Category Marketing Lead - Gaming

The Gaming portfolio is one of the biggest commercial engines in this business, and we're looking for someone to take their category marketing skills to establishing a clear category strategy for growth.

You'll hold end-to-end ownership of the category: range strategy, promotional architecture, supplier relationships, and a budget north of £50m. If you've come from category management, brand or shopper marketing, or product-led growth roles and you're looking for a category with genuinely fast feedback loops and real commercial stakes, this is that role.

What You'll Own

Category Strategy

• Set the category vision and range plan, deciding where investment and priority go
• Build the category calendar around commercial opportunity, not marketing convenience
• Make — and defend — the trade-off calls between products and channels

Commercial Performance

• Full P&L accountability: NGR, contribution margin, CAC, and lifetime value
• Own the budget end to end, from media to supplier deals
• Build reporting the business trusts
• Negotiate with suppliers on exclusives, launch priority, and terms
• Curate the range around what drives value, not what's newest
• Shape the customer proposition with Product, from onboarding to retention
• Use segmentation and behavioural data to prioritise
• Track competitors closely enough to act, not just report
• Build a test-and-learn culture with CRM and Performance Marketing

Stakeholder Leadership

• Be the connective tissue between Trading, Product, CRM, Brand, and Compliance
• Build and lead a team that executes at pace
• Partner with Compliance and Legal as a matter of course, not friction

What We're Looking For

• Proven category management, commercial marketing, or product-growth experience — Gaming, digital retail, FMCG, telco, travel/loyalty, or regulated online industries all translate well here
• A track record of owning commercial numbers directly, not just influencing them
• Comfort with supplier and vendor negotiation, range curation, and portfolio prioritisation
• Sharp with data — comfortable moving between a dashboard and a boardroom conversation
• Experience operating in a regulated environment is a strong plus, though not essential if you can demonstrate fast learning in compliance-heavy contexts
• A leadership style that thrives on ambiguity and speed rather than needing everything pre-defined

Why Now

This category is growing, and growing fast — and the plans on the table for the next few years go well beyond "more of the same." The business is investing seriously in the gaming portfolio, expanding what it covers, and backing it with budget and senior attention. This role exists because the ambition here has outgrown the current structure, not because we're filling a gap.

If you want a category that's still being shaped — where the roadmap for next year isn't locked yet and you'll have real influence over what it becomes — this is that opportunity.

You'd be joining at a point where the trajectory is steep, the stakes are real, and the next 2–3 years of category growth will largely be down to the calls you make.