Category Manager - FMCG in Manchester

CATEGORY MANAGER – FMCG HOUSEHOLD & CLEANING

Location: Manchester

Reporting to: Head of Commercial

Cream Soda Recruitment is working with an established and successful FMCG business to recruit an experienced Category Manager to drive the commercial growth and development of its household cleaning category across the UK and international markets.

This is an exciting opportunity for a commercially driven Category Manager to play a pivotal role in shaping category strategy, identifying growth opportunities and bringing together teams across Commercial, Buying, Sales, Supply Chain and Marketing to ensure plans are aligned and successfully delivered.

The successful candidate will bring a strong commercial and consumer perspective to brand discussions, helping to ensure that brand development and marketing activity are commercially focused and aligned with wider business objectives.

THE ROLE

Category Strategy & Growth

• Develop the annual category plan across UK and international markets, working with Commercial, Sales and Marketing to translate business priorities into clear growth and activation plans.
• Monitor category performance, including sales, market share, distribution, pricing and margin, recommending actions where appropriate.
• Track competitor activity, market trends and emerging opportunities across retail and online channels.
• Contribute to pricing and promotional strategies, protecting margins while driving sales volume.
• Recommend range and portfolio changes, balancing key product lines with customer and market-specific requirements.

Brand Contribution

• Support the Marketing Director in protecting brand positioning, proposition and long-term brand equity.
• Help ensure brand guidelines are consistently applied across packaging, content and customer touchpoints.
• Bring consumer, shopper and market insight into brand discussions.
• Contribute ideas and constructive challenge around positioning, packaging, product claims and campaigns to ensure brand activity supports commercial priorities.
• Help coordinate brand development and refresh projects, managing inputs, timelines and sign-off across teams.
• Ensure Sales teams have the brand story, selling materials and category arguments needed for individual customers.
• Work within the brand guidelines established by Marketing across all channels, including e-commerce.

Coordination Across the Business

• Act as the central point connecting Buying and Inventory, Sales, Supply Chain and Marketing on category activity.
• Manage the category calendar, including NPD timings, promotions and campaigns, aligned with stock and availability planning.
• Own go-to-market plans for new product launches, coordinating launch phasing and stock readiness.
• Gather and share feedback from Sales teams and customers with Buying and Marketing.
• Keep teams across the business informed of plans, priorities and changes.
• Feed consumer and market insight into the new product development pipeline.
• Build the commercial case for new products and range extensions.

International Development

• Support international category growth, working with distributors and partners on plans, launches and market adaptations, in line with the UK-led brand direction.

Research & Reporting

• Conduct or commission consumer and market research to guide category and brand decisions.
• Ensure packaging and product claims meet regulatory, legal and sustainability requirements, working closely with Regulatory and Technical teams.
• Report category performance regularly to directors and the Head of Commercial, providing clear KPIs, insight and recommended actions.

ABOUT YOU

Experience

• Proven Category Management experience within FMCG, ideally household and cleaning products.
• Experience working with UK value retailers and major retail accounts.
• A track record of developing and delivering plans that achieve measurable commercial growth.
• Experience working with Brand and Marketing teams, contributing to brand decisions.
• Experience working cross-functionally with Buying, Supply Chain, Sales and Marketing.
• International experience would be advantageous.

Skills & Knowledge

• Strong commercial and analytical skills, with confidence interpreting sales, category and market data.
• A good understanding of brand and marketing principles, with the ability to contribute credibly to brand discussions.
• Understanding of NPD, range development and product lifecycle management.
• Knowledge of retail buying and inventory planning processes.
• Comfortable using modern digital and AI tools to work efficiently.
• A confident communicator, able to influence and align people across different teams without direct authority

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Personal Attributes

• Highly organised, with the ability to manage multiple priorities across a broad remit.
• Collaborative in approach, acting as a connector between teams rather than a sole decision-maker.
• Commercially curious, with a strong focus on data-led decision-making.
• Able to offer constructive challenge with tact and confidence.

THE OPPORTUNITY

This is a fantastic opportunity to take on an influential commercial role within an established and growing FMCG business.

You will have the opportunity to contribute to category strategy, support brand development and drive commercial growth across UK and international markets, working closely with senior leadership and teams across the business.