Director Category Marketing

Overview

The Director of Category Marketing plays a key leadership role in shaping and executing category strategies for Marzetti Foodservice that deliver sustainable growth and profitability . T his role is responsible for driving category planning, P&L and margin management, portfolio strategy, integrated business planning /forecasting , value engineering, innovation, and category/brand marketing for assigned categories.

The Director partners with Sales, Customer Marketing, Finance, Revenue Management, End-to-End Planning , R&D / Culinary and Operations to establish clear category priorities and align the organization around annual and long-range business objectives . The role leads the Category Marketing team and provides leadership and recommendations on portfolio, innovation, margin and investment decisions.

Responsibilities → What You'll Do

Category Strategy & Planning

• Lead annual and longer-term category strategies, defining growth priorities and where-to-play/how-to-win choices.
• Translate category, customer, consumer and competitive insights to identify opportunities, risks and recommendations.
• Establish category objectives , key initiatives and measures of success.
• Partner with Customer Marketing and Sales to translate category priorities into customer and channel opportunities.
  
  

Category P&L & Margin Management

• Own category (Branded & Customer SKUs ) financial performance across volume, revenue, mix, margin and profitability.
• Partner with Finance, Trade and Pricing to establish category margin targets and decision thresholds .
• Lead portfolio profitability, pricing/ mix and margin-improvement decisions.
• Oversee category marketing budgets.
  
  

Integrated Business Planning

• Lead Marketing's category perspective within the IBP process.
• Own the business assumptions behind the demand outlook and align inputs from Sales and Customer Marketing with Demand Planning.
• Understand capacity, supply and inventory implications and make category , customer prioritization and portfolio recommendations as required .
• Partner with Supply Chain on constraints, risks and longer-term capacity requirements including capital and business case development .
• Ensure innovation, customer initiatives and portfolio changes are represented appropriately in business plans.
  
  

Category Innovation

• Develop and lead the category innovation and renovation funnel .
• Establish business case, value proposition and financial expectation for category innovation.
• Lead cross-functional alignment for category-driven projects through Stage Gate and commercialization . Provide approval for customer S tage G ate projects .
• Partner with Customer Marketing on customer-driven opportunities to ensure alignment with strategy, margin expectations and portfolio priorities.
  
  

Portfolio & Value Engineering

• Develop portfolio assortment strategy and SKU productivity balancing customer needs, operational complexity, capacity and financial performance
• Lead SKU optimization and rationalization decisions.
• Identify and prioritize value engineering, quality improvement, renovation opportunities and r egulatory requirements with cross-functional teams .
  
  

Category / Brand Marketing

• Lead category architecture / brand positioning and value propositions
• Partner with Customer Marketing to translate category strategies into channel and customer activatio n ; guide development of selling tools and agency support .
• Monitor category, competitive, and marketplace trends to identify risks and growth opportunities
  
  

People & Organizational Leadership

• Build and nurture a high-performing Category Marketing team .
• Create clarity around priorities, decision rights and accountability.
• Communicate category performance, opportunities, risks and recommendations to senior leadership.
• Build strong general-management , financial and category management capabilities across the team.
  
  

Qualifications → What You'll Bring

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing , Business, or related field required ; MBA preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in CPG marketing, category /brand/product management or related roles; foodservice experience preferred.
• Strong financial and business acumen, including experience with P&L management and forecasting .
• Demonstrated experience leading strateg ic planning , portfolio management, innovation and commercialization.
• Experience leveraging secondary, syndicated and custom research to inform strategy, and leading agency partners to deliver business and marketing objectives .
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence effectively without direct authority.
• Strong analytical and decision-making skills, with the ability to translate insights into action and operate effectively in a fast-paced, evolving business environment.
• Excellent storytelling and presentation skills .
• Collaborative, growth-oriented leader with strong ownership, curiosity and a passion for food, customers and innovation.