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Senior Category Manager

Employer
Mackenzie Jones Ltd
Location
London
Salary
c£55k - £65k
Closing date
4 May 2016

View more

Business Sector
Food & Drink
Contract Type
Permanent
Hours
Full Time
Function
Category Management, Marketing

The organisation

One of the UK’s largest food manufacturing businesses, with a variety of brands, is looking for a Senior Category Manager to join their dynamic commercial team and manage their Tesco account. The company boasts a range of ‘family favourite’ brands that are a staple for households across the UK. As a ‘people centric’ organisation, they aim to attract, retain and develop the most talented individuals, to help them achieve their true potential. The Head Office is based just outside West London, ideally they would like this individual to be in the office 5 days a week, however of course some of that time will be spent with the customer.
 

The Role

Nature and Scope of the Job

  • The category is the third largest grocery category worth over £10 billion. This combined by working with some of the UK’s biggest and best brands and the UK’s biggest retailer is a high profile opportunity for an innovative and strategic thinker to demonstrate category leadership and personal development.
  • The job is about changing shopper’s behavior and driving growth through the standard levers of more people, more often, more purchases or more money. Essentially it’s about delivering the insight that will change performance at the point of purchase. Whilst highly analytical in nature it is more important that you can deliver this robust insight, from a variety of resources and utilise them to designing and tailoring the strategies for success with Tesco and the wider team.
  • For the right candidate it is a significant opportunity as it’s about bringing a compelling category vision for internal and external contacts and using this to drive category growth and the business share within those.
  • Due to the high profile nature of this role the successful candidate must be skilled at building relationships at all levels. Importantly they must be comfortable at flexing to differing styles whilst demonstrating passion, building trust and gaining mutual respect with all customers.
  • Developing and implementing a category plan for Tesco across the different retail formats is key – proactively looking for risks and opportunities, understanding the various shopper missions and using data providing clear, insight driven recommendations.

 

 

Principal Accountabilities

  • Provide category management expertise to Tesco in the areas of product, promotions, range, merchandising, shoppers and coverage to enable the company to be viewed as trusted Category experts within their categories.
  • Work with Tesco on sharing category strategies to identify and agree which growth drivers to develop and embed across the two businesses.
  • Develop and execute the annual category plan to execute the category vision, merchandising and promotional strategies.
  • Identify and manage customer specific category initiatives and projects to increase sales and profitability.
  • Proactively build strong relationships with buying, business planning & merchandising contacts.
  • Project manage the range review process with Tesco, setting the strategic category direction, managing in depth opportunity analyses, including segmentation, range, space & merchandising recommendations as appropriate. 
  • Provide a promotional review process with Tesco to evaluate both own brand and competitor brand performance and develop the optimal promotional plan to ensure sustainable growth of the categories.
  • Support brand initiatives and NPD delivery by providing category rationale for Tesco.
  • Coach and develop a Category Executive who will also have account responsibilities.
  • Manage and develop the relationship with Dunnhumby to maximise the ROI
  • Be the category expert on the sector and lead the insight internally at monthly reviews, innovation development and NPD trade sells.

Knowledge & Experience Required

  • 5 – 8 years experience with a strong record of success in a Blue Chip FMCG environment in Category.
  • Able to demonstrate leading and working with retailers on large and complex category strategies and their implementation.
  • Proactive in building and developing strong and influential relationships with customers (internal & external)
  • Consistent delivery of category KPIs
  • Proven experience in the development, implementation and review of category plans and range reviews
  • Excellent interpersonal skills especially in communication and presentation
  • Driven individual who is keen to progress their career and takes ownership for it
  • Good knowledge of merchandising principles (JDA software)
  • Strongly analytical & proficient in the use of external market data tools with the ability to turn data into insight using and interpreting Nielsen / IRI & Kantar data systems.
  • Line management experience preferred but not essential
  • Educated to degree level (or equivalent)

Mackenzie Jones

About Mackenzie Jones

At Mackenzie Jones we connect people within FMCG Food and Drink businesses. We connect talented candidates with exciting Marketing opportunities. 
We manage permanent and interim assignments both in the UK and internationally. Opportunities range from £40k to £90k for permanent roles, and £250 to £1,200 a day for interim assignments. 
If you need a recruitment partner with a different outlook, one that delivers results whilst building long-term relationships, then we should talk. Or alternatively, if you are considering that next step in your Marketing career, get in touch to see how we can help you achieve your goals. 

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