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Trade marketing manager

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Trade Marketing Manager - FMCG / Shopper Activation
Location
Maidenhead, hybrid
Salary
£50,000-£58,000 + £6,120 car allowance + 15% bonus + 10% pension + healthcare
Type
Permanent
We're supporting a fast-moving consumer goods business with the hire of a Trade Marketing Manager for its UK & Ireland team.
This is a hands-on, commercially focused role sitting between Brand, Sales, Category and Customer teams. You'll be responsible for turning brand and commercial priorities into effective customer activation across retail channels.
This is not a pure brand/comms role. It is also not a pure sales role. The successful candidate will need to understand how shopper activity lands with retailers, how to build activation plans that support the customer conversation, and how to measure what worked commercially.
The role
You'll work closely with Sales, Category and Brand teams to build and deliver customer activation plans across key retail channels.
Responsibilities will include:
- Developing trade / shopper activation plans across UK retail customers.
- Supporting customer sell-in through activation plans, retailer-ready materials and commercial thinking.
- Working with NAMs and Category teams on range, promotional and activation opportunities.
- Managing the customer activation calendar across in-store and online channels.
- Briefing and managing agencies, POS, shopper assets and customer-facing materials.
- Supporting promotional, NPD and seasonal activation plans.
- Using data to understand activation performance, including sales uplift, rate of sale, baseline, distribution, ROI and customer feedback.
- Working cross-functionally with Brand, Sales, Category, Shopper, Supply and external partners.
- Challenging activity where the commercial case does not stack up.
Reasons to use Rodeo
I’m in my final year doing Economics and I don’t know whether to apply for grad schemes now or do a masters first. What do you think?
Honest answer — it depends on where you want to end up. A lot of top grad schemes (Big 4, civil service, banking) don’t need a masters. Let’s look at the ones you’d be competitive for now, and we can decide if a masters actually adds anything.
Also worth knowing: most autumn 2026 applications are open now. Timing matters more than you think.
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Graduate Consultant — 2026 Scheme
Why you're a good match
StrongYour economics background and your summer at a regional bank line up with what PwC looks for on the consulting scheme. Applications close in four weeks.
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Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Why you're a good match
You’ve got the grades and the economics background, and your bank internship is exactly the experience this scheme looks for. Apply soon — deadlines close within the month.
Experience fit
Your summer at the bank plus your econometrics coursework map directly to the day-one responsibilities on this scheme — client modelling, market briefings, and deal support.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
What we need
We are looking for someone with FMCG trade marketing, shopper marketing, customer marketing or commercial activation experience.
You must have experience in a consumer goods / FMCG environment. Relevant sectors could include:
- food
- drink
- household
- personal care
- beauty
- health and wellness
- pet care
- consumer healthcare
- other grocery-led FMCG categories
You'll need to be able to show experience of some of the following:
- trade marketing, shopper marketing or customer marketing
- UK retailer / grocery / high street / consumer channel activation
- working closely with NAMs, Category and Brand teams
- customer activation plans
- retailer sell-in support
- promotional activation
- POS, FSDUs, sampling, retailer media, digital shelf or online activation
- using data such as Nielsen, Kantar, Circana, retailer EPOS or customer performance data
- measuring activity through sales uplift, rate of sale, baseline, distribution, ROI or margin
- managing agencies or external activation partners
What probably won't be right
To be clear, this role is unlikely to suit someone whose experience is mainly:
- pure brand management with limited customer/shopper activation
- ATL/comms/campaign management only
- agency-side shopper without strong commercial/customer exposure
- sales/NAM only, with no marketing or activation experience
- category analysis only, without activation delivery
- non-FMCG B2B marketing


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The person
This is a lean, fast-paced environment, so you'll need to be comfortable with pace, ambiguity and broad ownership.
You'll suit this role if you are:
- commercially minded
- hands-on
- confident working with Sales and Category teams
- comfortable challenging decisions
- data-led but pragmatic
- able to manage multiple activations and stakeholders
- interested in how activity performs, not just how it looks
Desired Skills and Experience
Trade Marketing|Shopper Marketing|Customer Marketing|FMCG|Consumer Goods|Grocery Retail|Retail Activation|Customer Activation|Trade Activation|Shopper Activation|In-Store Activation|Online Activation|Retailer Activation|Promotional Activation|POS|FSDU|Sampling|Retail Media|Digital Shelf|NPD Activation|Seasonal Activation|Customer Sell-In|Sell-In Decks|Category Management|National Account Management|Sales|Brand Management|Commercial Marketing|Activation Calendar|Agency Management|Nielsen|Kantar|Circana|IRI|EPOS|Rate of Sale|Sales Uplift|Baseline Sales|ROI|Distribution|Margin|Trade Spend|Promotional Planning|UK Retailers|Grocery|High Street Retail|Health and Beauty|Food|Drink|Household|Personal Care
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