Category Analyst

Job Summary

The Sr Category Analyst is a critical and visible leader responsible for driving strategic growth across key product categories. This role leads the Category Management Team, enabling best-in-class assortment planning, inventory optimization, and insight generation through advanced tools and analytics. The Sr. Category Analyst will act as a subject matter expert in market dynamics while building scalable processes and delivering clear business value to both internal stakeholders and customers. They will also lead cross-functional collaboration with pricing, supply chain, marketing, product, and other teams as needed.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the Category Management Team, providing direction, coaching, and project oversight
• Identify category opportunities through data analysis, competitive benchmarking, and market research
• Develop and implement new tools and processes to improve category performance, and drive team adoption through engagement and training
• Build and manage project roadmaps, ensuring timely execution of key initiatives
• Prioritize team workload based on business needs and leadership guidance
• Present progress updates, insights, and strategic recommendations directly to executive leadership
• Manage customer inventory assortments by analyzing store-level data and recommending local coverage improvements
• Leverage syndicated and transactional data to uncover trends and deliver actionable insights
• Collaborate with brand marketing, sales, pricing, and supply chain teams to align category strategies
• Lead the creation of customer-facing content, including category reviews and performance presentations
• Oversee market intelligence projects and act as the SME for customer data requests

Minimum Requirements

• Education: Bachelor's degree required
• Experience: Minimum 4 years of experience in Category Management or a related field

Skills

• analytical, communication, and presentation skills
• Proven leadership and project management experience
• Proficient in Excel & PowerPoint; Power BI experience
• Automotive or Commercial Truck background a plus
• Experience working with retail organizations strongly preferred