- Salary: Salary band is £60-75,000 plus a strong benefits package
- Location: Candidates must be based in Yorkshire, or able to relocate to the region
The Company
- A Food & Drink sector business who are a major success story within UK FMCG. The company is one of the fastest growing UK FMCG brands and has also been delivering hugely impressive global growth.
- Turnover is approaching £200m, with significant revenue increases both in the UK and a range of global markets.
- Significant investment has recently been announced to further expand operations and ramp up infrastructure to ensure future brand growth.
- The company HQ is in North Yorkshire and the company employs c700 people across both UK and International sites.
The Role
- The company are currently stretching their brand into adjacent categories, through the introduction of exciting and innovative new product ranges.
- Key to the success of these launches will be the effective development and execution of robust commercial strategies. This will include creating plans for Channel, Customer & Commercial Development and the Go To Market plan for new product launches.
- The Category Planning Manager will be the category champion for commercial development of key innovation projects and set 5P standards for activation across all sales channels.
- In other businesses this type of position is often titled Market, Strategy & Planning Manager.
- This is a newly created and senior level position, reporting to the Director of Business Development and working very closely with the Marketing, Category and Sales functions.
Key Tasks/Accountabilities will include:
Future Pipeline Development
- Scope out and develop future Channel & Category activation plans for new product development platforms.
- Review future pipeline from a Commercial / Customer / Category perspective assessing where and how to play e.g. segments of growth / size, and / or profit, and or destination for retailer etc.
- Work closely with Marketing, NPD / R&D & Sales teams to commercialise and prioritise where to play.
18 month Market Plans
- Co-develop with Marketing the 5P activation standards and channel plans for new product launches.
- Working closely with Heads of Sales / Category Management to bring projects to life through customer JBP’s. Create selling stories, support selling and development of launch and activation plans.
- Develop 5P activation standards in line with brand strategy and insights.
- Develop distribution, price and promo plan with Marketing & Finance to fulfil project briefs and ensure commercial delivery in marketplace.
- Track and report progress of channel and development of each project against the 5P standards.
- Review and make recommendations across channels / customer groups to reset / align pack, price & promo architecture where required.
- Develop selling story and tailoring with Sales team.
- Develop channel strategy for certain platforms and implement through Sales / Category Management team.
- For NPD set distribution, price and promo standards in conjunction with Category and Marketing functions.
- Improve in-store presence & OOS – packaging, path to purchase – location, flow, segmentation.
Pipeline and Plan Communication
- Communicate activation plans and 5P channel standards to customer teams and work with them to develop commercial sales story.
- Develop tools & templates to enhance tracking visibility.
Team Support
- Ensure outstanding cross-functional alignment and awareness of the pipeline and market plans, maximising efficiency and growth.
- Work closely with indirect reports and other relationship holders and senior managers to support the development of NPD priorities.
The Person
- Significant experience in a senior level Category Planning / M,S&P role. Other relevant positions would include Revenue Manager, Category Manager or possibly SNAM.
- Experience of working with high profile FMCG brands in the UK.
- Demonstration of strong customer planning, selling and channel development for brands utilising 5P levers to develop change.
- Strong commercial skills developing Price & Pack Architecture.
- Strong cross functional project management across multiple stakeholder groups.
- Demonstration of strong indirect working relationships to deliver outcomes & lead change.
- Successful and proven NPD development & launch experience.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
- Excellent influencing skills especially through indirect reports.
- Deep Nielson, IRI, Kantar data analysis skills.
- Activation tracking of 5P standards.
If you have the skills and experience and you are looking for a new challenge, we would be delighted to discuss this opportunity further.