Senior Category Manager

Jaap Blauwendraat pianoservice; London; Remote; GBP 60,000 - 76,000

Job description

Senior Category Development Manager

Function: Off-Trade

Location: Remote based with regular visits to Central London

Salary: Up to £76,000 base depending on experience plus 15% benefits allowance (can be taken as cash)

Contract: Permanent

Closing Date: Friday 24th January 2025

As the nation’s leading pub, cider and beer company and the name behind a host of brilliant brands including Birra Moretti, Cruzcampo, Beavertown and Strongbow, we’re looking for equally brilliant people to help us on our journey to building a better future.

There’s so much more to HEINEKEN than meets the eye and, right now, we have a rare opportunity to join our Off-Trade Category team in the role of Senior Category Development Manager.

The Role

At HEINEKEN UK, we have an ambition to drive market value share and sustainable profit whilst enhancing our reputation. This includes building excellent working partnerships with our Off-Trade customers.

The Senior Category Development Manager will be responsible for owning and managing the category growth agenda and relationship with one or more of our top 6 Grocery customers. You’ll be translating Heineken’s category vision into winning category plans, delivering category KPI and share targets for the business as well as seeking new opportunities to partner with your customers on key strategic projects.

The role isn’t about going into meetings with the HEINEKEN agenda, it’s about being open to collaboration, listening to the customer’s needs and understanding their business to identify how to add value and drive mutual growth.

This is one of the more senior roles in the team and has 1 direct report. The Senior Category Manager will often pivot to support the Head of Category on leading the team when required.

Key Accountabilities

• Develop an annual category growth plan for your customer(s) and deliver the key business growth objectives highlighted within it
• Identify opportunities to collaborate with customers, aligned to our Heineken Category Vision, partnering to execute category growth strategies to win together
• Lead customer range reviews, delivering insight-led and actionable recommendations on range, space and merchandising aligned to a strategic growth plan
• Represent the external market within the business, ‘bringing the inside in’ and representing the customer and shopper viewpoint through business processes
• Support and coach a Junior Category Manager, helping them work towards their development goals

The Person

We’re looking for an enthusiastic and motivated Category professional who has experience in a customer-facing Category Management role. You’ll be pro-active and confident reaching out to the customer, building and developing relationships towards partnership and influencing beyond trading teams.

If you;

• Have customer-facing category experience, working with retailers and owning relationships independently
• Are naturally curious, analytically minded and able to distil complex data into compelling category stories
• Are action-oriented with an energy for working with customers
• Can get under the skin of the customer to fully understand their agenda, adopting a win/win mindset to drive mutual benefit
• Enjoy connecting across teams, internally and externally to build knowledge and influence.

Then this could be the role for you!

Our Benefits

As part of the team, along with your salary you’ll also receive;

• 15% Benefits Allowance (can be taken as cash)
• An annual bonus
• Company funded Private Medical Healthcare
• Double matched pension (up to 10%)
• 35 days holiday (option to buy more / sell)
• A monthly case of our delicious ciders and beers!
• Comprehensive opportunities to develop.

You’ll also get the opportunity to get involved with one of our colleague networks where groups of colleagues from all over the business work together to ensure we’re always working towards being a diverse and inclusive company.

The Application

If you like what you’ve read and want to explore this opportunity further, please apply as soon as possible. We may close vacancies early where we receive significant numbers of applications, so don’t delay!

If you need any adjustments made to support your application, for example if you require information in different formats, or if you have any accessibility issues, then we’re more than happy to review our processes – please feel free to get in touch with us.

In all likelihood the ideal candidate for this role won’t meet every single requirement in this advert, in fact we all need the opportunity to grow and develop in role. We understand some applicants are less likely to apply to jobs unless they feel they meet every single qualification. The team at HEINEKEN would encourage you to submit an application if the advert has piqued your interest rather than ruling yourself out based on any self-limiting beliefs. You never know, you may be exactly what we’re looking for!

Who We Are

We’ve 150 years of brewing history and are proud of this legacy. Yet we’re sure our best days are ahead of us. Every one of our colleagues has a role to play as we dream big, set bold ambitions and push the boundaries. We support colleagues on this journey with development opportunities and unique experiences to help them reach their full potential.

Apply today to discover Your Future, Untapped.