Category Manager

Category Manager | FMCG Food & Beverage

📍 Location: Home-based, UK (with occasional travel to customer sites, company offices and manufacturing locations across the UK)

About the Opportunity

A leading UK food and beverage business is seeking an ambitious and commercially minded Category Manager to join its commercial team. This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced FMCG category professional to influence customer strategy, shape category growth plans and drive business performance across key retail accounts.

Category Management plays a central role in the organisation's commercial strategy, helping unlock growth opportunities for customers, consumers and brands across a diverse portfolio of well-established products.

The Role

As Category Manager, you will be responsible for developing and delivering category strategies that drive growth for both the business and its customers. Working cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Commercial Strategy, Demand Planning and Innovation teams, you'll use data, shopper insight and market trends to create compelling recommendations that influence decision-making at every level.

You will act as a trusted category partner to customers, helping optimise ranging, merchandising, pricing and promotional strategies while delivering exceptional shopper experiences.

Key Responsibilities

Customer Category Planning

• Partner with key retail customers to develop category strategies that maximise category performance, shopability and mutual growth.
• Translate shopper, consumer and market insights into actionable customer plans.
• Develop recommendations across assortment, placement, pricing and promotions.
• Monitor category performance and evaluate execution at point of purchase.

Range Optimisation

• Lead assortment and range planning initiatives based on shopper needs, market trends and commercial performance.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen category leadership positions with customers.
• Deliver data-led recommendations that influence ranging and merchandising decisions.
• Lead customer and internal range review processes from insight through to implementation.

Category Insight & Thought Leadership

• Analyse market, retailer and shopper data to generate actionable insights for commercial, marketing and innovation teams.
• Support innovation pipeline development through category and consumer understanding.
• Monitor competitor activity, market trends and emerging opportunities.
• Develop compelling category stories and recommendations that drive customer action and commercial results.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Sales, Marketing, Innovation, Commercial Strategy and Demand Planning teams to align category priorities and deliver business objectives.
• Act as the category expert within the organisation, providing guidance and support across multiple stakeholders.

About You

You will be a highly collaborative and influential category professional with a passion for turning insight into action.

Essential Experience

• Minimum 3 years' experience in Category Management within the FMCG food industry.
• Strong understanding of category management principles, shopper behaviour and retailer strategies.
• Experience working with major UK grocery retailers.
• Proven track record of influencing customers and delivering category growth.
• Strong analytical and commercial skills with advanced Excel capability.

Desirable Experience

• Multi-channel category experience.
• Brand-side FMCG experience.
• Experience using shopper, market and retailer data platforms.
• Experience with category insight and analytics tools.

Skills & Attributes

• Exceptional communication, presentation and storytelling skills.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing ability.
• Commercially astute with excellent attention to detail.
• Strategic thinker capable of balancing long-term category development with short-term commercial delivery.
• Able to build credible, trusted relationships internally and externally.
• Self-motivated, proactive and comfortable working independently within a remote environment.

What's Important in This Role?

Success in this position comes from combining objective, data-driven category thinking with a clear focus on delivering commercial results. You'll be expected to create compelling narratives from complex data, influence customer decision-making and help shape category strategies that drive sustainable growth.

Additional Information

• Home-based role with regular UK travel.
• Frequent visits to customer head offices, partner locations, company offices and manufacturing sites.
• Occasional overnight stays required.

If you're passionate about category management, enjoy influencing customers through insight-led recommendations and are looking to make a meaningful impact within a growing FMCG business, we'd love to hear from you.