Premier Foods
Senior Category Development Manager
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Based - St Albans, AL1 2RE (Hybrid) Permanent, Full Time
Join Premier Foods — where people, brands and purpose come together.
Role Purpose
At Premier Foods, we're proud of the much-loved brands that are part of everyday life across the UK. Our success comes from talented people who combine insight, creativity and commercial thinking to drive growth for our customers, our categories and our brands.
We're looking for a Senior Category Development Manager – Convenience to join our Category Development team. This is a fantastic opportunity to lead category growth with key convenience retailers, influence strategic decisions and shape the future direction of some of the UK's most recognisable food brands. You'll also play an important leadership role within the team, helping develop future talent and driving category excellence.
What you'll be doing
As Senior Category Development Manager, you'll be responsible for delivering sustainable category growth across key convenience customers, building strong customer partnerships and ensuring Premier Foods remains the partner of choice.
You'll:
- Build and develop strong relationships with customer buyers, senior buyers and merchandisers, becoming a trusted category partner.
- Lead category growth strategies that drive value, volume and long-term success for both Premier Foods and our customers.
- Use data and market insight to identify opportunities, create compelling recommendations and influence customer decision-making.
- Drive successful range reviews that protect and grow core business while creating opportunities for innovation and NPD.
- Develop objective space-to-sales recommendations aligned to category strategies and retailer objectives.
- Monitor distribution, shelf space and fixture performance, identifying opportunities to maximise growth.
- Partner closely with Sales, Marketing, CP&E Insights and Category teams to shape internal strategy and ensure the retailer voice is represented in decision-making.
- Support commercial sell-ins and customer planning activity with evidence-based category recommendations.
- Lead, coach and develop a Category Development Executive, supporting their growth and career development.
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What we're looking for
We're looking for someone who combines commercial curiosity, strategic thinking and strong relationship-building skills with a passion for category growth.
You'll bring:
- Previous experience in Category Development, Category Management or a similar customer-facing commercial role.
- Strong analytical capability, with experience using data sources such as Kantar, Circana, IGD, Mintel, Lumina and retailer platforms to generate actionable insights.
- Excellent Excel and PowerPoint skills, alongside the ability to interpret and present complex information clearly.
- The ability to transform insight into action, creating recommendations that deliver measurable outcomes.
- Excellent influencing and stakeholder management skills, with confidence engaging customers and senior internal stakeholders.
- Leadership experience, including coaching, developing or managing others.
- Strong commercial awareness and an understanding of how category decisions impact business performance.
- A collaborative approach and the ability to build trusted relationships both internally and externally.
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What we offer in return
Our people are at the heart of everything we do. We believe that when people feel supported, valued and empowered to be themselves, great things happen.
When you join us, you'll benefit from:
- Competitive salary
- Car Allowance
- Bonus
- Holiday Purchase Scheme
- Sharesave Scheme
- EV Car Scheme
- Private Medical
- Up to 7.5% pension
- Life assurance
- Wide range of online and in-house training
- Access to an employee discount scheme, with access to hundreds of nationwide retailers
At Premier Foods we believe in inclusion, authenticity and individuality. We aim to ensure all existing and future colleagues are given equitable opportunities and are respected, valued and encouraged to bring their true authentic selves to work no matter who they are, what they look like, who they love or what they believe in. Our culture is one where everyone is welcome.
We're proud to be a Disability Smart employer and are committed to supporting disability inclusion throughout our recruitment process. If you experience any access issues or require reasonable adjustments at any stage, please let us know so we can ensure you have the support you need.
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