Senior Director I, Large Store Accounts

POSITION OVERVIEW: Sr. Director I, Category Leadership – Large Store Portfolio Regional Accounts We are seeking an experienced advisor to lead a customer-facing team of Category Directors within the North America Large Store portfolio for Coca-Cola. This role is integral to driving The Coca-Cola Commitment’s pledge of delivering actionable and relevant insights in our direct customer and industry partnerships. In this position, you will lead a team of associates with distinct account responsibilities, manage upward stakeholder relationships, and direct strategic decision-making. You will coach the team to build strong collaborative relationships internally and externally through effective problem-solving, prioritization, and a focus on maximizing our retailers’ beverage growth potential while creating value for Coca-Cola. This role reports directly to the Senior Director II, Category Leadership in Large Stores. What We Want You to Bring: • Extensive knowledge of insights and effective use of data from Coca-Cola and broader industry syndicated and primary research sources. • Strong track record of building trusting relationships externally and internally. • Excellent active listening skills. • Strong verbal and written communication skills, with a capability for storytelling. • Creative and agile problem-solving skills, with the ability to navigate ambiguity with customers and in a networked organization. • Commitment to team success and curiosity, while prioritizing results. • Demonstrated development skills and experience in people leadership or peer coaching, or mentorship. Position Responsibilities: • Lead a team to deliver independent and impactful category advocacy across the beverage portfolio. • Influence customer senior executives to collaboratively build strategies & tactics for category growth. • Partner with Sales Leads to be an indispensable category resource for retailers. • Provide coaching to the team with a bias for continuous improvement and excellence. • Key deliverables include opportunity assessment, beverage strategy development as part of a category blueprint, shopper insights, and assortment recommendations. Key Focus Areas: Strategic Thinking and Strategy Development: • Lead opportunity assessment of annual business planning processes to drive a relevant category strategy that will win in the marketplace. • Deliver objective total store and beverage solutions with differentiated and actionable insights. • Provide leadership and stewardship for retailer’s beverage categories (Sparkling, Still, and Nutrition). Networked Communication and Alignment: • Report business successes and barriers to Large Store Portfolio Category Lead with proposed next steps and solutions. • Proactively share updates on key industry news and insights with cross-functional leadership. Team Growth: • Recruit, develop, and inspire a category team to deliver effective category growth recommendations focused on customers’ needs and strategic priorities. • Develop solid working relationships with customer category management and leadership teams, as well as Coca-Cola bottlers, to drive mutual win execution. • Cultivate independent and influential relationships within retailer’s organizations. Education & Experience: • Minimum Required: • 8+ years in the CPG Industry • Senior level experience within the consumer goods/beverages industry • Strong knowledge of category management principles and analytic techniques. • Bachelor’s degree • Preferred: • 10+ years in the CPG Industry • Direct team management experience or substantive matrixed project leadership • MBA or other graduate degree • Experience across multiple disciplines beyond category management (Shopper Insights, Revenue Growth Management, etc.) Skills: • Demonstrated reputation for high customer engagement that drives business results • Success in managing and prioritizing multiple customers, projects, and stakeholders • Ability to link category leadership strategies to customer strategies • Advanced analytical capability with the ability to draw insights and actions from data • Strong working knowledge of syndicated data (Nielsen, Circana) • Strategic thinking, forward-looking, and time-conscious planning skills • Proven oral and written communication, storytelling, and influencing skills Travel: 30-40% Location: Atlanta AOC or other USA office - Dallas (Plano), Irvine, Bloomington (Minnesota), Chicago (Nutrition/Fairlife), Cincinnati, NY (BASN), Rogers (Walmart), Nashville. Job Code: 30017651 Skills: Social Media; Key Performance Indicators (KPI); Digital Advertising; Category Management; Branding; Demand Generation; Quantitative Research; Marketing Strategies; Channels Strategy; Customer Insights; Market Segmentation; Qualitative Research; Microsoft Office; Strategy Development; Commercialization Strategies Apply Job!