Category Development Manager

Position Snapshot

Business Area: Nestlé Waters

Category Development Manager – Grocery

Location: Gatwick – Hybrid working: approx. 2 days per week in our office

Salary: Attractive Salary + potential bonus + other fantastic benefits including 12 flexible days in addition to holiday entitlement.

Championing diversity and inclusion is so important to us; when we embrace different perspectives and give everyone the chance to be the best they can be, we can think in new, creative ways that grow and enhance our business.

At Nestlé, we are proud to support and provide equality of opportunity that supports employees to effectively blend their work life and commitments through hybrid and flexible working arrangements.

Position Summary

Nestlé Waters (NWUK) is the world leader in the bottled water market and we’re committed to bottling the very best waters from the source, straight to our customers, via the most advanced and sustainable techniques currently employed. We are also proud to produce some of the UK’s best-loved brands including Buxton, SanPellegrino, Perrier, and Nestlé Pure Life. We have a genuine passion for Water and Healthy Beverages, a fabulous portfolio of brands, a clear strategy, and a determination to win in the marketplace of both consumers and customers.

We have a great opportunity for a Category Development Manager to join our team. If you have the passion for category development and want to work for a growing business, then this is the role for you.

A day in the life of a Category Development Manager …

In this exciting and dynamic role within the Grocery Category Development Team, you will develop and implement winning customer category plans which are aligned with the NWUK category approach & strategy, to successfully deliver NWUK & Category Growth. You will drive our Category Strategy both internally and with key Grocery customers, by engaging multiple stakeholders to deliver key category initiatives.

Key responsibilities of this role will include:

1. Driving the Category Management process across your Grocery customers, to influence customer category space, ranging, merchandising, promotion & display decisions to help grow the category and create competitive and commercial advantage.
2. Driving the NW's category development agenda by building a strong network of external relationships with key customers, ensuring always customer facing, offering objective category advice and shopper insight to secure and lead partnerships for category growth.
3. Working with the Shopper Marketing Manager to ensure the appropriate level of shopper marketing activity is aligned with our Category Strategy for NWUK brands for our key customers within grocery.
4. Tailor and present compelling customer category selling stories encompassing Data-Insight-Action-Implementation.
5. Evaluate effectiveness of promotions across the Grocery channel and embed learnings into future plans.
6. Build strong End to End working relationships with Category Sales Development, Marketing, Sales, Finance, and Supply Chain to deliver Nestlé Waters ambition & Market & Business Strategy (MBS) by delivering insight-based solutions to drive category leadership.

What will make you successful?

This is an exciting opportunity for high performers who want to work in a fast-paced and progressive environment. Skills and experience we’re looking for include:

1. Strong graduate calibre with evidence of strategic ability in previous roles.
2. Previous FMCG experience in sales / category development / shopper development.
3. Category development experience with one or more of the Top 4.
4. Flexibility and agility to solve problems / challenges rapidly and creatively.
5. Strong evidence of working collaboratively with colleagues to deliver exceptional results.
6. Experience in using Nielsen / Kantar / Circana data and insight tools and ability to convert data into strong insights. Experience in using loyalty card data (i2c, HIVE or Dunnhumby) is desirable.
7. Strong influencing skills with commercial acumen is a must.

What You Need To Know

What can we offer in return? Great benefits you’d expect from a business the size of Nestlé – in the shape of a competitive salary and benefits package, bonus scheme, flexible working scheme, 25 days holiday plus statutory holidays plus flex leave, pension scheme and a real focus on personal development and growth.

Job advert closing date: 20/12/2024

We will be considering candidates as they apply and we will occasionally close job advertisements early in the event we receive sufficient applicants, so please don’t delay in submitting your application.

At Nestlé, our values are rooted in respect. When we embrace diversity and give everyone the chance to be the best they can be, we can think in new, creative ways that grow and enhance our business. People of all gender identities, ethnically diverse individuals, people with disabilities, and members of the LGBT+ community are strongly encouraged to apply. If there is anything we can do to accommodate you to participate fully in the application process, please let us know.

To find out more about Nestlé Waters please visit www.nestle-waters.com