Category Insights Analyst (Open to New Graduates)

About Wonderbrands

Wonderbrands is a long-established Canadian bakery with 140 years of experience producing packaged bread. Its portfolio includes Wonder Bread, Country Harvest, D’Italiano, Gadoua, and Casa Mendosa, and it operates 14 bakery manufacturing sites across Canada.

Next Gen Talent Program

This opportunity sits within Wonderbrands’ Next Gen Talent Program, which is built to help high-potential recent graduates grow into future leaders. The program is centered on developing home-grown talent and encourages curiosity, bold ideas, continuous improvement, and an entrepreneurial mindset.

Wonderbrands is looking for early-career candidates who want to build a career in commercial analytics, category management, and business strategy. No prior industry background is needed, and the successful candidate will learn through mentorship, coaching, and hands-on exposure to experienced leaders and subject matter experts.

Role Overview

The Category Insights Analyst turns consumer, customer, market, and category information into practical insights that help the business grow, improve decisions, and strengthen performance. The role supports understanding of category trends, customer opportunities, pricing actions, promotional impact, and shelf optimization.

The position is based at 1425 The Queensway, Etobicoke, Ontario.

Key Responsibilities

• Review shipment, consumption, retail, customer, and market datasets to spot patterns, trends, and business opportunities.
• Convert complex findings into clear stories and recommendations that support decision-making.
• Work with Sales, Marketing, Finance, and other partners so insights are reflected in plans and actions.
• Track category health, market share, pricing movements, promotional activity, and distribution changes.
• Identify new consumer behaviors, unmet needs, and areas for growth.
• Evaluate pricing and promotional approaches to find ways to improve performance.
• Measure promotion impact, including frequency, discount depth, and return on investment.
• Assist with scenario analysis and business modeling to understand the effect of pricing and commercial choices.
• Support initiatives aimed at improving revenue, profitability, and competitiveness.
• Help prepare customer business reviews, annual planning, and sales presentations using data-backed recommendations.
• Partner with Sales and Marketing to uncover assortment opportunities, distribution gaps, and growth ideas.
• Create customer-specific analysis for key retail partners.
• Perform ad hoc analysis to answer business questions and support strategic projects.
• Support planogram development and analysis to improve shelf productivity, assortment effectiveness, and product visibility.
• Assess shelf performance using sales, velocity, distribution, and shelf-space metrics.
• Assist with assortment optimization, category reviews, seasonal changes, and new product launches.
• Recommend shelf and assortment improvements based on data.
• Create and maintain recurring reports, dashboards, and scorecards.
• Analyze sales, shipment, retail scan, consumer panel, and customer data to evaluate business performance.
• Carry out root-cause analysis to understand performance drivers and suggest practical actions.
• Look for ways to improve reporting processes, analytical capability, and the quality of insights.

Required Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in Business, Economics, Statistics, Mathematics, Engineering, Finance, Data Analytics, or a related discipline.
• Strong analytical and critical-thinking ability with confidence in identifying patterns and drawing logical conclusions.
• Proven comfort working with data and turning results into clear recommendations.
• Strong problem-solving ability and genuine curiosity.
• Excellent writing, speaking, and presentation skills.
• High attention to detail and a commitment to producing quality work.
• Good Excel skills and willingness to learn additional analytical tools and technologies.
• Ability to juggle multiple priorities and collaborate well with others.

Preferred Exposure

• Experience or exposure to consumer packaged goods, retail, category management, sales, marketing, finance, or business analytics.
• Hands-on work with large datasets through coursework, internships, co-ops, research, case competitions, or prior roles.
• Familiarity with syndicated data providers such as NielsenIQ, Numerator, Circana, or retailer data.
• Exposure to Power BI, Tableau, or similar visualization tools.
• Exposure to planogram, assortment, or space-management tools.
• Understanding of pricing, promotions, revenue growth management, or category management concepts.

Leadership and Behavioral Competencies

• Adaptability and flexibility in changing environments.
• Openness to feedback and a solutions-first approach.
• Ability to make considered decisions with contingency planning.
• Strong collaboration and relationship-building skills.
• Continuous improvement mindset.
• Customer and product focus.
• Drive for results and strong execution.
• Ability to inspire, support, and communicate clearly with team members.
• Comfort handling conflict and building trust.
• Willingness to encourage informed risk-taking and learn from outcomes.

Additional Information

This description is intended as a general outline of the role. Responsibilities, knowledge requirements, and skills may change, and additional duties may be assigned at any time.

In line with Ontario’s Bill 190, this posting refers to a current vacancy within the organization. Wonderbrands also states that its hiring process does not use artificial intelligence or automated decision-making tools; all screening, evaluation, and selection are handled by qualified human professionals in accordance with Bill 149.

What Wonderbrands Offers

• Home-grown talent development and accelerated career growth with leadership training.
• Examples of employees advancing quickly through similar graduate programs.
• Competitive pay, health benefits, and a flexible medical/health spending account.
• Employer-matched pension program.
• Tuition reimbursement.
• A broad employee discount program covering restaurants, gyms, shopping, and more.