Senior Manager, Category Strategy

As Senior Manager, Category Strategy & Deployment , you'll be a trusted advisor to our retail partners, leading “ Best in Class ” category management principles for the Salty Snacking category. You'll focus on the successful creation and implementation of shelving, assortment, and develop a category vision. This hybrid position is based in Chicago, IL, Naperville, IL, or Battle Creek, MI.

Step into the world of Salty Snacking, where bold flavors and iconic brands like Cheez-It, Pringles, and Club lead the way in delighting consumers. In this role, you will develop relationships between retailers, sales, and field category management. You will also help shape the future of our foods in the marketplace within a rapidly growing environment.

A Taste of What You’ll Be Doing

• Category Strategy – Serve as the “ go-to ” advisor for our customers to reinforce Kellanova’s position as a thought leader. You will focus on uncovering key category opportunities and developing solution-based selling tools and presentations to target those opportunities. Your delivery of action-oriented point of sale (POS) and consumer/shopper insights will help produce net sales, operating profit, cash flow, and market share growth goals.

• Customer Focus – Collaborate with customer decision-makers to build strong partnerships that drive success. Strive to influence the customer regarding Kellanova’s strategy and execution.
• Business Insights – Lead the proactive development of both existing and new category management tools, processes, and analytics. Sharing category insights internally will play a key part in enhancing Kellanova ’ s go-to-market marketing, innovation, and sales strategies.
• Internal Optimization - Drive strong internal alignment and partnership to ensure cohesive execution. Working closely with the commercial leads, you will implement shopper and category insights to help further the growth of Kellanova’s Salty Snacking business.
• Retail Execution - Lead and drive Perfect Shelf Principles across all categories. Your focus on “ Winning at Retail ” will be driven by ensuring the execution of “ Perfect Shelf ” and the measurement of Key Performance Indicators (KPI ’ s).

We’re Looking for Someone With

• Bachelor’s Degree.
• Experience in Retail Packaged Goods with either direct selling experience or category management experience.
• Strong analytical, organizational, interpersonal, presentation, coaching, leadership, and time management skills that enable you to develop commercial strategy.
• Strong understanding of consumer, shopper, and syndicated data sets (Nielsen, KANTAR, Customer Data Sources).
• Strong working knowledge of PC applications, including MS Office (including Excel and PowerPoint) and email (MS Outlook), as well as the ability to work with customized software for tracking, financial analysis, etc.
• Proven success in cross-functional roles within Packaged Goods and sales, leveraging exceptional written and verbal communication to craft compelling narratives that drive collaboration, influence stakeholders, and align teams toward shared goals.

Compensation

The annual salary range is $145,400 - $190,785 , which is based on various factors such as location, experience and skill. Discretionary bonuses based on company and individual performance are also available.

What’s Next

Applications for this position will be accepted through September 4, 2025. After you apply, your application will be reviewed by a real recruiter, so it may take us a few weeks to get back with you by email or phone. Visit our How We Hire page to get insights into our hiring process and more about what we offer.

Need assistance throughout the application or hiring process? Email [email protected] .

Benefits include medical, dental, vision, life, accidental death & dismemberment insurance, employee assistance program, short-term disability coverage, and long-term disability insurance. Also, voluntary income protection benefits such as supplemental life, accident as well as a 401(k) plan with company contributions is available. Part-time employees may have access to benefits on a pro-rated basis . See KellanovaTotalHealth.com for more information.

Get to Know Us

At Kellanova, we are driven by our vision to be the world’s best-performing snacks-led powerhouse, unleashing the full potential of our differentiated brands and our passionate people. Our portfolio of iconic, world-class brands include Pringles, Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, MorningStar Farms, Special K, Krave, Zucaritas, Tresor, Crunchy Nut, among others.

Kellanova’s Culture of Best means we bring our best to all that we do in pursuit of our vision to be the world’s best performing snacks-led powerhouse. Our culture celebrates boldness and empowers our people to challenge the status quo, achieve results, and win together.

Our focus on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (ED&I) enables us to build a culture of belonging where all employees have a place at the table and are inspired to share their passion, talents and ideas to work.

Mars has agreed to acquire Kellanova in a combination that will shape the future of snacking! The transaction is anticipated to close towards the end of 2025 (subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals). The companies remain separate until closing.

You can learn more at and our hiring teams will be happy to discuss further questions if your application advances in the hiring process.

What does it take to be the best? Someone like you.
Kellanova is an Equal Opportunity Employer that strives to provide an inclusive work environment, a seat for everyone at the table, and embraces the diverse talent of its people. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, disability, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, sexual orientation, age, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. For more information regarding our efforts to advance Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, please visit our website here .