Category Manager (Grocery) - 12 Month Fixed Term Contract in Hemel Hempstead

Location: Hemel Hempstead – Hybrid

Job Length: 12 Month Fixed Term Contract (maternity leave)

Working Hours: Monday – Friday

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
• Access to a range of high street discounts

About the Role

The Off Trade in Carlsberg Britvic delivered over £1.4 billion net revenue in 2025 and yet we know there is more growth for us to enjoy as we come together as a total drinks powerhouse. As an integral part of Carlsberg Britvic’s commercial growth engine, the Category Manager plays a pivotal role in translating strategy into execution. You’ll act as the commercial lynchpin between customer‑specific insight, brand opportunities, and in‑outlet activation. By developing collaborative relationships with retailers and internal partners, you will lead the delivery of robust category plans, identify growth levers, and help shape customer agendas that elevate Carlsberg Britvic’s brands and enhance our standing as a trusted partner to our customers.

You will be working to deliver execution in outlet against our market maps and expectations for distribution, range, space and rate of sale driving propositions. This role is central to our planning and execution of commercial initiatives, therefore strong links will be required across the commercial functions, especially marketing, category strategy, insights, commercial operations and sales teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the channels/customer category agenda ‘maximising today, and unlocking tomorrow’
• Establish and nurture strategic relationships with key customer stakeholders, positioning Carlsberg Britvic as a trusted category authority.
• Leverage thought leadership to co‑create impactful solutions that enhance category performance and drive measurable improvements in external evaluations, including the Advantage Group Survey.
• Lead the translation of consumer, shopper, and market trends into strategy, identifying where Carlsberg Britvic can drive category growth and gain competitive advantage.
• Set the direction and lead the team to align against the range and space targets and regularly measure progress against this, effectively managing messages through the business cycle.

Customer Thought Leadership & Execution

• Build strategic partnerships with key customer contacts, acting as the voice of the category and embedding Carlsberg Britvic’s thought leadership and leading to delivery of solutions to influence external measure of category success with improved results in the Advantage Group Survey.
• Lead the execution of your customer/channel category roadmap through range reviews and identifying category initiatives to maximise point of purchase outcomes enabling us to maximise range, primary space, secondary location, availability and macro space, in outlet and online.
• Develop relevant category selling stories and tools and lead the development of customer immersions designed to engage customers and influence them to implement category solutions & strategies.
• Lead for and manage the delivery of category building initiatives and trials with customers e.g. fixturisation, cross‑category, category relays.
• Lead strategic agendas across hot topics such as health and wellness, sustainability, DRS (deposit return scheme) and HFSS (high fat salt sugar legislation) and provide the customer with a category point of view.

Team Leadership & Capability Building

• Help mentor Category Executives, supporting capability development.
• Support team culture grounded in collaboration, excellence, and performance.
• Champion continuous improvement and shared learning across the broader function.
• Put in place a development plan to improve your standards everyday.
• Champion the power of category to other functions upskilling category capability and understanding to drive a greater impact.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Insights, Category Strategy, Sales, and Brand/Channel operations teams to ensure category thinking is embedded in brand planning and commercial execution.
• Lead inputs into business cases across NPD and EPD with account level information on category and customer marketing opportunities where required.
• Evaluate the impact of actions taken & ensure that learnings feed into future business planning.
• Represent category leadership on steering groups, channel forums, and leadership meetings.

Performance Tracking & Learning

• Set, track, and evaluate performance against space, range and distribution targets aligned to our range & merchandising blueprints.
• Translate insight from results into future‑facing planning recommendations and continuous improvement.

Budgets

• Manage the allocated category development budget against agreed customer data contracts and research projects.
• Complete and submit expenses in a timely manner.

Key Performance Measures

• Delivery of volume and value growth targets, agreed through AOP.
• Win market share through improved distribution, range and space gains.
• Improved results in the Advantage Group Survey.
• Improvement in perfect store measures.
• Improved employee engagement scores and positive feedback.

Experience Required

• Experience in category, customer marketing, or commercial roles within FMCG or similar sectors.
• Track record of working directly with customers, ideally with exposure to retail or grocery channels.
• Familiarity with space planning tools (e.g., JDA) and customer insight platforms.

Qualifications

• Degree (or equivalent) in Business.

Application Process

We read applications continuously, and vacancies may be filled anytime, so please apply as early as possible.

Carlsberg aims to create equal access to opportunity regardless of social identity, and we encourage everyone to apply regardless of gender, nationality, race, religion or any other characteristics protected by law.