[Hiring] Senior Manager, Category and Commercial Development @Once Upon a Farm

Role Description

You are a strategic, curious, and collaborative category leader who is passionate about understanding consumers, shoppers, customers, and the evolving needs of growing families. You combine strong analytical skills with commercial thinking to transform data into actionable strategies that grow categories, strengthen retailer partnerships, and bring innovation to market successfully. You are energized by solving complex business challenges and thrive in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment where you can influence without authority. You enjoy working cross-functionally with Brand, Sales, Revenue Management, Customer Planning, Consumer Insights, and Finance to develop category strategies that create value for both customers and consumers. You have a passion for building brands with purpose and believe category leadership is about more than reporting what happened—it's about shaping what comes next.

Reporting to the Senior Director, the Senior Manager, Category and Commercial Development will lead category strategy, category management, and commercialization support for Once Upon a Farm's Baby Portfolio. As the commercial expert for our Baby portfolio, this role is responsible for translating category, consumer, shopper, and competitive insights into actionable recommendations that drive distribution, assortment, innovation success, and profitable growth. This leader partners closely with Brand Marketing to develop winning 4P strategies and serves as a key commercial partner throughout the innovation commercialization process.

In This Role, You Will:

• Lead Category Strategy and Category Management
  • Develop annual category growth strategies aligned with the company's business objectives.
  • Serve as the company's category expert across our Baby Portfolio, leveraging consumer, shopper, retailer, syndicated, and market insights to identify trend drivers and growth opportunities.
  • Develop category visions, narratives, and playbooks to drive growth at retail and inform our go-to-market strategy.
  • Lead category reviews and deliver compelling, insight-led category stories that strengthen retailer partnerships and influence customer decisions.
  • Develop customer-specific category recommendations that support retailer growth objectives.
  • Build trusted relationships with Sales teams and retail category managers with the ultimate goal of winning Category Captaincies through Joint Business Planning.
  • Identify whitespace opportunities, assortment optimization recommendations, and portfolio growth priorities.
  • Translate syndicated and retailer-specific data, as well as shopper research, into actionable business recommendations.
• Optimize 4P Commercial Strategy for Baby
  • Partner with the Senior Director and cross-functional teams to develop and execute Baby-category strategies across Product, Price, Place, and Promotion delivered through the course of Annual Commercial Strategy handoffs.
  • Product
    • Partner with Brand Marketing to shape portfolio architecture and assortment strategy.
    • Provide category and customer input throughout innovation development.
    • Evaluate portfolio gaps and recommend assortment improvements.
  • Price
    • Partner with Strategic Revenue Management to evaluate pricing opportunities and competitive positioning.
    • Support development of price-pack recommendations and category pricing strategies.
  • Place
    • Define category distribution and shelving strategies across channels and customers.
    • Identify whitespace opportunities and prioritize distribution expansion.
    • Partner with Sales to establish channel and retailer growth priorities.
  • Promotion
    • Recommend customer activation strategies that align with category objectives.
    • Partner with Strategic Revenue Management and Retail Finance to optimize promotional effectiveness and align investment with growth objectives.
• Lead Innovation Commercialization
  • Serve as the “voice of sales” throughout the innovation commercialization process for our Baby portfolio.
  • Partner closely with Brand Marketing to ensure innovations address meaningful consumer and category opportunities.
  • Guide commercialization strategies, launch plans, distribution targets, and retail sell-in strategies.
  • Provide critical input from sales to support cross-functional launch readiness and commercialization milestones.
  • Collaborate with Customer Planning to align commercialization plans with customer plans and forecasts.
  • Monitor post-launch performance, identify improvement opportunities, and capture learnings to strengthen future launches.
  • Capture and share commercialization learnings across the organization.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive experience in Category Management, Category Development, Commercial Strategy, Sales Strategy, or related functions within the CPG industry.
• Proven success developing and executing category growth strategies that drive market share, distribution, retailer partnerships (including captaincies), and profitable revenue growth.
• Demonstrated success using syndicated data (Circana/IRI, NielsenIQ, SPINS, Numerator, retailer POS, and shopper insights) to develop category recommendations and influence business decisions.
• Experience developing customer-facing category stories and retailer presentations that drive distribution, assortment, and category growth.
• Strong understanding of category management principles, shopper behavior, and consumer insights.
• Experience partnering cross-functionally to support innovation commercialization and portfolio strategy.
• Working knowledge of the 4Ps and their application across retail channels.
• Exceptional analytical skills with the ability to translate complex data into actionable business recommendations.
• Strong project management and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Excellent communication, storytelling, and presentation skills.
• Proven ability to influence cross-functional partners without direct authority.
• A collaborative, solutions-oriented mindset with a passion for continuous learning and improvement.
• Outstanding communication, storytelling, and presentation skills, with experience presenting strategic recommendations to senior leadership and external retail partners.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through ambiguity, prioritize effectively, and drive results in a dynamic, high-growth environment.
• Passion for building consumer-centric, category-leading businesses and a commitment to continuous improvement, innovation, and commercial excellence.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or a related field preferred, or equivalent professional experience.
• Genuinely passionate about improving childhood nutrition for a healthier and happier planet.
• Desire to contribute to a dynamic, high-growth, purpose-driven work environment.
• Demonstrated ability to thrive in ambiguity while deeply understanding business needs.
• Must reside in the United States to be considered for this position.

Requirements

• Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Benefits

• Remote-first work environment
• Annual Bonus
• 401(k) program + 4% company match after three months
• New Hire Remote Life Stipend + annual Nourish and Nurture Allowance
• Monthly Cell and Internet Stipend
• Quarterly Farm-to-Fridge home deliveries and Employee Discounts
• New Parents: Up to 18 weeks of paid Parental Leave, Baby Steps Back To Work, 3 months’ supply of Once Upon a Farm products, and breast milk shipping service and support for those who travel after birth for the duration of your breastfeeding journey
• Unlimited Paid Time Off
• Paid Volunteer Time
• Paid Time Off to fulfill civic responsibilities, including jury duty and voting in local, state, and national elections
• Medical Insurance for the employee is covered at 100% on select plans, with additional plan options at a reduced cost to the employee
• Vision and Dental Insurance are covered at 100% for the employee and dependents
• Life insurance
• Flexible spending account and Health Savings Accounts for applicable plans
• Employee assistance program (EAP)
• All other benefits, leaves, and insurance as required by law, based on your specific residence
• And so much more!