Category Strategy Manager

Want to help us bring happiness to the world? Want to join an ambitious and fast growing global biscuits and confectionery business investing heavily in iconic global brands, infrastructure and people? Then this is the place for you.

As proud bakers and chocolatiers and custodians of iconic global brands, we don’t compromise on the quality of ingredients in our products or on the people we hire. We are looking for entrepreneurial spirits who share our passion for bringing happiness to our consumers and who embody our Winning Traits.

To succeed at pladis you need to be purpose-led ,
resilient and positive to succeed here because we expect pace and agility , we insist on collaboration and demand accountability. If that is your thing, then pladis offers global ambition, a clear Vision and roadmap for success, challenge, and unrivalled opportunities to learn and make an impact

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What will this role achieve?

The Category Strategy Manager is responsible for shaping and executing the strategic direction of product categories to drive sustainable growth, profitability, and market leadership. This role combines strategic thinking, commercial acumen, insights & analysis, and cross-functional collaboration to deliver category excellence across multiple channels.

Working as part of the Commercial Excellence team and reporting to the Head of Category Strategy, the roles bridges Sales & Marketing to develop and lead multi-year category strategies..

What will be your key deliverables?

Develop Category Vision & Strategies

• Work with the Head of Category Strategy to create our category vision in priority categories such as Savoury, Sweet and Confectionery.
• Help to define the strategic role of each category within the portfolio, including innovation, pricing, and promotional architecture.
• Support the creation & execution of multi-year category strategies aligned with business objectives and customer needs.
• Develop Category Growth Drivers with clear narrative for Cat Dev to take externally to customers.

Setting Consistent Standards & Narratives

• Setting Point of Purchase Standards by channel & category via the creation of category playbooks
• Influence macro space positively for pladis categories directly with key customers, and with Cat Dev to execute across channels and retailers.
• Develop POV narrative for major Macro retail challenges (eg LHF / GLP-1)
• Provide customer-centric Shopper narratives aligned to pladis plans for Cat Dev to tailor by customer

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with the marketing team to ensure category & pladis opportunities are realised by influencing both the NPD pipeline & shopper/consumer marketing activities & choices.
• Partner with Commercial Operations to optimise pricing, pack architecture, and trade investment.
• Work closely with Marketing, Sales, Insights, Finance, Cat Dev and Supply Chain to ensure integrated commercial plans are developed and delivered.
• Work with Brand & Commercial Excellence to advise on pladis NPD, including distribution & ROS assumptions in consultation with Cat Dev on specific customers

Insights & Analysis

• Leverage consumer, shopper, and market insights to inform category strategy and drive data-led decision-making.
• Ensure a unified approach to business insights, reducing silos and promoting one version of the truth.

Team Contribution

• Actively support capability building within the category strategy function.
• Contribute to a high-performance culture through collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Bring your experience.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Economics, or a related field.
• Understanding and experience of the UK FMCG market

• Proven understanding of category management principles and execution, including a broad numerical & analytical background
• Ideally minimum 2 years category management (or commercial / commercial operations) experience

• Strategic mindset - capable of transforming brands from products into compelling consumer experiences and scalable growth platforms.
• Proven ability to analyse complex data sets and turn them into clear and useful insights which translate into actionable strategies.

• Story Telling - Strong communication,…