Category Management Lead - Grocery

Red Bull; England; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading beverage company in the UK is seeking a Category Management Lead for the Grocery channel. This role involves leading a team of Grocery Category Managers and driving the category strategy that enhances soft drink sales and customer relationships. The ideal candidate will have over 5 years of experience in a retail or category management role, preferably within grocery. Strong leadership skills and customer engagement experience are essential. Join us in making a significant impact in the beverage market.

Benefits

Diverse workforce environment

Qualifications

• Proven ability to lead and coach a team of category managers.
• Experience in developing and executing category strategy.
• Strong background in grocery and retail functions.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coach the Grocery Category Managers.
• Develop and deliver Grocery Category Strategy.
• Drive soft drinks expertise through customer insights.
• Oversee NPD delivery and deployment within grocery.

Skills

Category management expertise

Leadership and coaching

Sales insight utilization

Customer relationship building

Education

5+ years in a category or sales function

Grocery experience

Job description

Red Bull UK is currently recruiting for a Category Management Lead – Grocery to be based in The Field, UK.

Red Bull Category Team offers best‑in‑class Soft Drinks Category management – with advice to grow total BOS and FOS soft drinks, as well as specific expertise within Energy & Sports drinks. We do this through industry‑leading insights and a constant focus on the future. The Category Lead on Grocery leads a team of 5 Grocery Category Managers, with the input KPI of driving more collaboration and deeper customer relationships, and the output KPI of perfect store – with a focus on great main placement execution.

The Lead will ensure our business influences not just at Buyer level, but, as we develop our soft drinks expertise, they will influence at Buying Manager and Category Director level within our most strategic but also competitive accounts. As well as coaching the team, and driving the senior level contact strategy, the lead will also develop and drive our long‑term category strategy – with a focus both on Category Vision, but also the underpinning market conditions that drive our operational environment. E.g. HFSS, DRS, Soft Drink Industry Levy.

A successful candidate will maintain and build our independent relationships with our customer partners, ultimately seeking to be a trusted part of the customer team/captain for the category. To lead the grocery category managers to develop best‑in‑class category relationships with key Grocery customers – leading to them growing their soft drink & S&E business ahead of market. To use shopper and sales insights to understand what is driving the category and maximise every opportunity for our key partners. To develop key category principles and plans with the Grocery Channel Manager, and deploy across the channel.

All the responsibilities we’ll trust you with

Leader and Coach of the Category Management Grocery Team

Lead and coach the Grocery Category Managers – developing both technical expertise within the team, but also coaching to strengths. Deliver a pipeline of future talent for Red Bull via a comprehensive understanding of grocery category management.

Develop, Lead and Deliver the Grocery Category Strategy

Lead and develop Grocery specific Category principles and projects with the Grocery Channel Manager and deploy these across the channel. Develop thought leadership across soft drinks and deploy to influence key customer. Project manage and drive our Availability agenda – with a focus on store‑level data usage.

Deliver Soft Drinks Expertise

Develop soft drink expertise across existing and emerging sub‑categories – utilizing world‑class shopper insights. Deploy these insights to drive total soft drinks category growth ahead of market in key customers. Constantly stay ahead of market trends.

Oversee NPD Delivery for Grocery

Lead and drive the deployment of Red Bull’s NPD pipeline in the channel – both by influencing the pipeline using channel‑specific data, but also overseeing the grocery specific insight‑based selling story to ensure competitive levels of distribution at launch. Work alongside the brand and Strategy teams to guide NPD strategy suitable for the channel and shopper.

Deliver multi‑tier category contact strategy

Developing effective, credible relationships within strategic customers with: Buying Manager, Head of Merchandising, Category Director, and any other person who will help to deliver the above. All with a focus of influencing decisions that are ‘bigger than sub‑category’ – i.e. long‑term location of Meal Deal fridges etc in store post HFSS.

A key leader in the customer marketing team

Being a part of the overall Red Bull Customer Development leadership team. Being a key part of shaping our overall team strategy and people focus.

Your areas of knowledge and expertise that matter most for this role

• Ideally at least 5 years experience in a category, sales, or retail function – customer facing experience desirable. Grocery experience essential.

At Red Bull, we exist to give people wings. To achieve that, we recognise the value that comes from having a highly diverse workforce that has the freedom and responsibility to realise their ideas and seize opportunities. We make recruiting decisions based on experience, skills, potential and talent: everyone is welcome here.