Back to jobs
New

Meal Category Lead

Remote

Hungryroot is seeking a strategic, analytical, and passionate Meals Category Lead to shape and scale our prepared foods assortment in alignment with our customers’ needs and preferences. This high-impact role is responsible for defining and executing a data-informed category strategy that maximizes customer satisfaction, drives sales and profitability, and upholds our mission to make healthy eating easy.

As Meals Category Lead, you will own end-to-end category management for your assortment of heat & eat and ready-to-eat meals and sides -- including strategy, product development, vendor and item selection, packaging, and merchandising -- with a clear focus on developing and curating products and brands that meet the Root Standard: our commitment to quality, nutrition, convenience, and great taste. You’ll play a key role in building and managing supplier partnerships, unlocking value through cost optimization, vendor performance management, and innovation.

In this important role, you will report directly to the Director of Category Management and collaborate closely with R&D, Culinary, Food Safety, Marketing, and Supply Chain teams to develop, onboard and maintain an assortment of best-in-class products.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the strategic development and management of Hungryroot’s Prepared Meals and Sides categories, curating a high-quality, health-forward assortment that meets customer needs.
  • Partner closely with the R&D and Culinary teams to identify innovation opportunities and bring new product concepts to life, ensuring they align with Hungryroot’s standards for nutrition, convenience, and taste.
  • Proactively identify and source innovative brands and products that drive customer satisfaction, sales, and margin. 
  • Own the end-to-end product lifecycle, leading cross-functional execution from pipeline planning and vendor negotiations through onboarding, launch, and in-market performance management.
  • Leverage data and customer insights to inform category strategy, guiding decisions on product mix, pricing, promotion, and placement to improve business performance and customer value.
  • Identify and deliver cost-saving initiatives, renegotiating vendor agreements or exploring alternative sourcing while preserving quality, performance, and margin goals.
  • Steer long-term assortment health, identifying assortment gaps, whitespace opportunities, market trends, and rationalization needs to ensure the mix evolves with customer preferences and business priorities.
  • Build and manage best-in-class supplier relationships, holding vendors accountable to performance standards across cost, quality, food safety, and service.
  • Own category compliance and quality, partnering closely with food safety and regulatory teams to uphold federal, state, and internal standards.
  • Collaborate cross-functionally with supply chain and fulfillment teams to ensure product availability, minimize disruptions, and maintain healthy inventory aligned with demand.
  • Work with brand partners and our partnerships team to design and activate promotional opportunities that elevate category performance and support revenue goals.

Qualifications

  • 5+ years of experience in category management, buying, or merchandising—ideally within eCommerce.
  • Deep familiarity with the prepared meals and sides category—including ready-to-eat, and heat-and-eat formats—with a strong understanding of consumer preferences, supply chain dynamics, and packaging considerations.
  • Experience collaborating on product development or private-label innovation in a fresh or perishable food category is strongly preferred.
  • Proven ability to negotiate, manage projects, and communicate effectively across internal and external stakeholders.
  • Experience building vendor partnerships and developing private-label products.
  • Working knowledge of retail and eCommerce food safety standards.
  • Strong analytical mindset with strong proficiency in Excel or Google Sheets.
  • Highly collaborative, with a track record of effective cross-functional partnership.
  • Agile and solutions-oriented; thrives in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
  • Self-motivated, positive, and proactive with a transparent communication style.
  • Passion for food, health, and wellness, with a pulse on industry trends and consumer behavior.
  • Familiarity with tools like NetSuite, Airtable, Looker, or other ERP systems is a plus.

Perks & Benefits 

  • Remote-first: work from home, work from our NYC office, work from anywhere in the U.S. - you decide!
  • Equity 
  • Unlimited vacation policy
  • Universal paid parental leave
  • Monthly Hungryroot credit for delicious, healthy groceries
  • Comprehensive health, vision, dental, and life insurance
  • 401k with Company Match
  • A work from home stipend to support your initial home-office setup

Expected Pay Range
$100,000-$130,000

#LI-REMOTE

The employer will not sponsor applicants for work visas.

Our mission to help make healthy eating easy, accessible, and joyful is better served by a diverse workplace. We are a proud Equal Opportunity Employer committed to building an inclusive workplace. We have zero-tolerance for harassment or discrimination. We do not discriminate on the basis of any protected class. 

 

Create a Job Alert

Interested in building your career at Hungryroot? Get future opportunities sent straight to your email.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Select...
Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Hungryroot’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.