Category Development Manager

MARKS&SPENCER; London; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading retail company is seeking a Category Manager for their Home Business Unit on a maternity cover. This role involves driving category strategy, managing projects, and collaborating with stakeholders to enhance performance in a dynamic environment. Ideal candidates will have strong programme management skills and a passion for home products.

Benefits

20% colleague discount on M&S products

Competitive holiday entitlement

Discretionary bonus schemes

Defined Contribution Pension Scheme

Tailored induction and training programmes

Access to wellbeing support

Charity volunteer day

Qualifications

• Experience in programme management and stakeholder engagement.
• Strong communication skills to persuade and influence.
• Ability to prioritize tasks and support team efforts.

Responsibilities

• Manage projects from inception to completion for commercial benefits.
• Develop project plans to track progress and manage risks.
• Engage stakeholders and write business cases for change.

Skills

Programme management

Communication skills

Process improvement

Job description

From Merchandising and Marketing - Product Development and Design, through to Supply Chain and Space Planning - our mission is to bring stylish wardrobe, home and beauty essentials to our customers via an easy, inspiring shopping experience online and in store that will delight them every time.

As we accelerate the transformation of our business to suit the changing needs of our customer, we need results-orientated colleagues that not only have a passion for our product, but a strong team-working ethos, creativity and a healthy commercial aim to join us on our journey.

We're looking for a commercially savvy and strategically minded Category Manager to join our Home Business Unit on a maternity cover on a 12-month fixed term contract. This is a fantastic opportunity to take the reins of a key category, driving performance and shaping future growth within a dynamic and fast-paced retail environment.

Working closely with suppliers, internal stakeholders, and cross-functional teams, you'll lead the end-to-end category strategy - from range planning and pricing to promotions and supplier negotiations. You'll use data-driven insights to make informed decisions that delight our customers and deliver bottom-line results.

If you're passionate about home products, understand what makes customers tick, and thrive in a collaborative environment, we'd love to hear from you.

To stay close to customers, our support teams are in the office three days a week as we believe that skills are developed through collaboration, and that spending time together makes us more creative and connected.

What's in it for you

Being a part of M&S is exactly that - playing your part to bring the magic of M&S to our customers every day. We're an inclusive, dynamic, exciting, and ever evolving business built on doing the right thing and bringing exceptional quality, value, service to every customer, whenever, wherever, and however they want to shop with us.

Here are some of the benefits we offer that make working for M&S just that little bit more special...

• After completing your probationary period, you'll receive 20% colleague discount across all M&S products and many of our third-party brands for you and a member of your household.
• Competitive holiday entitlement with the potential to buy extra holiday days!
• Discretionary bonus schemes awarded based on how you achieve your personal objectives and our performance as a business.
• A generous Defined Contribution Pension Scheme and Life Assurance.
• A dedicated welcome to our teams with a tailored induction and a wide range of training programmes to develop your skills.
• Amazing perks and discounts via our M&S Choices portal to maximise your financial and personal wellbeing.
• Industry-leading parental, adoption, and neonatal policies, providing support and flexibility for your family.
• Access to a fantastic range of wellbeing support for all colleagues including access to our 24/7 Virtual GP and PAM Assist to support you and your family.
• A charity volunteer day to support a charity or cause you're passionate about through a dedicated day away from work.

What you'll do

Your key accountabilities will include

• Manages an agreed scope of projects/ programmes and initiatives from inception to completion, to deliver a return on investment, commercial benefits and the agreed deliverables.
• Develops and owns the project/ programme plans (or similar) to track progress against key milestones whilst managing key risks, issues and dependencies. Ensures these keep to planned timescales and budgets and challenges the teams to move at pace.
• Engages key stakeholders from across the business (Dotcom, Retail, Marketing, etc.) and external partners, where necessary, to execute delivery of the projects/ programmes and initiatives.
• Supports writing board papers and business cases with a clear case for change and strong return on investment.
• Drives a business culture of accountability, control and efficiency; a culture that strives for continuous high performance and improvement.

Who you are

Your skills and experience will include

• Programme management
• Ability to continually improve processes for the better
• Excellent communication skills - ability to use verbal and written skills to persuade others to a course of action
• Holds teams and stakeholders to account - at times at more senior levels
• Able to prioritise and help other teams to do so too

Everyone's welcome

We are ambitious about the future of retail. We're disrupting, innovating, and leading the industry into a more conscientious, inspiring digital era. We're transforming how we work together and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. Marks & Spencer strives to be an inclusive organisation, trusted, and admired by our colleagues, customers, and suppliers. Join us and make change happen.

We are committed to building diverse and representative teams, where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and be at their best. We support each other and work together to win together.

If you feel you'd benefit from any support or reasonable adjustments during any stage of the recruitment process, please don't hesitate to let us know when completing your application. This information will be picked up by our team, so we can try and put steps in place to help you be at your best through this process.

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