Category Development Manager

Mars UK; Melton Mowbray; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Mars University access

Company bonus

Job summary

Mars UK is seeking a Category Leadership professional to drive growth and customer engagement. You will lead category plans, develop the three-year strategy, and collaborate with sales to maximize on-shelf performance.

You will deliver insights to customers, support NPD launches, and build strong retailer partnerships. Key skills include category leadership, analytical acumen, and an in-depth understanding of the FMCG landscape.

Qualifications

• Customer experience with ability to engage, influence and impact customers by providing guidance on strategic direction of category.
• Category Leadership expertise.
• Broad and in depth understanding of FMCG context and retail landscape.
• High analytical acumen with ability to translate insights into relevant strategies and tactics.

Responsibilities

• Deliver best in class Category Management by providing market, consumer and shopper insights to teams.
• Manage range review process from inception through post-review analysis.
• Drive Mars NPD launches with category-focused selling stories and shelf-ready merchandising solutions.
• Collaborate with insight colleagues to deliver in depth account understanding.
• Develop and align a clear 3-year Category strategy with retailer needs.
• Set joint targets with Sales using the picture of success model.

Skills

Category Leadership

Analytical thinking

Customer experience

Influence stakeholders

FMCG knowledge

Job description

Job Description:

This role is responsible for delivering best in class category leadership with our customers to drive growth and customer engagement. Using a mix of market, shopper and customer insights to identify category growth opportunities, the role leverages these through excellence in all Category Leadership initiatives, tactics and practices. Key initiatives and deliverables of the role are to lead the development and execution of the category picture of success through strategic category plans, enabling us to build strong and sustainable category partnerships and sustainable category growth of our respective categories.

What will be your key responsibilities?

Category and insights business orientation:

• Deliver best in class Category Management by taking an objective total category perspective when providing market, consumer and shopper insights to customer/operational teams.

• Responsible for of the Range review process from inception through to implementation and delivery of post review analysis.

• Delivery of Mars NPD launches into the account including creating category focused selling stories, identifying listing opportunities/challenges and providing merchandising solutions to maximise on shelf delivery.

• Collaboration with insight colleagues to deliver in depth account understanding.

Strategy development and vision:

• Deliver the category vision content, tailored to the retailer by developing a clear 3 year Category strategy aligned with the retailer.

• Understand and deploy vision to the shelf for the account, collaborating with Sales to set joint targets using the picture of success model.

Customer relationships:

• Delivery of customer relationships, meetings and interaction vs the contact strategy.

  
  

  What skills do you need?

  
  
  
  

  • Customer experience with ability to engage, influence and impact customers by providing guidance on strategic direction of category.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  • Category Leadership expertise.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • Broad and in depth understanding of FMCG context and retail landscape.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • High analytical acumen with ability to drive and translate insights into relevant strategies and tactics (actions / initiatives) internally and for execution with our customers.
  
  
  
  

What can you expect from Mars?

• Work with diverse and talented Associates, all guided by the Five Principles.


• Join a purpose driven company, where we’re striving to build the world we want tomorrow, today.


• A strong focus on learning and development support from day one, including access to our in-house Mars University.


• An industry competitive salary and benefits package, including company bonus.