Senior Category Manager – Ice Cream

Unilever; Kingston upon Thames; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Unilever seeks a Senior Category Manager to lead category growth for Magnum Ice Cream in the UK. This role involves building relationships with customers, delivering actionable insights, and managing a top-tier category management team. The ideal candidate will have deep industry knowledge and strong analytical skills, contributing to Unilever's mission of sustainable living.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Pension scheme

Annual bonus

Subsidized gym membership

Staff shop discounts

Flexible working options

Wellbeing support

Development opportunities

Qualifications

• Deep knowledge of the consumer goods industry.
• Line management experience.
• Self-motivated with an innovative mindset.

Responsibilities

• Own the category management relationship with key customer contacts.
• Translate insights into actions with excellent execution.
• Utilize multiple data sources to generate recommendations.

Skills

Customer relationship management

Analytical skills

Project management

Communication skills

Teamwork

Strategic thinking

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Job description

Job Title: Senior Category Manager

Location: Kingston

JOB PURPOSE

The Magnum Ice Cream Company is the category leader, responsible for delivering best-in-class category leadership across the UK market. This involves driving insight-led category growth and building trust with our customers.

The candidate will be essential in building, developing, and maintaining credible, long-term, category-leading relationships both internally and externally. They will also serve as the voice of the customer, consumer, and shopper, delivering actionable insights to create category value.

RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Own the category management relationship with key customer contacts, building credibility and trust through proven growth recommendations.
2. Translate insights into actions with excellent execution, analysis, and evaluation of category plans, including seasonal range reviews.
3. Utilize multiple data sources (e.g., Nielsen, Kantar, retailer loyalty data) to generate recommendations.
4. Create tailored category recommendations using market-leading consumer and shopper insights.
5. Apply space planning solutions to analyze and develop merchandising recommendations.
6. Support and coach direct reports to develop a top-tier category management team.
7. Represent the voice of the customer, shopper, and consumer to ensure the business meets their needs.

ALL ABOUT YOU

• Deep knowledge of the consumer goods industry, including trade classes, customer groups, categories, competitors, and trends.
• Excellent customer relationship and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a team environment.
• Strong communication skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially Excel.
• Exceptional analytical skills to evaluate data and deliver clear, actionable insights.
• Strong project management and planning abilities.
• Line management experience.
• Innovative, solution-oriented mindset with strategic thinking skills.
• Self-motivated.

NOTES

About Unilever

Unilever is a leading global supplier of Food, Home, and Personal Care products, with over 400 brands like Dove, Tresemme, Lynx, Lifebuoy, Shea Moisture, Persil, Ben & Jerry’s, Magnum, and more, reaching 2 billion consumers daily in over 190 countries.

We aim to make sustainable living commonplace, addressing climate change and human development challenges.

Location

In 2020, Unilever announced plans to consolidate offices into a new campus in Kingston-upon-Thames by early 2025, but as of August 2024, we plan to retain our London headquarters at 100 Victoria Embankment until 2027. The final location for this role will be confirmed after consultation.

What We Offer

Competitive salary, pension scheme, annual bonus, subsidized gym membership, staff shop discounts, and shares. Flexible and hybrid working options are available, along with wellbeing support and development opportunities.

Diversity and Inclusion

We value diversity and inclusion, offering fair consideration to all applicants and providing reasonable adjustments during the application process. Learn more about our Employee Resource Groups and inclusion initiatives.

Recruitment Fraud

Be aware of fake job adverts and websites. Report suspicious activity via Una Live Chat. Unilever does not accept responsibility for candidates impacted by recruitment fraud.