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Category Associate Jobs in Wisconsin (NOW HIRING)

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Category Associate information

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$10

$20

$33

How much do category associate jobs pay per hour?

As of Aug 23, 2026, the average hourly pay for category associate in Wisconsin is $20.05, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $15.05 and $20.87 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a category associate?

Category Associates are professionals who support the management and growth of specific product categories within a company, often in the retail, e-commerce, or consumer goods sectors. They assist Category Managers by conducting market research, analyzing sales data, coordinating with vendors, and helping to develop effective pricing and promotional strategies. Their role is essential in ensuring that the assigned product categories meet sales targets and align with overall business objectives.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a category associate?

To thrive as a Category Associate, you need a solid background in data analysis, merchandising, and business acumen, often supported by a degree in business, marketing, or a related field. Familiarity with retail management systems, Excel, and analytics tools like Nielsen or IRI is typically required. Strong communication, negotiation, and organizational skills help you collaborate with vendors and internal teams. These competencies are crucial for optimizing product categories, driving sales performance, and ensuring effective inventory and supplier management.

How does a category associate typically collaborate with other departments to achieve category goals?

Category Associates work closely with multiple teams such as marketing, supply chain, and sales to ensure the success of their assigned product categories. They often coordinate with marketing to develop promotional strategies, partner with supply chain to manage inventory, and support sales by providing data-driven insights on product performance. This cross-functional collaboration helps them understand market trends, address operational challenges, and drive business growth. Effective communication and teamwork are key to succeeding in this role.

What is the difference between Category Associate vs Product Coordinator?

AspectCategory AssociateProduct Coordinator
Required CredentialsHigh school diploma or equivalent; some roles may require a bachelor's degreeBachelor's degree often preferred; background in marketing, business, or related fields
Work EnvironmentOffice setting, retail, or warehouse environmentsOffice-based, collaborating with marketing, sales, and product teams
Employer & Industry UsageRetail, consumer goods, e-commerceManufacturing, retail, consumer goods
Common Search & Comparison IntentUnderstanding entry-level roles in category managementClarifying responsibilities related to product lifecycle and coordination

While both roles support product and category management, a Category Associate primarily focuses on assisting with category analysis, inventory, and sales data. A Product Coordinator handles the coordination of product launches, marketing, and cross-department collaboration. The roles often overlap in retail and consumer goods industries but differ in scope and specific responsibilities.

What are the most commonly searched types of Category jobs in Wisconsin?

The most popular types of Category jobs in Wisconsin are:

What cities in Wisconsin are hiring for Category Associate jobs?

Cities in Wisconsin with the most Category Associate job openings:

Category Associate jobs near you

Sr. Category Leader, Marketing & Communications

Kohler Co.

Kohler, WI • On-site

Full-time

Re-posted 4 hours ago

Job description

Sr. Category Leader, Marketing & Communications
Work Mode: Onsite
Location:Onsite, four days per week - Kohler, WI
Opportunity
This is an exciting opportunity to shape how Kohler invests in media and marketing partnerships that build our brands, reach consumers, and drive business impact. The Senior Category Leader - Marketing & Communications, will serve as a strategic partner to Marketing, bringing commercial discipline, supplier insight, and market expertise to help maximize value, improve transparency, and enable smarter, faster decisions across a dynamic and evolving media landscape. This senior role will focus on all kinds of marketing media planning, development, execution and distribution.
Scope and Responsibilities
  • Lead media procurement strategy and sourcing execution for Kohler's marketing organization, including paid media, digital, programmatic, social, search, retail media, agency services, measurement, and related marketing technology.
  • Partner with marketing, brand, finance, legal, privacy, analytics, and agency stakeholders to translate business needs into sourcing strategies, scopes of work, contract requirements, performance expectations, and supplier governance plans.
  • Lead competitive sourcing events, supplier evaluations, bid analysis, negotiations, award recommendations, renewals, and contract changes for media agencies, platforms, and related suppliers.
  • Analyze spend, supplier proposals, rate cards, agency fees, media pricing models, contract terms, market dynamics, and performance data to support fact-based decisions and total value recommendations.
  • Manage supplier relationships and governance routines, including scorecards, business reviews, issue resolution, escalation paths, performance commitments, renewal planning, and continuous improvement actions.
  • Deliver category value through cost avoidance, savings, risk reduction, improved transparency, supplier accountability, and stronger return on marketing investment including Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
  • Provide media procurement expertise on agency models, fee structures, commercial terms, brand safety, content rights and evolving media market trends.
  • Communicate sourcing activity, supplier performance, risks, value delivered, and recommended improvements to procurement, marketing, and senior business leaders.

Key Media/Marketing Subject Matter Expertise:
  • Strong understanding of paid media categories, agency models, media platforms, fee structures, retainer and rate cards, media markups, and other key commercial levers.
  • Strong understanding of marketing performance and value metrics (e.g., return on ad spend, cost per acquisition, engagement and conversion)
  • Ability to evaluate supplier proposals using business impact, service quality, performance, risk, and total cost of ownership metrics.
  • Familiarity with digital marketing ecosystem, supplier landscape, and compliance considerations (data privacy, IP rights, and content usage).
  • Connect sourcing decisions to Kohler's brand priorities, marketing objectives, risk mitigation, value creation, and budget effectiveness.
  • Manage complexity by making sense of complex media, supplier, contract, budget, and performance information to define issues and solve problems.

Key Procurement Subject Matter Expertise:
  • Contract Proficiency
  • Understand the importance of contract quality and deliver to high standards
  • Interpret business, commercial and legal contract terms and conditions and communicate them so that associates of all levels can understand them
  • Independently manage and lead sourcing and contracting processes
  • Negotiation
    • Negotiate marketing and communications services engagements and agreements with a focus on media
    • Seek to increase the amount of negotiation power and leverage in every opportunity, and when that is not possible, negotiate well within varying degrees of power and leverage
    • Analyze commercial aspects of proposals and contracts, with a focus on delivering against appropriate marketing/communications metrics and overall value (not just reductions in cost)
  • Category and Supplier Management:
    • Develop media category strategies that balance cost, quality, speed, innovation, compliance, supplier performance, and business outcomes.
    • Use spend data, supplier insights, benchmarks, market intelligence, and risk assessments to build fact-based sourcing recommendations.
    • Govern supplier relationships through scorecards, business reviews, issue resolution, accountability routines, and continuous improvement plans.
  • Interpersonal Competencies and Capabilities:
    • Delight internal customers and stakeholders by accepting responsibility and holding self, suppliers, and stakeholders accountable to timelines, commitments, service levels, compliance expectations, and performance outcomes.
    • Build and maintain key internal and external relationships, including those with senior leaders including directors, VPs and C-suite-level officers
    • Proactively keep stakeholders up to date with timely, effective communication
    • Inspire internal associate teams to always do what is right for Kohler Co
    • Boldly innovate through process improvements and through finding new ways to do things
    • Work independently and own workstreams as if this was your company
    • Be comfortable asking questions when the desired outcome is unclear
    • Prioritize competing workstreams according to their real level of urgency, anticipates risks, improves processes, and drives timely execution.

Skills/Requirements
  • Bachelor's degree in marketing, supply chain, business, finance, communications, or related field required; advanced degree preferred.
  • Minimum of 8+ years of combined experience in strategic sourcing focused on marketing categories, category management, media procurement, media agency management, marketing operations, or related roles.
  • Experience managing media, marketing, agency, communications, or technology-related contracts and sourcing projects with $1M-10M+ in annual spend
  • Proficiency with supplier management, contract management, eSourcing, spend analytics, Microsoft Excel, Power BI, Microsoft Copilot, and related procurement or analytics tools.

#LI-SW1
#LI-Onsite
Applicants must be authorized to work in the US without requiring sponsorship now or in the future.
We believe in supporting you from the moment you join us, which is why Kohler offers day 1 benefits. This means you'll have access to your applicable benefit programs from your first day on the job, with no waiting period. The salary range for this position is $135,600 - $211,000. The specific salary offered to a candidate may be influenced by a variety of factors including the candidate's experience, their education, and the work location. In addition, this position is eligible for a performance bonus/variable incentive compensation.
Why Choose Kohler?
We empower each associate to #BecomeMoreAtKohler with a competitive total rewards package to support your health and wellbeing, access to career growth and development opportunities, a diverse and inclusive workplace, and a strong culture of innovation. With more than 30,000 bold leaders across the globe, we're driving meaningful change in our mission to help people live gracious, healthy, and sustainable lives.
About Us
It is Kohler's policy to recruit, hire, and promote qualified applicants without regard to race, creed, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, disability or status as a protected veteran. If, as an individual with a disability, you need reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process, please contact kohlerjobs@kohler.com. Kohler Co. is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

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