (NASDAQ: NWL) is a leading global consumer goods company with a strong portfolio of well-known brands, including Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Graco, Coleman, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, Yankee Candle, Paper Mate, FoodSaver, Dymo, EXPO, Elmer’s, Oster, NUK, Spontex and Campingaz. We are focused on delighting consumers by lighting up everyday moments. Newell Brands and its subsidiaries are Equal Opportunity Employers and comply with applicable employment laws. EOE/M/F/Vet/Disabled are encouraged to apply.