Category Manager

JOB TITLE: Category Manager

COMPANY: Aston Manor

SALARY: £32,000 - £35,000

LOCATION: Birmingham

THE COMPANY:

Aston Manor Cider is the UK’s largest independent cider maker, producing over 300 million pints of cider every year, with an annual turnover in excess of £100m. The company is 100% family owned and has invested over £30 million in the last 3 years to ensure the company is positioned for sustainable growth.

      We produce our ciders with apples from 1,300 acres of our own orchards across Herefordshire & Worcestershire. They are pressed at our Cider Mill in Stourport-on-Severn and then used to create different styles of cider for all occasions at our production and packaging sites in Tiverton, Devon & Birmingham.

      Our brands range from mainstream ciders like Kingstone Press, Crumpton Oaks and Frosty Jack's to award-winning premium ciders such as Friels Vintage and Knights Malvern Gold. We also produce an extensive range of retailer exclusive & own label cider brands for many of the UK’s leading retailers.

MAIN PURPOSE OF THE ROLE:

Reporting to the Category Marketing Manager, this is a role that has been created through the growth of our cider brand portfolio and ambitions to grow further market share. As the Category Manager, you will play an essential role in bridging and supporting the Sales & Marketing teams to ensure Aston Manor and our customers continue to win through category thought leadership and actionable insights that deliver profitable growth.  You are likely to be head office based, however, the role will involve travel across the UK including (but not limited to) attending customer meetings, trade events and briefings, sometimes with a need to stay overnight. The successful candidate will work closely with the Customer Account Managers primarily across Off Trade, but also with Convenience, Impulse and Discounter Channels.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITES:

Market Information & Insight:

• Updating, maintaining and development of regular category reporting suites and tools working closely with our key insight and data partners to deliver them.
• Tracking, reporting and presenting Market and Brand KPIs.
• Collecting and integrating ongoing insights/analysis (consumer, category, channel, shopper and customer) in the creation of compelling selling stories.
• Drive Category Management principles and tools within account teams, championing the use of data and insight to identify and secure growth in customers.

Customer Relationships:

• Responsible for delivering value to customers through sharing relevant consumer, category, channel, shopper and customer insights and Aston Manor initiatives that unlock growth for the customer.
• Plan and lead the development and implementation of optimal ranges and planogram solutions for Aston Manor brands and Own Label with customers, including post range review analytics.
• Support the management of Aston Manor’s product portfolio within customers, driving sales and growing distribution.
• Develop and maintain trusted category relationships with customers, becoming their go-to supplier to unlock category growth opportunities (through external reporting and regular customer visits).

Business Planning:

• Become the voice of the shopper and customer during the internal business and brand planning process.
• Work closely with Marketing to identify and quantify the drivers of category performance and feed into the brand planning process.
• Provide input into Aston Manor’s Brand, Exclusive Brand and Own Label innovation(s) and NPD & EPD plans through insight and an expert understanding of the market.

THE INDIVIDUAL: The successful candidate for the role should bring the following skills and attributes:

• FMCG experience to include Category Management/Category Development
• Excellent analytical skills with the ability to synthesize and integrate learning from multiple sources and see connections in data trends to generate insight
• Excellent communication, presentation and influencing skills with a proven track record of relationship building and delivery with customers
• Commercial awareness in terms of markets, competitors and the retail trade
• Entrepreneurial flair and a strong attention to detail
• Previous experience of working with IRI (or Nielsen) and Kantar data

SALARY AND BENEFITS:

At Aston Manor, we know how hard our employees work and what a substantial contribution they make to our business and because of this, we offer the people who join us a very attractive package.

This includes;

• £32,000 – £35,000 starting salary
• Performance based reviews
• 25 days holiday plus Bank Holidays
• Pension Scheme
• Career progression

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