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Category Development Manager
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Category Development Manager
£50,000-£60,000 + £6,120 car allowance | Category Development Manager | Maidenhead | Hybrid: 3 days in office
Do you have hands-on FMCG Category Management or Category Development experience?
- Have you worked directly with major UK grocery customers such as Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda or Morrisons?
- Have you personally used NielsenIQ, Kantar or similar data to build and present category recommendations to retail customers?
Are you the right fit?
This role is for an FMCG category professional who is comfortable combining detailed analysis with direct customer influence. You'll need to thrive in a fast-paced, complex, matrix environment, take ownership of your work, and deliver outcomes without needing everything mapped out for you. You should be comfortable with pace, ambiguity and accountability, while building credibility with both retail customers and internal stakeholders.
This is a genuine category role. It is not a pure shopper marketing, brand marketing or insights position.
The opportunity
You'll join a major branded FMCG business and take responsibility for category management across selected UK grocery customers, while also acting as the internal category champion for a key product portfolio.
The role sits at the centre of customer, category and commercial decision-making. You'll use EPOS, panel and shopper data to understand what is happening within the category, identify opportunities and turn those findings into recommendations that can influence ranging, distribution, promotions and growth.
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The package includes a £6,120 cash car allowance, a 10% bonus with a maximum 1.5x multiplier, and a 10% pension contribution.
The role
Your day-to-day responsibilities will include:
- Leading category management across designated UK grocery accounts
- Building strong relationships with retailer category and commercial contacts
- Preparing and presenting category reviews and recommendations
- Supporting joint business planning and strategic customer meetings
- Analysing EPOS, NielsenIQ, Kantar and other market and shopper data
- Translating data into clear, commercially relevant actions
- Leading range reviews, SKU analysis and assortment recommendations
- Supporting planogram and space-planning activity
- Tracking distribution and identifying opportunities for growth
- Reviewing promotional performance and return on investment
- Working closely with Sales, Marketing, Shopper Marketing and Insights teams
You will be expected to do more than produce analysis. You'll need to interpret what the data means, build a compelling category story and present recommendations confidently to customers.
Requirements
You must have:
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- Proven FMCG Category Management or Category Development experience
- Strong experience working directly with major UK grocery retailers
- Experience presenting category recommendations to external customers
- Strong analytical and Excel capability
- Experience using NielsenIQ, Kantar or comparable market and panel datasets
- Experience analysing EPOS data
- Range review, SKU analysis and assortment experience
- The ability to turn complex data into practical commercial recommendations
- Confidence influencing cross-functional stakeholders
Desirable experience includes:
- Direct Tesco experience
- Space-planning or planogram tools
- Promotional effectiveness and ROI analysis
If you already work within FMCG category management and have genuine major grocery customer exposure, this is an opportunity to take meaningful ownership of customer category activity and influence commercial decisions.
Apply with your CV or get in touch for a confidential discussion.
No sponsorship or relocation offered.
Desired Skills and Experience
- Category Management
- Category Development
- FMCG
- UK Grocery Retail
- NielsenIQ
- Kantar
- EPOS Analysis
- Range Reviews
- Assortment Planning
- SKU Analysis
- Category Insights
- Customer Presentations
- Retailer Relationship Management
- Space Planning
- Promotional Effectiveness
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