Category Strategy Manager

Category Strategy Manager (CSM) works internally with key stakeholders (Marketing, Sales) to deliver best-in-class insights and solutions that help design and execute mutually beneficial collaborative business plans and achieve sustainable growth. The CSM leads the local cross-functional insights process, which, based on the available data and in cooperation with data agencies, regularly provides strong insights into the performance of the organization and constantly develops and improves corresponding dashboards and reports. In addition, provides support to Category Leadership team with development of Category Growth Plans with top customers.

Job Specifications/Qualifications:
Education & Professional Qualifications: University degree with at least 3 years of experience in a blue chip FMCG / consumer goods company with a demand background and successes in customer development.
Knowledge/Experience:
Extensive category leadership and customer development experience and proven ability to build strong and focused customer category partnerships.
• Category and customer experience with the ability to motivate, influence and impact customers by providing guidance on the strategic direction of the category.
• Category leadership experience in Category Management methods (e.g. 8-step process, assessment of category-specific opportunities, strategies and tactics).
• Ability to build effective working relationships and motivate stakeholders – internal and external.
• Excellent knowledge of FMCG context and retail and online trading conditions.
• Strong analytical skills combined with the ability to generate insights and translate them into strategies and tactics (actions/initiatives) – internally and for execution with our clients.
• Excellent knowledge of the annual planning process – internal (demand) and external (customer business cycle).
• Autonomous, decisive, resilient and able to react and adapt to a dynamic, rapidly changing
environment.
• Experience in areas such as (but not limited to): Customer Management, Consumer and Customer Marketing, Shopper Insights, Digital.

Key Responsibilities:

• Developing an understanding of the customer environment – e.g. external trends, current and future requirements and needs of competitors and customers - on the basis of which shopper-oriented category plans are created for the Confectionery (CNF) category, which promote mutual growth.
• Management of the local cross-functional insights process and control of the data agency (Nielsen) to gain relevant insights for the local organization, in particular around regular performance updates and corresponding deep dives in customer or category performance.
• Further development of the local dashboard & reporting landscape in cooperation with the Sales Analytics Team.
• Implementation of category management processes and projects with selected customers. Initiation and participation in the implementation of POS and category research to validate findings with the corresponding clients.
• Leading the development and realization of short- and long-term customer & category strategies for defined customers as support for the other Category Development Leaders (Grocery, Discount or Convenience) based on defined projects to increase profitability and revenues on customer and portfolio level optimize.
• Temporarily leading the development of a customer category plan for the relevant customer and as a key member of the relevant customer team, working in partnership to deliver firsthand category insights and align internally and externally with the customer's growth opportunities.
• Use a combination of market, shopper and customer information to derive strong insights for the organization and identify growth opportunities, perceive / realize these opportunities with high standards in all category leadership initiatives, tactics and procedures and use cross-functional Resources to create growth opportunities.
• Develop compelling, insight-driven category solutions that influence shopper behavior and result in increased basket and/or transaction points at the point of sale for the mutual benefit of the company and our customers, and proactively identify opportunities for future customer growth.
• Creation of appropriate planograms and formulation of recommendations on assortment / distribution of the category and portfolio for the main placement (shelf / chest) and the checkout zone as well as recommendation of activation of relevant tactics for secondary displays to achieve sustainable growth, activations following evaluations with ROI Orientation to continually raise the bar on execution and encourage growth.

Context and Scope
The CSM is responsible for the category performance analysis for 12 countries of CEAB&T in particular and, based on the different perspectives, provides strong insights for the entire organization including the leadership team.
In addition, CSM is temporarily responsible for assigned customers (after consultation with the Category Leadership and Customer Marketing Head) to support the remaining CL managers at project peaks, both the strategic and the operational daily requirements in customer category management. CSM achieves results by applying the global category leadership strategies, appropriate analytical tools, space management and assortment tools, and believing a strong internal network to ensure Mars is well positioned in the areas of category leadership and shopper insights.
CSM is also responsible for building effective customer relationships and creating sustainable category plans together with customers, as well as initiating and promoting a customer-centric, cross-functional culture internally.

Terms:

• Decent, competitive and stable salary;
• Food allowance;
• Mobile compensation;
• Medical insurance for the associate and his/her family members.