Customer Category Manager

Nestlé SA; York; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading UK confectionery company is seeking a Customer Category Manager for a 12-month fixed-term contract in York. The role involves developing customer category plans and executing strategies to drive growth. Ideal candidates will have FMCG experience, strong analytical skills, and the ability to build influential relationships. The position offers a salary up to £45,000 pro-rata and additional benefits, along with a hybrid working model.

Benefits

Potential bonus

Flexible working days

12 flexible leave days

Competitive pension scheme

Qualifications

• Experience in category management within FMCG.
• Proven track record in commercial environments.
• Ability to derive insights from data.

Responsibilities

• Develop and manage customer category plans.
• Execute Nestlé category strategy.
• Build strong relationships with customers.

Skills

Category management experience

Analytical skills

Relationship building

Commercial acumen

Education

Degree in Business or related field

Job description

Business Area: Nestlé UK&I - Confectionery
Customer Category Manager – 12 month FTC
Location: York (Hybrid working – approx. 2-3 flexible days a week at our office)
Salary up to £45,000 pro rata depending on experience + potential bonus + 12 flexible days in addition to holiday entitlement + other fantastic benefits

Championing diversity and inclusion is so important to us; when we embrace different perspectives and give everyone the chance to be the best they can be, we can think in new, creative ways that grow and enhance our business.

At Nestlé, we are proud to support and provide equality of opportunity that supports employees to effectively blend their work life and commitments through hybrid and flexible working arrangements, so speak to us to understand what this could look like for you .

Position Summary
Nestlé Confectionery is an exciting and forward-thinking place to work. As part of the Nestlé Confectionery UK team, you could be working with some of the world’s best-known and most-loved brands, many of which have been enjoyed for generations. We strive to put the consumer at the heart of everything we do and deliver the best-tasting and most permissible treats for consumers day after day.

Across our category function we are a hugely supportive team, sharing the value of open communication whilst working towards common but ambitious strategic goals.

We are recruiting for a Customer Category Manager to join the team on a fixed term contract, reporting into the Customer Category Lead. This is an exciting and pivotal role that will see you develop, manage and execute our customer category plans working in partnership with one of the major multiples, discounters, bargain stores or convenience retailers. We are ideally looking for an experienced professional who has the ability to be category centric, always ‘put the category first’ ensuring we operate as a partner to our customers.

Whilst category experience is strongly preferred, we are happy to hear from you if you have a breadth of commercial experience with a demonstrated ability to turn data into commercial outcomes. What’s key is that we deliver value adding insight that drives category growth for the long term with our customers and which enables Nestlé to build plans which support that growth.

A day in the life of a Customer Category Manager...
You will be responsible for developing and deploying tailored channel and category plans at a customer level, including point of purchase solutions to deliver overall category performance resulting in market share growth for Nestlé, whilst ensuring impartiality with the customer.

You will also:

• Build great external relationships to become the leader of our customers’ thinking and actions and by being their first port of call as a trusted source for Buying / Merchandising / Ranging Teams relating to any category questions, insight and growth recommendations
• Execute Nestlé category strategy, personalisation of the category strategy to meet the retailer’s needs and generate engagement and commitment
• Successfully execute the category drivers for the channel within your customer via the delivery of the point of purchase (POP) Vision, through adjacency and flow recommendations to retailers at range reviews and throughout the year to deliver the Perfect Store
• Deliver best in class insight to influence retailers to land best in class executions online & in store.
• Have a deep understanding of the role of the shopper across different store formats and online within your customer
• Closely monitor industry and competitor activity, to ensure our strategic commercial vision is in line with market demands in a constantly changing, competitive environment that we work in
• Work closely with internal teams at Nestlé to bring the outside in and ensure our NPD / brand pipelines suit the customer and consumer need.

What will make you successful
To be successful, you’ll already have some fantastic category and/or commercial experience under your belt, ideally with proven delivery in a previous category role. You will be passionate, tenacious, results driven and enjoy working in a highly energetic and exciting environment. Acting as an ambassador for our Nestlé Confectionery brands, you will be commercially aware and have experience of influencing across all levels internally and externally, ideally within a matrix structure.

You will also:

• Have a great analytical approach to drive insight and be able to transform data into compelling stories that drives actions and return on investment``
• Be curious to understand the changing shopper dynamics, and have an energy to translate insights into clear recommendations that drive category growth
• Ideally, have experience of creating and selling winning category plans within an FMCG environment
• Be resilient, adaptable, demonstrating an agility to use your initiative to solve challenges rapidly and often in a creative way
• Understand the importance and benefits of working in a customer centric way
• Be courageous, we’re not afraid to think differently and embrace new ideas. We embrace new thinking to drive great results and change
• Love of learning, understanding 'why?' and ability to share this both externally and internally in a compelling way
• A desire to step beyond the role to get involved in activities that benefit communities and groups we share support.

What you need to know
We will provide support and coaching to help you develop yourself in your career and as an individual, as well as offering the great benefits that you’d expect from a business the size of Nestlé – in the shape of a competitive salary and benefits package, bonus scheme, flexible working scheme, 25 days holiday plus bank holidays plus up to an additional 12 days flex leave, bank holiday exchange, competitive pension scheme and much more.

We will be considering and interviewing candidates as they apply and we will occasionally close job advertisements early in the event we receive sufficient applicants, so please don’t delay in submitting your application.

Job advert posting date 23/07/2025
Job advert closing date 06/08/2025

At Nestlé, our values are rooted in respect. When we embrace diversity and give everyone the chance to be the best they can be, we can think in new, creative ways that grow and enhance our business. People of all gender identities, ethnically diverse individuals, people with disabilities, and members of the LGBT+ community are strongly encouraged to apply. If there is anything we can do to accommodate you to participate fully in the application process, please let us know. We take pride in championing inclusion and diversity, our people make up a number of Colleague Networks who represent different experiences and communities who hold us accountable in creating a sense of belonging for all, and our values create the conditions for us to respect the unique contribution you bring. Find out more about our Colleague Networks here: Diversity, equity and inclusion | Nestlé (nestle.co.uk)

We are committed to equal opportunity for all and we may collect relevant data for monitoring purposes during our candidate registration process. Be yourself, everyone else is taken!

Position Snapshot

Business Area: Nestlé UK&I - Confectionery
Customer Category Manager – 12 month FTC
Location: York (Hybrid working – approx. 2-3 flexible days a week at our office)
Salary up to £45,000 pro rata depending on experience + potential bonus + 12 flexible days in addition to holiday entitlement + other fantastic benefits

Championing diversity and inclusion is so important to us; when we embrace different perspectives and give everyone the chance to be the best they can be, we can think in new, creative ways that grow and enhance our business.

At Nestlé, we are proud to support and provide equality of opportunity that supports employees to effectively blend their work life and commitments through hybrid and flexible working arrangements, so speak to us to understand what this could look like for you .

Position Summary
Nestlé Confectionery is an exciting and forward-thinking place to work. As part of the Nestlé Confectionery UK team, you could be working with some of the world’s best-known and most-loved brands, many of which have been enjoyed for generations. We strive to put the consumer at the heart of everything we do and deliver the best-tasting and most permissible treats for consumers day after day.

Across our category function we are a hugely supportive team, sharing the value of open communication whilst working towards common but ambitious strategic goals.

We are recruiting for a Customer Category Manager to join the team on a fixed term contract, reporting into the Customer Category Lead. This is an exciting and pivotal role that will see you develop, manage and execute our customer category plans working in partnership with one of the major multiples, discounters, bargain stores or convenience retailers. We are ideally looking for an experienced professional who has the ability to be category centric, always ‘put the category first’ ensuring we operate as a partner to our customers.

Whilst category experience is strongly preferred, we are happy to hear from you if you have a breadth of commercial experience with a demonstrated ability to turn data into commercial outcomes. What’s key is that we deliver value adding insight that drives category growth for the long term with our customers and which enables Nestlé to build plans which support that growth.

A day in the life of a Customer Category Manager...
You will be responsible for developing and deploying tailored channel and category plans at a customer level, including point of purchase solutions to deliver overall category performance resulting in market share growth for Nestlé, whilst ensuring impartiality with the customer.

You will also:

• Build great external relationships to become the leader of our customers’ thinking and actions and by being their first port of call as a trusted source for Buying / Merchandising / Ranging Teams relating to any category questions, insight and growth recommendations
• Execute Nestlé category strategy, personalisation of the category strategy to meet the retailer’s needs and generate engagement and commitment
• Successfully execute the category drivers for the channel within your customer via the delivery of the point of purchase (POP) Vision, through adjacency and flow recommendations to retailers at range reviews and throughout the year to deliver the Perfect Store
• Deliver best in class insight to influence retailers to land best in class executions online & in store.
• Have a deep understanding of the role of the shopper across different store formats and online within your customer
• Closely monitor industry and competitor activity, to ensure our strategic commercial vision is in line with market demands in a constantly changing, competitive environment that we work in
• Work closely with internal teams at Nestlé to bring the outside in and ensure our NPD / brand pipelines suit the customer and consumer need.

What will make you successful
To be successful, you’ll already have some fantastic category and/or commercial experience under your belt, ideally with proven delivery in a previous category role. You will be passionate, tenacious, results driven and enjoy working in a highly energetic and exciting environment. Acting as an ambassador for our Nestlé Confectionery brands, you will be commercially aware and have experience of influencing across all levels internally and externally, ideally within a matrix structure.

You will also:

• Have a great analytical approach to drive insight and be able to transform data into compelling stories that drives actions and return on investment``
• Be curious to understand the changing shopper dynamics, and have an energy to translate insights into clear recommendations that drive category growth
• Ideally, have experience of creating and selling winning category plans within an FMCG environment
• Be resilient, adaptable, demonstrating an agility to use your initiative to solve challenges rapidly and often in a creative way
• Understand the importance and benefits of working in a customer centric way
• Be courageous, we’re not afraid to think differently and embrace new ideas. We embrace new thinking to drive great results and change
• Love of learning, understanding 'why?' and ability to share this both externally and internally in a compelling way
• A desire to step beyond the role to get involved in activities that benefit communities and groups we share support.

What you need to know
We will provide support and coaching to help you develop yourself in your career and as an individual, as well as offering the great benefits that you’d expect from a business the size of Nestlé – in the shape of a competitive salary and benefits package, bonus scheme, flexible working scheme, 25 days holiday plus bank holidays plus up to an additional 12 days flex leave, bank holiday exchange, competitive pension scheme and much more.

We will be considering and interviewing candidates as they apply and we will occasionally close job advertisements early in the event we receive sufficient applicants, so please don’t delay in submitting your application.

Job advert posting date 23/07/2025
Job advert closing date 06/08/2025

At Nestlé, our values are rooted in respect. When we embrace diversity and give everyone the chance to be the best they can be, we can think in new, creative ways that grow and enhance our business. People of all gender identities, ethnically diverse individuals, people with disabilities, and members of the LGBT+ community are strongly encouraged to apply. If there is anything we can do to accommodate you to participate fully in the application process, please let us know. We take pride in championing inclusion and diversity, our people make up a number of Colleague Networks who represent different experiences and communities who hold us accountable in creating a sense of belonging for all, and our values create the conditions for us to respect the unique contribution you bring. Find out more about our Colleague Networks here: Diversity, equity and inclusion | Nestlé (nestle.co.uk)

We are committed to equal opportunity for all and we may collect relevant data for monitoring purposes during our candidate registration process. Be yourself, everyone else is taken!