At Russell Stover, not only do we love chocolate, but we love our jobs! Every day we go to work exhibiting our values of excellence, innovation, entrepreneurship, responsibility, and collaboration. Working at Russell Stover you’ll be part of the leading manufacturer of boxed, seasonal, and sugar-free chocolates. For over 100 years, our American-made brands – Russell Stover Chocolates, Whitman’s, and Pangburn’s – have been crafted with the finest ingredients to bring happiness to generations. Today, we produce over 55 million pounds of chocolate annually, and our legacy brands can be found in 13 company-owned stores and over 9,000 wholesale accounts. Join our team and let’s continue making chocolate lovers happy!

A day in the life…

The Category Manager is responsible for providing category analysis, shopper insights, and strategic category vision to deliver best-in-class assortment, distribution, and shelving for Russell Stover and our customers. The Category Manager will demonstrate industry thought leadership and creativity by developing category-specific stories and strategies that enable share growth. He/She will work collaboratively with our customers and other Russell Stover internal departments. This role reports to the Team Leader of Category Management.

What you will be doing…

• Act as a category consultant to our customers and company by providing unbiased recommendations to drive overall category growth and the Russell Stover business.
• Synthesize multiple data sources including POS, Panel, Shopper Card and Insights to craft compelling, concise and actionable selling stories. Contribute to or lead the creation of seasonal and everyday line reviews.
• Play a leadership role in conducting category management reviews, analyzing business issues, and providing business insights and recommendations in the areas of assortment, pricing, distribution, and shelving to enable share growth.
• Embed yourself within our customers and attend customer meetings to present analysis, trend information, and category opportunities. Attendance may be in conjunction with Sales or one-on-one with the Buyer.
• In collaboration with Marketing and Sales Strategy, support the creation of seasonal and key initiative selling presentations with contributions of insights and/or data analysis.
• Influence the development of strategic sales and category action plans through the sharing of knowledge gained from customer specific data. Help to establish priorities that are consistent with Russell Stover and key account goals and objectives, market share and overall category profitability.
• Provide Sales with post event analytics and YOY implementation opportunities to drive the total confection category and Russell Stover.
• Serve as the category expert by fully understanding shopper motivations and barriers through available syndicated, shopper card, and panel data.

Do you have what it takes?

(Basic Qualifications)

• Bachelors degree
• 3+ years of Category Management or analytical experience

Do you stand above the rest?

(Preferred Qualifications)

• Advanced degree, M.B.A.
• 5 years of business analytics experience in Sales and Category Management
• Confectionery Industry experience
• Experience using advanced functions within Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint
• Experience using syndicated data (Circana, Nielsen, Kantar) and loyalty data
• Strong analytical, technical, and interpretations skills
• Excellent written, communication and presentation skills
• Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines
• Ability to find unique and creative ways to add value through data and insights
• Solution driven

At Russell Stover Chocolates, we don’t just accept difference — we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, our products, and our community. Russell Stover Chocolates is proud to be an equal-opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer.

We provide equal employment opportunities to all people without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, religion, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, protected medical condition, genetic information, military service, veteran status, or any other status or characteristic protected by law.

Employment by Russell Stover Chocolates is contingent upon I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification, passing the urinalysis drug screen, education verification, and satisfactory reference and background checks.

Make Happy. Work Happy.