Associate Director, Category Strategy & Insights Taste Elevation

Location: Chicago/Aon Center, United States

New hire base salary: $164,200–$205,200 per year, plus eligibility for a performance-based bonus.

Company

hirify.global is a consumer food products company focused on building category leadership through customer strategy, retail intelligence, and commercial execution.

What you will do

• Develop customer-specific category roadmaps using space analytics, syndicated and retailer data, shopper insights, consumer research, and market trends.
• Build omnichannel strategies spanning physical retail, e-commerce, click-and-collect, digital merchandising, and emerging retail formats.
• Translate complex analyses into customer-facing stories and recommendations covering assortment, shelving, merchandising, and space productivity.
• Partner with sales, business unit strategy, supply chain, marketing, analytics, insights, and retail teams to support commercial decisions and customer engagements.
• Lead retail pilots and test-and-learn initiatives, define success metrics, measure results, and scale effective solutions.
• Lead, coach, and develop subject matter experts across category strategy, insights, analytics, space planning, and retail intelligence.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, economics, analytics, statistics, consumer behavior, or a related field.
• 8+ years of experience in category strategy, category management, retail analytics, shopper insights, sales strategy, or related commercial functions.
• 3+ years of experience leading and developing high-performing teams.
• Experience synthesizing multiple data sources into actionable recommendations and category roadmaps.
• Strong understanding of retail, omnichannel commerce, category management, retailer strategies, shopper behavior, and category performance metrics.
• Strong communication, storytelling, presentation, relationship-building, and stakeholder-influence skills.

Nice to have

• MBA or another advanced degree.
• Experience with national and regional retail customers, customer pilots, retail innovation, or test-and-learn programs.
• Expertise in space optimization, retail merchandising, future-store concepts, and advanced consumer insights.
• Familiarity with Circana/IRI, NielsenIQ, retailer loyalty data, space planning tools, shopper panels, and advanced analytics platforms.

Culture & Benefits

• Healthcare coverage for employees and eligible dependents, including medical, prescription drug, dental, and vision plans.
• Paid time off, company holidays, leave of absence programs, flexible work arrangements, training, and recognition programs.
• Employee assistance, wellbeing, family support, learning, and employee development programs.
• Financial benefits including 401(k), life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, and disability coverage.
• Performance-based bonus eligibility and programs supporting physical, social, emotional, and financial wellbeing.