Category Director

4 weeks ago

Surrey, United Kingdom Vertical Advantage Full time

Job Title: Category Director

Job Summary:

We are seeking an experienced Category Director to lead our category team and drive commercial objectives. As a key member of our commercial leadership team, you will provide leadership, foster collaboration, and represent the category perspective through insightful shopper and consumer analysis.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Lead, manage, and coach a team of category professionals to deliver on key commercial objectives.
  • Drive category strategic initiatives, including Category Strategy, Channel Strategy, and Shopper Insight Plans.
  • Optimize core category processes such as range management, NPD process, and development of listing rationale.
  • Prioritize resources to maximize short, medium, and long-term business opportunities.
  • Manage relationships with external agencies (Circana & Kantar), ensuring effective use of category data and insights.
  • Operational responsibility for key customer accounts (Asda & Morrisons) and for managing specific category segments, such as Kids or Indulgence.

Behavioural Attributes:

  • Strong category expertise with the ability to establish credibility and influence senior management both internally and externally.
  • Confident in decision-making and able to stand by your convictions while also bringing others along with you.
  • Future-focused, with the ability to think beyond current performance to anticipate changes in the category landscape.
  • Strong leadership and coaching skills to effectively manage and develop the category team.

Additional Responsibilities:

  • Build relationships with retail partners by presenting unbiased, data-driven insights that influence decision-making and drive category growth.
  • Collaborate closely with Brand teams to develop insight-led NPD propositions and trade presentations centered around category, shopper, and consumer needs.
  • Provide rationale to support range and distribution expansion opportunities.
  • Manage relationships and data from sources like Dunnhumby to support decision-making.

Operational Responsibilities:

Customer Leadership

  • Develop and own category strategies for key customers, ensuring alignment with their priorities and goals.
  • Deliver ongoing category updates, recommendations for range reviews, and merchandising improvements to capitalize on distribution and space opportunities.
  • Attend Monthly Account Reviews (MAR) and provide insights and actions to enhance performance.

Marketing and NPD for Indulgence Brands

  • Lead the category strategy for brand plans, working closely with Marketing to develop the right product mix for NPD.
  • Estimate sales volume and category opportunities for new products, securing distribution targets with customers.
  • Present NPD trade proposals and evaluate merchandising opportunities to optimize sales.

Key Qualifications:

  • Current experience as a Category Lead or Senior Category Manager with at least 12 months in the role and a minimum of 3 years in Category Management.
  • Strong experience in the FMCG sector, ideally within categories involving chilled or short shelf-life products.
  • Proven experience leading strategic category projects and delivering insights that drive business growth.
  • Demonstrated leadership and people management experience.
  • Excellent IT skills, particularly in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint, with proficiency in Kantar and Circana data sources.

This role offers a fantastic opportunity for an experienced Category professional to lead a high-performing team and make a significant impact on category strategy and business growth.

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