Junior Category Manager

McCormick & Company; Aylesbury; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading global food company is seeking a Junior Category Manager in Aylesbury, UK. The role involves supporting category plans in Herbs & Spices, conducting market analysis, and collaborating with retail customers. Ideal candidates will have relevant FMCG experience and strong analytical and communication skills. This position offers an excellent opportunity to contribute to category growth and brand performance.

Qualifications

• Relevant experience ideally in FMCG.
• Inquisitive and analytical with a background of working with data.
• Ability to build strong cross-functional relationships.

Responsibilities

• Analyse category performance and shopper behavior to identify trends.
• Manage relationships with selected retail customers.
• Assist in managing the product lifecycle from NPD to discontinuation.

Skills

Analytical skills

Problem solving

Team working

Good communication skills

Influencing skills

Stakeholder management

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Nielsen

IGD

Mintel

Dunnhumby

Job description

JUNIOR CATEGORY MANAGER

Haddenham, UK

The Junior Category Manager supports the delivery of category plans across Herbs & Spices, Recipe Mixes, Hot Sauce and Mustard. Working closely with Category, Shopper and other cross‑functional teams, this role combines analysis, insight, and commercial execution to help optimise category and brand performance.

You will be directly involved in preparing and delivering category presentations to customers, managing day‑to‑day reporting and supporting key initiatives such as range reviews, new product launches and promotional evaluations.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Market & Category Analysis

• Analyse category performance, shopper behaviour and competitor activity to identify trends and future challenges & opportunities
• Build regular reports and dashboards to track sales, distribution and share performance.
• Support the Category team in translating data into clear, actionable insights

Retailer Collaboration

• Manage day‑to‑day relationships with selected retail customers, acting as a key category contact
• Deliver category presentations and range reviews directly to customers, presenting insights and recommendations with confidence & conviction
• Work collaboratively with buyers and retailer category & merchandising teams to influence range, space, fixturisation/merchandising and pricing & promotional decisions
• Support wider customer engagement activity, ensuring category vision, drivers, strategies and execution plans are aligned across both internal and external stakeholders

Range Management & Portfolio Optimisation

• Assist in managing the portfolio and product lifecycle, from NPD through to SKU discontinuations
• Support planogram builds, range analysis and activation at launch
• Coordinate with Brand Marketing and Supply Chain teams to ensure product data accuracy and availability

Performance Monitoring

• Track and report on key performance indicators including sales, distribution and market share
• Support post‑promotion and post‑launch evaluations to identify key learnings and recommendations

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Insight, Analytics, Sales and Brand/Shopper Marketing teams to align on category vision, drivers & strategies
• Support ad‑hoc data analysis and research projects to inform longer term commercial planning

CANDIDATE PROFILE

• Relevant experience‑ ideally in FMCG
• Inquisitive, analytical – background of working with data
• Problem solving
• Team working
• Good communication skills
• Influencing skills and stakeholder management
• Ability to build strong cross‑functional skills & relationships
• Knowledge of data platforms like: Nielsen, IGD, Mintel, Dunnhumby

#LI-DNI

Agencies: McCormick as needed will work with external recruitment vendors through our Agency Portal. Unless previously contacted, McCormick does not accept unsolicited resumes from external recruiting agencies.

McCormick & Company is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, colour, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy/ies.