Group Category & Marketing Strategy Manager

Do you want to work for some of the world’s leading audio brands? Become a part of the HARMAN team and get to work for JBL and Harman/Kardon. 

By joining HARMAN, you'll dive headfirst into the exciting world of headphones, portable speakers, party boxes and other audio technologies, and contribute to the success of Harman Lifestyle EMEA business. The consumer audio industry is fast paced, fun and dynamic and we’re looking for someone who is proactive, loves to work with a lot of different stakeholders from all over the globe and has creative ideas.

You will join our Group Category & Marketing Strategy department for the Americas region, based in the US in the position of: 

Group Category & Marketing Strategy Manager

About the Role:

The Manager, Category & Marketing Strategy provides strategic leadership across multiple teams to drive long-term growth and category excellence. This role is accountable for developing global marketing and category strategies that align with enterprise objectives, while ensuring regional relevance and commercial impact. The Manager partners closely with regional Sales and Marketing leaders, Business Units (BUs), Go-to-Market (GTM), and Product teams to translate strategic insights into actionable plans, frameworks, and investments.

What You Will Do:

Strategic Leadership & Planning

• Develop global category and portfolio strategies, identifying “big bet” growth opportunities through robust segmentation, market analysis, and strategic frameworks.
• Guide strategic planning cycles, recommending targets, KPIs, brand roles, and budget allocations across categories, brands, and products.
• Lead the creation of long-term category strategies that are adaptable to regional market dynamics and consumer needs.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Act as a trusted business partner to regional Sales and Marketing teams, integrating commercial strategies and market insights into a coherent global marketing strategy.
• Ensure alignment between regional and global marketing strategies and their connection to Harman’s enterprise strategy.
• Partner with regional marketing teams to translate global strategies into qualitative and quantitative objectives and initiatives.

Category Strategy Development

• Support analyzing and drive distilling the market forces that are impacting the category today and tomorrow
• Identify opportunities that will grow the category or enable growth in the category and manage category development through tools, processes, and templates Assess the attractiveness and attainability of category growth opportunities and feed category growth story and growth opportunities into the BU roadmap.
• Own creation of opportunity blueprint required to realize the opportunity across the marketing mix, informing Category Strategy and HTW strategy.
• Collaborate with brand teams on strategic initiatives by informing about market enablers and barriers and competitive forces and brand growth plan and campaigns.
• Collaborate with regional category & marketing planning to tailor category strategies to local market conditions and ensure fit-for-purpose execution.

Go-to-Market Involvement

• Represent Marketing in the GTM triangle in early phases of GTM process
• Support HTW draft with category and consumer insights
• Collaborate with GTM team on finalizing HTW strategy and product and pitch deck

Investment & Resource Optimization

• Design and implement a recommendation framework for global targets and KPIs based on market attractiveness and cost of playing.
• Co-manage regional marketing investment balance with regional leaders to optimize long-term success.
• Enable regional GMs and marketing leads to prioritize key business challenges and opportunities, driving efficient resource allocation.

Marketing Planning & Execution

• Contribute to annual marketing planning cycles, ensuring strategies are fact-based, investment-optimized, and aligned across global and regional teams.
• Ensure consistent execution and integration of category and portfolio strategies across all touchpoints

What You Need to Be Succesful:

• Proven leadership experience in global marketing strategy, category management, or portfolio strategy roles.
• Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills with the ability to synthesize complex data into actionable insights.
• Demonstrated success in cross-functional collaboration and influencing senior stakeholders.
• Experience influencing multiple teams and driving performance across diverse markets.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills; ability to translate strategy into compelling narratives.

Bonus Points if You Have:

• Leadership experience in B2B2C or premium brand environments, especially in tech industry / consumer electronics.
• Demonstrated success in leading teams through cultural integration in fast-changing business environments.
• Known for introducing structured frameworks or innovative approaches to resolve entrenched challenges and unlock enterprise value.

What Makes You Eligible:

• Due to the nature of global infrastructure, you understand that flexibility in working hours is required.
• Successfully complete a background investigation and drug screen as a condition of employment.
• This role is eligible to work remotely.

What We Offer:

• Flexible work environment, allowing for full-time remote work globally for positions that can be performed outside a HARMAN or customer location
• Access to employee discounts on world-class Harman and Samsung products (JBL, HARMAN Kardon, AKG, etc.)
• Extensive training opportunities through our own HARMAN University
• Competitive wellness benefits
• Tuition reimbursement
• “Be Brilliant” employee recognition and rewards program
• An inclusive and diverse work environment that fosters and encourages professional and personal development.

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HARMAN is proud to be an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.