Lead Customer Category Manager - Leeds

Location:  Leeds, GB

Are you a passionate and strategic category expert with a keen eye for developing excellence in retail category execution plans?

Do you want to be part of a growing team that will be leading the direction around how to unlock category and commercial growth?

Do you thrive with high levels of autonomy and have a hunger for delivering commercial results from thorough category and shopper understanding?

How will you make an impact?

As a lead customer category manager at Arla you will be the expert in your aligned categories and channels, and will have a deep and thorough understanding of market performance, highlighting clear growth opportunities for both Arla and our retail partners and executing these in line with strategic ambitions.

Working with the sales and marketing teams, you will be a strong networker and influencer with a focus on results and execution through your commercialised category and shopper insights. You will have the leadership behaviours and experience to coach and develop colleagues to support the delivery of team and business objectives. 

What will the role look like?

  Be the channel, shopper and customer expert for your customers

• Have a thorough understanding of your retailers strategy and ensure complete tailoring of Arla initiatives to customer strategies
• Translates the category and shopper strategies and initiatives into tailored customer Category Strategies and plans across all channels, incl: eComm
• Sell these plans in to customers using tailored shopper data/insights for your customer
• Drive execution of the 4 P’s in your customers across all channels– Optimum price and promo plans, placement/display strategies across all channels (shelf/screen/space/layout) – ensure Arla are in line with the customers category processes, e.g. range reviews, strategy planning and leading the category agenda
• Ensure initiatives that drive short and long-term growth are prioritised and landed in your customers
• Ensure a ‘category first’ approach, ensuring category growth and customer relationship is at the heart of our commercial plans.
• Support the CBU’s on pro-actively finding new growth opportunities relevant to their channel
• Provide monthly holistic insights relating to your customers – for customers and internal stakeholders
• Be the lead for your category’s insights across the function and wider business
• Through your team, lead in store trials/pilots in line with category/shopper strategies that will deliver a competitive advantage for Arla/customers, e.g. fixture trials, POS trials, digital trials
• Identify bespoke areas of growth for the customers through interrogating category/shopper data
• Ensure NPD lands and delivers in line with business cases for your customers
• Coach and develop a team of leaders to create a team of engaged colleagues and help establish the function as a hot bed for talent. 
• Direct Line management and development of a Category Executive

What do you need to succeed?

• Leader of change – not waiting to be led. Capable of creating your own direction and building commitment internally and externally
• A Strategist – Makes connections in data and insights, thinks on a longer term time horizon but obsessed with strategy conversion into execution
• Results driven with extensive commercial experience – Understands the commercial needs of the organisation and customers and focussed on driving growth for Arla and customers
• A coach – Can lead and inspire a team to raise the performance bar and passionate about creating an awesome commercial development team and willing to work with the Director to upskill, inspire and develop the function taking it to new heights
• Comfortable in the operation – Expected to flex between the strategy and rolling your sleeves up to deliver what needs to be delivered
• Relationship Builder – Can build rapport quickly at all levels and a strong influencer
• Laser focussed on execution - Understands retailers needs and will act with pace and agility to maximise growth for customers
• A category and shopper obsessive – Strong industry connections with a hunger and curiosity to build expertise around evolving shopper behaviour.
• High Performance & Growth Mindset – Open to continuous improvement as an individual and as part of a team and willing to grow and learn and support the functions delivery as part of a senior commercial team 

Experience Required

• Fully conversant with Kantar, Nielsen and retailer data systems
• FMCG experience in category/commercial/strategy roles
• Extensive experience in a customer facing category role delivering growth for customers

What we offer

• Competitive salary (salary discussed at application stage)
• 26 days holiday & Bank holidays
• Hybrid & Flexible working
• Bonus Scheme up to 20% Depending on personal and business performance
• Pension contribution matched up to 6%
• 4 x annual salary life assurance
• Onsite Gym
• Access to discounted products in our Staff Shop
• People agenda commitment to training and development (internal & external )
• Flexible Benefits - buy up to 5 days annual leave, reward gateway scheme- discounts with various retailers via my benefit platform.
• Most importantly - cheese hamper at Christmas

Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis. The advert may close early in the event we receive sufficient applicants, so please don’t delay in submitting your application.

For more information please reach out to Oliver Burr at olibu@arlafoods.com

We have a purpose for Good

At Arla, we strive to unlock the highest potential in each other while working together to create a sustainable future of dairy. We call it Stronger People Stronger Planet and it is deeply anchored in our organisation and founded on our commitment to respecting human rights, increasing access to healthy dairy nutrition, inspiring good food habits, and improving the environment for future generations. In order to succeed we need to hire people with a sustainable mindset. Could this be you?

BEWARE! RECRUITMENT FRAUD
It has come to our attention that there are a number of fraudulent emails and fake recruitment campaigns on the internet from people purporting to work for Arla Foods. Learn more via this link.

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