Head of Category & Insights

Lime Talent; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 75,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

A fast-growing health and wellness brand seeks a Head of Category & Insights in Manchester. This pivotal role involves leading the development of a consumer-first category strategy, focusing on shopper insights and cross-functional collaboration. Ideal for those seeking to influence strategic decisions in a high-growth environment.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a senior Category, Insights or Shopper Marketing role.
• Strong commercial acumen with major retailers.
• Highly analytical with knowledge of shopper data tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead category strategy and balance short/long-term initiatives.
• Draw insights from multiple sources to inform decisions.
• Collaborate with teams to embed category thinking.

Skills

Commercial acumen

Analytical

Communication

Tools

Excel

Power BI

IRI

Kantar

EPOS

Job description

Head of Category & Insights – Consumer Goods

Manchester (Hybrid | 3 days a week)

£75,000-£85,000 + Benefits

Lime Talent is proud to partner with a fast-growing health and wellness brand in their search for a Head of Category & Insights. This newly created position will be instrumental in shaping their future growth strategy and driving deeper shopper understanding across all retail partners.

The Role:

This is a rare opportunity to step into a role with real influence, where you’ll lead the development of a consumer-first category strategy. The business has historically been product-led but is now pivoting to a data-driven, shopper-focused approach.

This is a standalone role to begin with, focused on building the category and insights function from the ground up. While it’s an individual contributor role initially, it sits on the senior leadership team and will play a key part in shaping strategic decisions across the business.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead category strategy across all key retail accounts, balancing short and long-term initiatives.
• Act as the voice of the shopper, drawing on multiple insight sources to inform decisions across NPD, pricing, merchandising, and packaging.
• Partner with retailers to deliver joint business plans and lead collaborative category reviews.
• Utilise data tools (IRI, Kantar, EPOS, etc.) to build dashboards and performance reporting that highlight opportunities and risks.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Product, and Supply Chain teams to embed category thinking across the business.

About You:

• Proven experience in a senior Category, Insights, or Shopper Marketing role within FMCG or consumer goods
• Strong commercial acumen and a track record of influencing strategy with major retailers
• Highly analytical with excellent knowledge of shopper and panel data tools (IRI, Kantar, EPOS, etc.)
• Comfortable rolling up your sleeves and working in a hands-on, entrepreneurial environment
• Strong communicator, confident in presenting to senior stakeholders and buyers
• Experience building dashboards and working with Excel, Power BI, etc.

If you’re looking to join a high-growth brand and play a pivotal role in shaping its consumer and retail strategy, we’d love to hear from you.

We are committed to creating diverse and inclusive workplaces, and we encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We believe that a variety of viewpoints fosters innovation and strengthens teams. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or age.

Lime Talent is acting as an employment agency in relation to this vacancy.

Lime Talent is a recruitment agency specialising in the consumer goods industry. To view a broader selection of our current vacancies, go to www.limetalentgroup.com

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