Category Lead UK & Ireland

Job Description:

In partnership with the Category Director Europe, this role is responsible for the management of the UK & Ireland category team, and has line management and talent development responsibility for the UK category team, in addition to business responsibility for engaging the UK & Irish trade behind the Mars Food category vision (directly and through the team) and improving Perfect Store compliance. The role is also responsible for driving growth for Mars by ensuring that critical insights are shared on the category performance and

ensuring that our brand and strategic plans, including NPD, are grounded in category insight.

The role is responsible for any data, reporting, inputs, or work required at total UK & Ireland Market Unit level - for example, range optimization, category forecasts, S&OP inputs, OP inputs, etc.

What are we looking for?

• Proven experience in Category Management Experience in the local market, preferably UK Sales and/or category and customer management experience that includes selling, negotiating, and leveraging insights to deliver customized customer plans, achieving company and customer objectives, and advancing category leadership
• Customer experience with direct and head office customers delivering solutions that cover product, placement, promotion and/ or pricing; with a track record of meeting/ exceeding sales objectives, establishing effective business relationships with key decision makers at multiple levels
• Customer facing experience demonstrated by ability to assess needs, propose mutually beneficial solutions, overcome objections, handle tough situations, manage conflict, and close sale to maximize mutual value
• Experience in leveraging the fundamentals of Category Leadership to drive category growth; ability to tell the category story.
• Experience in managing a budget and/ or trade revenue optimization delivering budget and ROI
• Experience of prioritization and making workload tradeoffs would be useful but not essential

What will be your key responsibilities?

• Line management and talent development responsibility for the category team of Market Unit (2 markets).

• Leading the category team to achieve the business growth and profitability targets, including mitigation of customer and competitor risks.

• Deliver best in class Category Management for Market Unit by taking an objective total category perspective when providing market, consumer, and shopper insights to the customer.

• Execution of Mars NPD launches in line with ER targets, through the creation of category focused selling stories, identifying listing opportunities/challenges and providing merchandising solutions to maximize on shelf delivery.

• Delivery of an in- depth category performance understanding to help inform internal customer team decision making and strategy

• Input into KPI setting and tracking against these, including Perfect Store, Core Range compliance and distribution

• Ownership for the localization & delivery of category strategic fundamentals (i) Category vision (ii) Perfect Store (iii) category insights sharing

• Key deliverables of the role are to improve the Perfect Store compliance, land distribution and execution of our NPD in line with ER and to work with the Category Director to co-create a longer-term category vision with the customer

• Ensure Category growth and objectivity are at heart of all interactions with Customers.

• Deliver a step change in customer partnership at all levels.

• Delivery of customer relationships, meetings, and interaction vs the contact strategy.

• Develop good relationships with internal Mars Account teams and ensure internal alignment behind customer category strategy. Attend account team meetings and establishing yourself as an integral part of their team

• Additionally, the role may, at times – subject to business needs – be required to directly step in and support category management work on the accounts.

What can you expect from Mars?

• Work with over 140,000 diverse and talented Associates, all guided by the Five Principles.
• Join a purpose driven company, where we’re striving to build the world we want tomorrow, today.
• Best-in-class learning and development support from day one, including access to our in-house Mars University.
• An industry competitive salary and benefits package, including company bonus.

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Mars is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you need assistance or an accommodation during the application process because of a disability, it is available upon request. The company is pleased to provide such assistance, and no applicant will be penalized as a result of such a request.