Also called: Category Director
Manages a whole category (like snacks or produce) for a grocery chain's strategy and profits.
You decide shelf layouts, promotions, and pricing for all snacks across 500 stores, using huge sales datasets. You meet with big brands negotiating millions in promotion money. It is a high-paying corporate food career.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in business; MBA common for directors.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Business Administration, Marketing, Supply Chain Management.
Growing faster than average (about 5% over 10 years).
Medium risk for 10 years. AI pricing and assortment tools do much of the analysis, so fewer analysts per category; strategy and supplier deals stay human.
Classes: Business, Statistics, Economics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 11-2022.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.