CATEGORY MANAGEMENT ANALYST
Summary:
As a Category Management Analyst at Rust-Oleum, you will play a key role in driving strategic merchandising initiatives with the Home Center accounts - Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Menard’s. Your primary focus will be on optimizing planograms to enhance product visibility, customer experience, and sales performance across Home Depot stores
Key Responsibilities:
- Customer Business Planning:
- Assist in the development and execution of customer business plans
- Integrate data from multiple sources to generate actionable insights and recommendations that support category and team initiatives, including new product introductions, pricing analyses, seasonal reviews and promotional planning.
- Build and maintain planograms using Blue Yonder Space Planning software.
- Align planograms with Home Depot’s merchandising strategy and Rust-Oleum’s product assortment.
- Ensure compliance with visual merchandising standards and safety guidelines.
- Analyze planogram performance using sales, inventory, and profitability metrics.
- Recommend improvements to maximize shelf productivity and customer engagement.
- Collaborate with Home Depot’s merchandising and space planning teams to refine category layouts.
- Partner with Rust-Oleum’s sales, marketing, and supply chain teams to support category initiatives.
- Planogram Development & Execution:
- Category Strategy & Optimization:
- Cross-Functional Collaboration:
- Serve as a liaison between Rust-Oleum and Home Depot to ensure alignment on merchandising goals.
- Participate in line reviews, store walks, and innovation center setups.
- Reporting & Insights:
- Provide actionable insights through data analysis and visualization.
- Track planogram execution and performance across store clusters.
- Support promotional planning and seasonal resets with optimized layout
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or a related field.
- 2+ years of experience in category management, space planning, or retail analytics.
- Proficiency in Blue Yonder Space Planning and Microsoft Excel; experience with Power BI or Tableau is a plus.
- Strong analytical, communication, and project management skills.
- Experience working with or supporting Home Depot is highly preferred.
Salary Target Range: $55,000 - $70,000, bonus eligible
From big benefits to small, we take care of our associates! After 30 days of employment, you will be eligible for a benefits package that includes medical, dental, life, disability and business travel insurance, flexible spending accounts, EAP, stock purchases and vacation/sick days/parental leave.
We also offer a 401(k) plan after three months of employment. Associates are vested in the RPM Pension plan after completing five years of service. Rust-Oleum offers 9 paid holidays and one floating holiday per year. You are also eligible to earn three weeks of vacation on an annualized basis.
Rust-Oleum is an equal opportunity employer. Employment selection and related decisions are made without regard to sex, race, age, disability, religion, national origin, color, or any other protected class.