Senior Analyst, Category Management (Space Planning)

What Category Management contributes to Cardinal Health Marketing is responsible for assessing customer needs, market conditions and competition to inform business strategy. Marketing implements the strategy through developing, commercializing and monitoring the appropriate products and services. Category Management is responsible for cross functional collaboration that helps to deliver sales, profitability and inventory productivity goals by capitalizing on retail marketplace and shopper trends in designated categories. Manages and optimizes supplier relationships and product portfolio to drive financial results, increase market share and exceed customer expectations. Job Summary The Consumer Health Space Planning team supports retail independent pharmacy customers by translating category strategy, product performance, shopper trends, and physical merchandising requirements into actionable planograms. The team connects data, assortment decisions, and retail execution to help customers use front-end shelf space effectively while supporting sales, profitability, inventory productivity, and consistent customer experience. Through disciplined planogram development, item data stewardship, reset execution, and cross-functional partnership, Space Planning enables timely updates as market conditions, product availability, and category strategies change. As a Senior Analyst, Category Management focused on Space Planning, this role develops, maintains, analyzes, and distributes Consumer Health planograms that optimize front-end space for independent retail pharmacy customers. The Senior Analyst partners with Category Management, Planning and Analytics, Inventory Management, Marketing, Account Management, Internal Sales, and other cross-functional stakeholders to execute the annual reset calendar, maintain planogram and item-data accuracy, and respond to evolving business and customer needs. The role applies category management, retail merchandising, and space-planning expertise to evaluate performance, develop recommendations, resolve technical and merchandising issues, and deliver accurate, executable solutions with sound judgment and independence. Responsibilities • Developing and Maintaining Planograms: Create, revise, version, and publish planograms for assigned Consumer Health categories using the approved space-planning platform, ensuring product placement, shelf fit, facings, adjacencies, and merchandising standards are accurately represented. Perform quality assurance before publication, including validation of item placement, dimensions, facings, capacity, assortment, shelf fit, identifiers, images, versioning, and supporting documentation • Executing the Reset Calendar: Manage assigned work against the annual category reset calendar, including strategy inputs, sample and image readiness, line-review decisions, and assortment changes • Translating Category Strategy into Shelf Execution: Partner with Category Managers to convert assortment decisions, category strategies, shopper needs, market trends, and product priorities into clear and executable shelf layouts • Maintaining Product and Planogram Data: Capture, validate, and maintain item dimensions, images, identifiers, descriptions, hierarchy, status, and other attributes required for accurate planogram production and downstream reporting • Conducting Space to Sales Analysis: Use internal sales, inventory, item, customer, and syndicated market information to evaluate product productivity, space allocation, assortment opportunities, and potential planogram changes • Monitoring Inventory Readiness: Review planogram item availability and inventory reporting, identify risks to planogram release or customer execution, and coordinate with Category Management, Planning, Inventory Management, and suppliers on substitutions or corrective actions • Improving Processes and Documentation: Create and maintain standard operating procedures, templates, checklists, file structures, naming conventions, and controls that improve accuracy, cycle time, scalability, and team continuity • Partnering Across Functions: Build effective working relationships with Category Management, Planning and Analytics, Marketing, Supply Chain, Account Management, and Internal Sales Team by clarifying needs, communicating status, and closing the loop on deliverables • Supporting Business Reviews and Special Projects: Prepare planogram metrics, category or customer analyses, visual merchandising recommendations, and concise summaries of risks and opportunities for meetings, initiatives, and leadership decisions Qualifications • Bachelor's degree in business, merchandising, marketing, analytics, supply chain, retail management, or a related field, or equivalent work experience, preferred • 2-4 years of relevant experience in space planning, merchandising, category management, retail analytics, assortment planning, commercial operations, or a related role, preferred • Space-Planning Tools: Experience creating, maintaining, validating, and publishing planograms using NIQ Spaceman, Blue Yonder/JDA, Apollo, or a comparable retail space-planning platform is preferred • Analytical Skills: Ability to work with sales, item, inventory, customer, and market data; identify exceptions and trends; and translate findings into practical merchandising actions • Technical Skills: Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint; experience with AI productivity tools, data-visualization solutions, and SQL querying is a plus • Retail and Category Knowledge: Understanding of planograms, shelf merchandising, assortment decisions, and shopper insights • Execution Discipline: Strong attention to detail, organization, file management, and quality control, with the ability to manage recurring deadlines and multiple priorities • Business Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clarify business needs, provide proactive updates, document decisions, and