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Job Title: Senior Category Manager
Location: Hemel Hempstead – Hybrid working
Job Length: Permanent
Working Hours: 37.5 hours per week

Competitive Salary with extensive benefits:

• Monthly product allowance – alcoholic & non-alcoholic options available
• Private Medical options
• Life Assurance
• Company bonus scheme
• Access to 24/7 GP services
• Enhanced pension contribution
• Generous holiday (inc bank holidays)
• Access to a range of high street discounts

Carlsberg Britvic is the largest multi-beverage supplier in the UK and is home to some of the most iconic and popular beers & soft drinks, including Carlsberg Danish Pilsner, 1664, Poretti and Brooklyn to ale favourites such as Hobgoblin and Wainwright. For soft drinks, Carlsberg Britvic’s brands include J2O, Robinsons, Tango and London Essence along with the licence rights to the Pepsi portfolio in the UK including Pepsi MAX, 7UP, Lipton Iced Tea and Rockstar Energy.

With a strong national footprint, the Carlsberg Britvic business includes 6 production facilities and 16 logistics depot’s servicing customers up and down the UK. As these two historical businesses have come together, the one common goal remains, and that is ensuring our people succeed.

About the Role:
The Senior Category Manager for WEH & Leisure will sit within the Hospitality channel team. They will be responsible for developing strong customer relationships, leading their category thinking and deliver against in-outlet Point of Purchase (POP) blueprints and expectations for distribution, range, space in WEH & Leisure channels.

This will drive category growth for our customers, gain disproportionate advantage for our brands, grow shareholder value and enhance Britvic’s reputation as soft drinks category thought leaders.

This role is central to our planning and execution of commercial initiatives, therefore strong links will be required cross-functionally with the sales team, category strategy, business performance insights, brand marketing & shopper marketing.

Role Responsibilities:

• Develop customer base through understanding of key customer strategies to support us in improving our brand visibility and performance
• Lead the development of 1 year rolling category plans with allocated customer based on execution of in outlet blueprint
• Develop close working relationship with cross functional partners including brand teams, customer management & shopper strategy
• Lead the execution of the category plan. Execute strategies to maximise range, primary space, location, availability and macro space incorporating all category growth levers including off-fixture space, P&P solutions, equipment plans, online solutions and retail format development) in line with our POP ambition
• Input to the creation of distribution, range and space targets by customer that deliver against market maps and regularly measure progress against these.
• Ensure tactics within the plan are executed in outlet. Evaluate the impact & ensure that learnings feed into future planning & activation across the channel.
• Take the high-level category selling stories and tailor them for your customer, incorporating customer level shopper / consumer insight. Ensure that activity input & output targets are set in advance for your customer
• Lead customer immersions designed to create solutions & strategies for key customers
• Build customer relationships & delivery of solutions to influence external measure of category success with improved results in the Advantage Group Survey
• Raise the capability of the Customer Management team with respect to their understanding and usage of our category vision and tools.
• Support Customer Management team through delivery of inspirational brand execution selling in key customer meetings and engagement days
• Ownership of customer range review and category reviews to deliver growth outcomes for Britvic
• Work closely with Channel Insight manager to build BSD shopper & guest understanding & ensure that this is applied in the development of the category plan & execution of in-outlet activity
• customer specific data, especially loyalty data where this exists, to add value to initiative development

Experience and Key Attributes:

• Extensive FMCG experience, ideally covering relevant channel & customers
• Practical experience of category management process & first-hand experience of managing customer relationships
• Ideally commercial & execution experience
• Shopper / Customer Marketing &/or commercial experience also valued
• Experience within Foodservice and licensed highly desirable
• Experienced in using multiple data sources such as IRI, CGA, CGA Brand Track, Kantar Alcovision, MCA, Mintel to build a compelling trade story
• Strategic thinker that can develop a clear vision for our customers
• Strong commercial skills across a range of channels / companies
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to develop strong relationships with key stakeholders
• Ability to simplify and take others on the journey
• Creative thinker who can piece together a complex channel and bring clarity on what’s needed to win galvanising the wider business stakeholders

This is an exciting time to join our newly formed business – with their incredible individual history’s, innovation of products and some of the UK’s most iconic brands, Carlsberg Britvic strives to deliver the best service to our customers and consumers. We aim to make a difference, bringing together two diverse companies, our global reach enables opportunity, growth and a chance to work with some fantastic people.
Interested in finding out more? Apply today and a member of the recruitment team will be in touch!

Application Process:
We read applications continuously, and vacancies may be filled anytime, so please apply as early as possible.

We look forward to receiving your application.

We believe we are stronger together and that’s why we’re committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees. We know that by building a truly inclusive environment where everyone feels celebrated, safe and respected - diversity and wellbeing will naturally thrive