Category Manager

Location: Kuwait

Salary: £Tax free salary plus bonus and benefits

The Role:

Our Food Retail Division requires an experienced Category Manager to manage a range of product sectors across multiple brands.

As someone who has a passion and strong understanding of 'food', you will have had a solid career in buying, planning or merchandising, ideally within a retail product environment.

This role will cover internationally-recognised brands and have high exposure throughout the business function.

This is an outstanding opportunity for a unique individual to apply their knowledge into this growing division, with the autonomy to look ahead for future opportunities and openings

Your main responsibilities include (but are not limited to):

• Creating and managing the financial operating category plan
• Creating the positioning strategy for the category based on competitive and marketplace strategic assessment 
• Understanding of competitive marketplace to project potential threats to category creating positioning strategy for product categories
• Managing the product lines through their life-cycles: core, seasonal and promotional
• Leading the development of new product concepts from conception through implementation
• Working with Supply Chain to ensure integration of planning, forecasting, forward buying and inventory management of product lines.

Qualifications & Requirements:

You will have:

• At least 3 years' experience in Category Management within food retail/FMCG
• Experience of buying and implementing new product lines worldwid
• An effective communicator with excellent negotiation skills and proven ability to handle multiple stakeholders 
• Progressive experience of product or brand management with P&L responsibility
• Excellent analytical skills.

About us: M.H. Alshaya Co. is a leading international franchise operator for over 70 of the world’s most recognised retail brands including Starbucks, H&M, Mothercare, Debenhams, American Eagle Outfitters, P.F. Chang’s, The Cheesecake Factory, Victoria’s Secret, Boots, Pottery Barn and KidZania.

The company operates over 2,800 stores across diverse customer sectors: Fashion & Footwear, Health & Beauty, Food, Optics, Pharmacy, Home Furnishings and Leisure & Entertainment.

Alshaya’s stores can be found in markets across the Middle East and North Africa, Russia, Turkey and Europe and the company employs more than 44,000 people from over 110 nationalities.