Director of Category Development

About this Position At Henkel, you'll be part of an organization that's shaping the future through innovation, sustainability and collaboration. With our trusted brands like Persil, 'all, Loctite, Snuggle, and Schwarzkopf and our cutting-edge technologies, you'll have countless opportunities to explore new paths and grow.

This position is with our Adhesive Technologies business unit - where we empower our people to transform industries and provide our customers with a competitive advantage through adhesives, sealants and functional coatings.

Dare to learn new skills, advance in your career and make an impact at Henkel.

What you'll do

• We're looking for a Director of Category Marketing to lead the strategic direction, performance, and development of our entire portfolio of adhesive, sealant, foam, and repair product categories across North America.
• This is a high-impact leadership role managing a team of Category Managers responsible for shaping portfolio strategy, driving business performance, and translating category-level insights into action.
• You will be the architect of our category strategy-connecting end-user application needs, customer insights, and business goals to deliver long-term, profitable growth.
• This role is critical to enabling cross-functional alignment, driving scalable innovation, and ensuring consistency across our brands, channels, and customer touchpoints.
• Key Responsibilities:
  • Lead the Category Function Set the strategic vision for category development across all product lines, including adhesives, sealants, polyurethane foams, instant repair, and specialty segments. Manage and develop a team of high-performing Category Managers, ensuring strong functional expertise and alignment to business priorities.
  • Drive Portfolio & Product Strategy Own the 3-5-year roadmap for category growth, including product lifecycle management, new product launches, renovations, and rationalization. Ensure each category has a clearly defined role in the portfolio and a plan to win across different customer segments (DIY, Pro, Specialty Pro). Align closely with global product development and local cross-functional teams to influence innovation and pipeline priorities.
  • Champion Sustainability in Category Development Drive industry-leading sustainability initiatives across all categories, in alignment with Henkel's corporate commitments.
  • Translate Insights into Growth Champion application-based thinking-deeply understanding how end users engage with products to inform feature development, value propositions, and competitive positioning.
  • Operational Excellence & Business Performance Own category-level business performance targets, including revenue, share, margin, and profitability.

What makes you a good fit

• 10+ years of experience in product or category marketing, preferably in CPG, home improvement, or durable goods.
• Proven success leading teams and managing across multiple product categories or business units.
• Deep knowledge of end-user and customer behavior, especially in DIY and Pro channels.
• Passion for sustainability with experience embedding environmental goals into business and product strategy.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to connect portfolio strategy to P&L impact.
• Highly collaborative, able to influence at all levels and across functions without direct authority.
• Experience working in matrixed environments with both global and local stakeholders.
• Bachelor's degree required; MBA or equivalent strongly preferred.

Some benefits of joining Henkel

• Health Insurance: affordable plans for medical, dental, vision and wellbeing starting on day 1
• Work-Life Balance: Paid time off including sick, vacation, holiday and volunteer time, flexible & hybrid work policies (depending on role), and vacation buy / sell program
• Financial: 401k matching, employee share plan with voluntary investment and Henkel matching shares, annual performance bonus, service awards and student loan reimbursement
• Family Support: 12-week gender neutral parental leave (up to 20 weeks for parents giving birth), fertility support, adoption & surrogacy reimbursement, discounted child and elderly care, and scholarships
• Career Growth: diverse national and international growth opportunities, access to thousands of skills development courses, and tuition reimbursement

The salary for this role is $138,400.00 - $160,000.00. This is the range that we in good faith anticipate relying on when setting wages for this position. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and this range. This salary range may also be modified in the future.

Henkel does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms or employment agencies. Unsolicited referrals and resumes are considered Henkel property and therefore, Henkel will not pay a fee for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited referral.

Henkel is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, genetic information, and other legally protected categories.

JOB ID: 25079457 Job Locations: United States, OH, Westlake, OH Contact information for application-related questions: talent.acquisition@henkel.com Please do not use this email address for sending your application or CV. To apply, please click on the "Apply for this role" button below. Applications sent via e-mail will not be accepted. Application Deadline: As long as the vacancy is listed on our Career Site, we are happy to receive your application Job-Center: If you have an application already, you can create or log in to your account here to check the status of your application. In case of new account creation, please use your email address that you applied with. Activate external content When clicking the button below external content will be loaded which involves transfer of personal data (e.g. IP address) to external servers. This may involve that cookies are set by the external content provider. Please see Data Protection Statement for further information.

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