Marketing - Category Manager

Finsbury Food Group; Hamilton; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Enhanced parental leave

Pension scheme

Employee assistance programme

Retail discounts

Refer a friend bonus

Learning & development opportunities

Job summary

Finsbury Food Group is recruiting a Category Manager to join our Marketing team. Hybrid working is offered, with sites in Manchester, Sheffield or Scotland as preferred locations.

You will translate shopper and market data into actionable insights to drive category growth for FFG and our retail partners, lead category strategy, and influence ranging, pricing and promotions while building strong relationships across our partners and internal teams.

Qualifications

• Experience in Category Management with retail or brand partners.
• Ability to translate shopper data into actionable insights.
• Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and delivery of a dynamic, insight-driven Category Strategy.
• Influence ranging, merchandising, pricing and promotional decisions.
• Build influential relationships with key retail partners and internal teams.
• Translate data sources into clear, compelling stories for customers and stakeholders.
• Coach and develop team members while aligning with the strategic plan.

Skills

Category management

Stakeholder management

Data analysis

Communication skills

Cross-functional collaboration

Consumer/shopper insights

Job description

Location: Hybrid – ideally located near our Manchester, Sheffield or Scottish sites

Shift: Monday - Friday

We have a new opportunity for a Category Manager to join our Marketing team within Finsbury Food Group.

Finsbury Food Group is one of the UK’s leading speciality bakery manufacturers. We continually raise quality, innovation, and operational standards while building long-term, trusted relationships across retail, foodservice, and brand partnerships. Our portfolio spans a wide range of bakery categories—from market-leading retailer own-brand products to beloved licensed and branded ranges—produced across our nationwide network of bakeries.

This is an exciting time to join us. With an ambitious brand growth agenda and a packed pipeline of development activity across our key categories, you’ll play a vital role in elevating brand presence, strengthening customer engagement, and supporting the successful delivery of commercial targets.

To be successful in this role, you will be responsible for translating shopper and market data into actionable insights that drive category growth for FFG and our retail partners. This role combines data analysis, category strategy, and customer-facing leadership to influence ranging, merchandising, pricing, and promotional decisions.

This is what you’ll actually do!

As a Category Manager, you will lead the development, socialisation, and delivery of a dynamic, insight-driven Category Strategy, using analysis of shopper behaviour, market trends, and competitor activity to identify opportunities for growth. You will build and manage strong, influential relationships with key retail partners, while collaborating closely with the Brand Team to integrate category, market, and consumer insights that drive innovation. You will translate multiple data sources into clear, compelling, insight-led stories for both customers and internal stakeholders, and develop a deep understanding of shopper missions, behaviours, and drivers to ensure the voice of the shopper inform decision-making.

In this role, you will lead shopper insight projects to deliver actionable commercial recommendations, while setting and maintaining high performance standards, taking ownership of objectives, and delivering quality outcomes. You will support the development of people and talent through coaching, feedback, and fostering an inclusive, engaging team environment, while demonstrating strong business awareness through understanding the strategic plan, interpreting financial and market data, and recognising the importance of governance and partnerships. You will also support and communicate change effectively, maintaining team focus and resilience, and collaborate across stakeholders by using data-driven insights to influence decisions and build positive, high-performing relationships. You will work closely with brand, sales and development teams.

Ideally this is you!

• Previous experience in a Category Management role
• Experience working with customers, partners and cross-functional teams
• Understanding of category strategy fundamentals
• Strong organisation and communication skills
• Creative thinker with exceptional attention to detail
• Positive, proactive, and eager to learn
• Customer and consumer focused with the ability to deliver at pace
• Collaborative team player, able to build effective relationships
• Capable of managing multiple priorities simultaneously
• Comfortable with multiple data sources

What’s in it for you?

• Enhanced Maternity & Paternity Leave to allow quality time with your new arrival!
• Enhanced Pension Scheme for our employees
• Free Employee Assistance Programme (open to colleagues and their families)
• Retail discounts accessible via our Benefits Hub platform!
• Refer a Friend Scheme (up to £300 per referral – T&C’s dependent)
• Employee Recognition Awards Extensive Learning & Development opportunities (including opportunities for sponsored professional memberships and our own in-house development course!)

An opportunity to be part of a fantastic, growing organisation.

Our vision is to be the leading specialty bakery group in the UK, and we want the best people in place to achieve this. Our continued success is built entirely on the talented people who work here, so employee development is important to us because everyone is a valued member of the team, and we want every individual to have the skills and capabilities to achieve both your own personal goals and our business goals. We want good people to join our company, to help our company continue to go from strength to strength.