Category Analytics & Insights Manager

Job Location Grand Rapids Job Description Are you energized by using integrative thinking to solve tough business problems? Do you enjoy finding the story in complex data and turning it into action? In this role, you will serve as an influential business partner to the Meijer Customer Team, bringing together shopper and consumer understanding, category expertise, market analytics and retail execution. You will help shape strategies that grow the category, strengthen the shopper experience and deliver mutual value for Meijer and P&G. You will work within a multi-functional team and collaborate with Sales, Brand, Finance, Supply, Product Supply, R&D and other partners to identify growth opportunities and enable high-quality decisions. What You Will Own Customer Team Analytics & Insights • Act as an active and influential business strategy consultant, ensuring shopper, consumer, category and retailer insights are foundational to customer strategy and execution. • Integrate point-of-sale, market share, household panel, loyalty/CRM, shopper research, digital and other data sources to identify key business drivers, risks and growth opportunities. • Distill complex information into clear, compelling stories and recommendations that influence internal leaders and customer partners. • Design or apply fit-for-purpose quantitative and qualitative research to answer priority business questions and deepen understanding of shopper behavior and decision-making. • Lead recurring business reporting and performance diagnostics, moving beyond what happened to explain why it happened and what action should follow. • Connect with internal and external experts to bring new analytical methods, technology-enabled research and emerging capabilities into the work. Category Management & Retail Execution • Provide category thought leadership to Meijer, using market, shopper and retailer insights to recommend strategies that accelerate category and market share growth. • Lead or support category reviews and line reviews, translating category, brand, vendor and item performance into recommendations for assortment, shelving, space and productivity. • Develop shelf and assortment recommendations that improve shopper ease, conversion and trade-in, trade-up and trade-across opportunities. • Use space-planning and planogram analytics to assess total distribution points, share of space, assortment productivity and alignment to the retailer’s category strategy. • Build a multi-year category and shelf-back perspective that identifies future growth opportunities, portfolio needs and risks to assortment or space. • Recommend, sell and evaluate in-market tests, establishing clear success measures and translating results into scalable action. • Influence the digital shelf and site experience, including search, content, variation, bundling and other fundamentals that improve category navigation and conversion. • Partner with the broader customer team to turn insights and category recommendations into superior in-store and online execution. What Success Looks Like • Customer and internal decisions are grounded in a clear understanding of the shopper, category, market and business drivers. • Insights are translated into focused recommendations for assortment, shelf, space, digital experience, innovation and commercial execution. • Category strategies create mutual value by improving the Meijer shopper experience while supporting sustainable category and business growth. • Analytical work is trusted, decision-oriented and communicated with clarity to both technical and non-technical audiences. Job Qualifications • Bachelor's degree or higher in Business, Marketing, Analytics, Economics, Statistics, Engineering, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Management Information Systems or a related field. • 3-5+ years of related experience in analytics and insights, category management, sales strategy/planning, customer business development, market research or a related field. • Strong analytical capability and demonstrated ability to interpret retailer, shopper, market and business data and convert it into recommendations. • Working knowledge of point-of-sale and syndicated data, household or shopper panels, and quantitative and qualitative research techniques. • Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint, including the ability to build clear visualizations and executive-ready stories. • Experience with data visualization or analytical tools such as Power BI, Tableau, Spotfire, KNIME, Alteryx or equivalent. • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to collaborate and influence internal and external stakeholders. • Ability to work effectively as an individual contributor with limited supervision while collaborating across a multi-functional team. • Ability to work on-site in Grand Rapids, Michigan, based on business needs, and to travel domestically as required. Preferred Qualifications • Experience in consumer packaged goods, retail, category management, customer analytics, e-commerce or media analytics. • Experience with syndicated scanner and panel sources such as NielsenIQ, Circana, Kantar or Numerator. • Experience with space-planning, planogram or assortment analytics tools and processes. • Familiarity with retailer loyalty/CRM data, neighborhood or trade-area analytics, and shopper-based design principles. • Experience with statistical software or programming languages such as JMP, Python, R or SQL. • Curiosity and practical experience with AI and technology-enabled research or analytics approaches. • Proven ability to identify growth opportunities, develop new ideas and improve ways of working. Capabilities That Will Help You Thrive Integrative Thinking Connect disparate evidence and balance shopper, retailer, category and company needs. Insight Translation Separate signal from noise and communicate a decisive recommendation. Category Leadership Understand the drivers o