Category Manager - Beer

Job Title: Category Manager – Beer

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 favorites such as Hobgoblin and Wainwright. For soft drinks, Carlsberg Britvic’s brands include J2O, Robinsons, Tango and London Essence along with the license 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:

As part of our On Trade vision to be the best partner in drinks to the On Trade & Hospitality Channel, creating exciting consumer experiences and leveraging breakthrough innovation, it is vital we have an in-depth understanding of the category we operate in, how it can grow, how our brands can leverage these opportunities and that we can engage with our customers to bring this to life.

The Category Manger for Beer will sit within the licensed on trade 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 all beer subchannels channels. This will drive category growth for our customers, gain disproportionate advantage for our brands, grow shareholder value and enhance Carlberg Britvic’s reputation as a beverage category thought leader.

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 rolling category plans with customers 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, digital solutions and format development.
• 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 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.
• Build close working relationships with key customers’ buying and insights teams, expanding Carlsberg Britvic contact strategy
• Support customer management team through delivery of inspirational brand execution selling in key customer meetings and engagement days
• Activity development, shaping and tailoring Work closely with channel insight manager to build greater guest understanding & ensure that this is applied in the development of the category plan & execution of in-outlet activity

Experience and Key Attributes:

• Extensive FMCG Beer experience is essential - 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 licensed highly desirable
• Experienced in using multiple data sources such as IRI, CGA, CGA Brand Track, Kantar Alco vision, MCA, Mintel to build a compelling trade story
• Good knowledge and experience of working with major national account level customers, ideally in on trade
• Strategic thinker able to develop clear vision for the category within the channel / customer
• Strong commercial skills across a range of channels / companies
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills required as well as strong team player
• Demonstrable capability of applying category management thinking
• Basic understanding of the latest shopper / market insight techniques
• Ability to discuss insight and strategies with internal and external stakeholders with confidence
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to transform data into insight, insight into strategies, strategies into actionable recommendations, and recommendations into results.

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.