Category Manager

Ace Blend; Mumbai; On-site; INR 1,200,000 - 2,400,000; Full time

Job summary

Ace Blend in Mumbai is seeking a Category Manager to drive growth in D2C and FMCG nutrition and wellness offerings. You will analyze consumer needs, lead new product development, and coordinate with design, marketing, and supply chain teams to deliver impactful launches.

You will track category trends, benchmarking, and pricing, while shaping product propositions and communications. Strong analytical and cross-functional skills are essential for timely, on-brand execution.

Qualifications

• 5–7 years of category management experience in D2C/FMCG/nutrition or wellness.
• Strong understanding of consumer behaviour, pricing, competitive analysis, NPDs and packaging.
• Ability to translate insights into actionable business recommendations and coordinate with multiple teams.

Responsibilities

• Understand consumer needs, pain points and feedback across D2C and marketplace platforms; analyze ratings and reviews.
• Identify opportunities to improve product formulation, proposition, packaging, pricing, communication, and customer experience.
• Translate consumer insights into actionable recommendations and coordinate with product development and marketing teams.
• Track category trends, competitor activity, pricing, claims, packaging, and new product launches across nutrition and FMCG categories.
• Lead category coordination for new product development, extensions, and relaunches; prepare briefs on consumer needs, audience, benefits and differentiation.
• Drive initial thinking on product claims, naming, packaging artwork, and communication with design, regulatory, packaging and supply chain teams.
• Manage feedback, approvals, timelines and dependencies to ensure OTIF delivery and post-launch performance reviews.

Skills

Consumer insights

Analytical thinking

Creative judgment

Cross-functional coordination

Project management

Brand management

Product marketing

New product dev

Job description

Industry: D2C, FMCG, Nutrition & Wellness | Location: Mumbai

Work Mode: Full-time, On-site

Experience: 5–7 years

Role Overview

The Category Manager will understand consumer needs, identify category growth opportunities, strengthen existing product propositions, and drive new product development and relaunches. The role combines business acumen, consumer understanding, analytical thinking, and creative judgment, working closely with design, copy, performance marketing, product development, and supply chain teams to deliver effective communication, timely launches, and measurable business outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Understand consumer needs, pain points, purchase behaviour, and expectations; analyse ratings, reviews, FAQs, complaints, and feedback across D2C and marketplace platforms.
• Identify opportunities to improve product formulation, proposition, packaging, pricing, communication, and customer experience through consumer interviews, community testing, and product validation.
• Translate consumer insights into actionable recommendations and maintain a continuous feedback loop with product development and marketing teams.

2. Category & Competitive Understanding

• Track category trends, competitor activity, pricing, claims, positioning, packaging, and new product launches across relevant nutrition, wellness, and FMCG categories.
• Conduct competitor benchmarking and assess market size, growth trends, consumer segments, and emerging opportunities to identify gaps and differentiation.
• Recommend category positioning, pricing, product propositions, and portfolio expansion opportunities.
• Lead category-side coordination for new product development, extensions, and relaunches; prepare briefs covering consumer needs, target audience, benefits, positioning, and differentiation.
• Drive initial thinking on product claims, naming, packaging artwork, and communication; work with design, copy, product, regulatory, packaging, and supply chain teams.
• Manage feedback, approvals, timelines, and dependencies to ensure OTIF delivery, consistent product communication, and post-launch performance reviews.

4. Brand Communication & Creative Development

• Develop monthly category communication plans and translate product propositions into clear messaging, briefs, and creative directions.
• Work with design and copy teams on product shoots, explainers, campaign creatives, and performance marketing assets; provide inputs on concepts, storytelling, and visual communication.
• Own the monthly plan and timely delivery of agreed non-creator and non-KOL creative assets, ensuring accuracy and consistency of product communication.

5. Performance Marketing & Creative Optimisation

• Partner with the performance marketing team to understand media-spend performance and creative effectiveness across the portfolio.
• Review metrics such as CTR, CPC, conversion rate, CAC, ROAS, and product-level sales to identify effective consumer hooks, benefits, messaging angles, and formats.
• Recommend creative iterations and content directions based on campaign data to improve product discovery, consumer education, and conversion.

6. Business & Category Ownership

• Track category sales, revenue growth, margins, product mix, product performance, adoption, and repeat purchase.
• Identify category growth opportunities and align product priorities with business objectives through cross-functional collaboration.
• Prepare regular category reviews covering performance, consumer insights, competition, creative effectiveness, and upcoming launches, translating findings into clear action plans.

Ideal Candidate Profile

• 5–6 years of experience in category management, brand management, product marketing, or a similar role, preferably in D2C, FMCG, nutrition, nutraceuticals, health, or wellness.
• Strong understanding of consumer behaviour, product positioning, pricing, competitive analysis, NPDs, product relaunches, packaging, and product communication.
• Analytical and creative mindset with strong project management, cross-functional coordination, and the ability to translate insights and data into business recommendations.

Key Success Metrics

• Category revenue growth, product performance, and execution of identified category growth opportunities.
• Improvement in consumer ratings, reviews, product proposition clarity, and creative effectiveness.
• Timely execution of NPDs, relaunches, and planned creative assets, with contribution to marketing performance.