{"id":4175078,"url":"https://alion.io/job/circana-item-coding-team-lead","title":"Item Coding Team Lead","company":{"id":1765215,"name":"Circana","domain":"circana.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/circana","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Eightfold","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":85,"open_postings":5,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.6,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":45,"computed_at":"2026-11-12T10:38:37Z"}},"role":"Management","role_family":"Management","seniority":"lead","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"explicit","locations":["Cape Town, South Africa"],"countries":["ZA"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":4,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Microsoft Excel","optional":false},{"name":"Microsoft Office","optional":false},{"name":"Outlook","optional":false},{"name":"SQL","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-28T07:41:44Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-12","last_verified_at":"2026-11-12T15:49:25Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":15,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":15},"description":"Let’s be unstoppable together!\nCircana is a leading provider of technology, AI, and data solutions for consumer packaged goods companies, manufacturers, and retailers. Our predictive analytics and Liquid Data® platform help clients measure market share, uncover consumer behavior, and drive growth-powered by six decades of expertise and an expansive, high-quality data set.\nAt Circana, we are fueled by our passion for continuous learning and growth, we seek and share feedback freely, and we celebrate victories both big and small in an environment that is flexible and accommodating to our work and personal lives. We’re a global company dedicated to fostering inclusivity and belonging. We value and celebrate the unique experiences, cultures, and viewpoints that each individual brings. By embracing a wide range of backgrounds, skills, expertise, and beyond, we create a stronger, more innovative environment for our employees, clients, and communities. With us, you can always bring your full self to work. Join our inclusive, committed team to be a challenger, own outcomes, and stay curious together. Circana is proud to be Certified™ by Great Place To Work®. This prestigious award is based entirely on what current employees say about their experience working at Circana.\nLearn more at www.circana.com.\nWhat will you be doing?\nWe are seeking an Item Coding Team, responsible for overseeing and maintaining the quality, accuracy, and integrity of Circana's Point-of-Sale (POS) Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) database. This role supports the US business by managing assigned product categories, maintaining product attributes and coding standards, responding to coding-related inquiries, and partnering with internal stakeholders to ensure high-quality product data. As a trusted advisor for operations, the Item Coding Team Lead is always searching for ways to improve the client's business through the high-quality data we supply. The Lead for Item Coding Team must always look for methods to increase productivity and optimize and simplify operating procedures. The Item Coding Team Lead is a highly adaptable individual that cultivates excellent relationships within the business and adeptly manages several work streams while providing leadership, guidance, and support to team members.\nJob Responsibilities\nTo take full accountability for all the Item Coding BAU process areas, leading the local team to achieve company, department, team and personal objectives.\nResponsible for the recruitment, training and development of personnel, ensuring that all team members have effective development plans which are regularly reviewed and evaluated.\nTake full ownership of all assigned item coding client change requests and project management of expansions.\nEnsuring the highest quality of the central Circana Dictionary (this Dictionary DB is called Fusion and contains all new items coded by Coding team received in the Retailer sales data).\nEstablish and drive the operational item coding process and item coding governance process.\nActively seeks out client product performance in the market to keep relevant.\nMaintaining strong internal cross-departmental relationships.\nDisplay a solid understanding of the business and our service offerings.\nAssists and helps the Data Production, Client Delivery, CPG and Retail teams with troubleshooting where necessary.\nAdheres and enforces to all relevant policies and procedures.\nCommunicates issues and deadlines to the affected stakeholders and Item Coding Manager as required.\nAble to work extra hours as and when required to ensure deadlines are met.\nConducts regular team knowledge shares.\nMentor and develops the operational and quality assurance skills of the members of the team in a constructive manner.\nOversee and guide new junior team members and assist in their orientation and on boarding.\nTo support the Item Coding Manager with the management of the team and implementation of strategic initiatives, etc.\nMeasures of Success\nTo take full accountability for all the Item Coding BAU process areas, leading his/her team to achieve company, department, team and personal objectives.\nEffectively manage work processes by prioritizing and effectively managing the team workload through a systematic approach to task completion.\nImplementation and ongoing maintenance of Fusion coding specific processes, including Category Hierarchies, Bulk Updates, etc.\nBuild strong functional & technical skills for self and team members\nStrong problem-solving skills and a solutions focused approach\nHave advanced MS Excel and troubleshooting skills (using worksheets, pivot tables, VLOOKUP’s etc.\nHigh quality communication skills -written and spoken\nRequirements\nWorking Hours / Supporting Global TeamsSupporting the US Business: This role supports Circana's United States business and requires regular collaboration with internationally based colleagues, stakeholders, and client-facing teams.\nTeam members will be required to work later afternoon hours on a regular basis and, on occasion, early evening hours to accommodate overlap with United States business hours for meetings, training, project work, and collaboration activities.\nFlexibility in working hours is therefore required to ensure effective support of business operations and stakeholder engagement across time zones.\n\nBachelor's Degree in Business, Marketing, Analytics, Information Management, or a related field with a quantitative component\nExcellent verbal and written communication\nStrong analytical and problem-solving skills\nHigh attention to detail and commitment to data accuracy.\nAbility to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.\nStrong organizational and time management skills.\nAbility to work both independently and collaboratively within a virtual global environment.\nStrong Leadership Skills\n4+ years experience within Retail, FMCG/CPG, Market Research, or Data Operations environments\n(Required) Proficiency in all Microsoft Office applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and Outlook (and SQL knowledge preferred)\nCircana Behaviors\nAs well as the technical skills, experience and attributes that are required for the role, our shared behaviors sit at the core of our organization. Therefore, we always look for people who can continuously champion these behaviors throughout the business within their day-to-day role:\nStay Curious: Being hungry to learn and grow, always asking the big questions\nSeek Clarity: Embracing complexity to create clarity and inspire action\nOwn the Outcome: Being accountable for decisions and taking ownership of our choices\nCenter on the Client: Relentlessly adding value for our customers\nBe a Challenger: Never complacent, always striving for continuous improvement\nChampion Inclusivity: Fostering trust in relationships engaging with empathy, respect and integrity\nCommit to each other: Contributing to making Circana a great place to work for everyone\nLocation\nThis position can be located in the following area(s): South Africa","description_format":"text","description_chars":7021,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":4,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Continuous learning"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"South Africa","iso":"ZA","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Market Research","Retail & Pricing Analytics"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-12T15:49:25Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":15,"expected_fill_days":45,"reasons":["conf:3","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-11-12T19:37:58Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/circana-item-coding-team-lead","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/circana-item-coding-team-lead.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-12T19:37:58Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":41402,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-13T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":1765215},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=1765215"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fcircana-item-coding-team-lead"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":2,"usd":0.2},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fcircana-item-coding-team-lead"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fcircana-item-coding-team-lead"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/circana-item-coding-team-lead\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fcircana-item-coding-team-lead"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":4175078}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"circana.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":4175078},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. Docs: https://alion.io/developers"}}