Category & Shopper Strategy & Planning Manager

Posted Date:
Sep 28, 2026

Requisition Number: 129605

The Category & Shopper Strategy & Planning Manager is responsible for transforming category, shopper, consumer, customer, and retailer insights into actionable growth strategies that drive business performance. Working cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, and Commercial teams, the role develops customer growth plans, category recommendations, retailer-facing selling stories, and strategic initiatives that strengthen customer partnerships and unlock new growth opportunities.

This role is focused on translating insight into action, influencing business decisions, and developing customer growth strategies. It is not a reporting-led Category Management position
. The successful candidate will be expected to identify opportunities, shape recommendations, influence stakeholders, and drive commercial action rather than simply produce reports and dashboards.

• Analyse category, shopper, customer, consumer, and retailer data to identify growth opportunities and provide actionable commercial recommendations.
• Develop retailer-facing growth stories, category recommendations, customer presentations, and strategic selling materials that influence customer strategy and support Joint Business Planning discussions.
• Use shopper, consumer, and retailer insights to develop customer-specific growth plans, activation strategies, retail media recommendations, and seasonal growth opportunities.
• Support commercial planning by identifying growth opportunities, evaluating investment priorities, and recommending actions to maximize customer and category performance.
• Develop category growth stories, retailer sell-in presentations, customer plans, and strategic recommendations that drive sustainable business growth.
• Own shopper marketing activation planning, coordinating customer plans, seasonal activations, retail media, and execution priorities across the business.
• Create compelling presentations and commercial narratives that influence internal and external stakeholders and support decision-making.
• Partner with Sales, Marketing, Revenue Growth Management, and other cross-functional teams to deliver category-led growth initiatives and customer-facing strategies.
• Ensure consistent commercial messaging and high-quality outputs across all customer engagements and strategic projects.

• Experience developing retailer-specific growth strategies and customer plans.
• Experience turning category and shopper insight into activation recommendations and commercial actions.
• Experience building retailer-facing sell-in stories and presentations.
• Experience using Circana, Nielsen, Kantar, or equivalent syndicated data sources.
• Experience supporting annual planning, customer planning, or commercial planning processes.

Success Profile

The ideal candidate is a commercially minded Category & Shopper Strategy professional who can combine analytical rigor, shopper understanding, commercial judgment, and compelling storytelling to drive customer growth.

They will be able to:

• Analyze data and derive meaningful insights.
• Identify growth opportunities and quantify potential impact.
• Build persuasive retailer growth stories and category recommendations.
• Develop customer-specific growth plans and strategic initiatives.
• Make investment and prioritization recommendations.
• Influence stakeholders and customer decisions.
• Translate insight into action that delivers measurable business results.