Customer Category Manager - Out of Home/Ireland

Ferrero is a family-owned company with a truly progressive and global outlook and iconic brands such as Nutella, Tic Tac, Ferrero Rocher, Raffaello, Kinder Bueno and Kinder Surprise. As the love for our brands continues to grow, so too does our global reach. Represented in more than 50 countries, with products sold in more than 170, the Ferrero Group is loved by generations around the world. The secret to our global success? 40,000 dedicated employees who celebrate care and quality to craft a business, careers and brands we are proud of.

Diversity Statement: Ferrero is committed to building a diverse and inclusive culture in which all employees feel welcomed and appreciated and have the same opportunities. We believe all of our people are equally talented in their own way. In nurturing the curiosity and natural abilities of our employees, we provide them, generation after generation, the means to succeed personally and professionally, enabling them to craft their journey at Ferrero. The diversity of our talents is what makes our work environment multicultural, innovative and highly rewarding.

About The Role: We are seeking a dedicated and strategic Customer Category Manager to become a trusted advisor and key collaborator within the Customer Category, Trade Marketing, and Sales teams. There is a potential to manage Morrisons or the Out of Home (Hospitality, Petrol and Travel), Traditional Trade (Convenience, High Street and Wholesale) and Ireland Channels where you will provide insightful, objective category advice that supports the growth of both the category and our brands.

You will actively drive improvements in distribution and shelf share, leveraging deep customer insights to foster strategic collaboration. Partnering closely with customers, you will develop joint category plans, influence new product development, and help identify and create new category segments. You will also champion the point-of-purchase vision and merchandising standards to enhance in-store impact.

Supporting the Category Lead, you will play a pivotal role in leading range reviews and implementing major changes within store aisles, helping shape the future of our category presence and performance.

Main Responsibilities: We are looking for a proactive and insightful professional to drive category performance analysis, providing a deep understanding of market, shopper, and consumer trends. You will take full responsibility for delivering contextual insights, ensuring that customers receive clear and actionable so-what conclusions. Collaborating closely with insight agencies, including those handling loyalty data, you will help generate strong, ongoing customer category insights.

Managing customer period category reporting will be key, including overseeing any changes to data, systems, or deliverables. Monitoring continuous category performance within the customer and market will allow you to identify drivers, track evolution, and highlight emerging opportunities and risks.

A strong grasp of the customer range review process is essential, and you will share responsibility for communicating critical timelines internally and externally across categories. By leading range review analysis, you will uncover category range and distribution opportunities, taking ownership of key event reviews to maximize category success.

You will play a pivotal role in executing innovation strategies across selected categories, crafting compelling customer category sell-in stories that drive engagement and growth. Identifying proactive range extensions and distribution opportunities from existing product development will enable you to build persuasive category rationales and sales stories.

Building and nurturing customer category relationships is fundamental to the role. You will take shared responsibility for fostering closer, independent partnerships with customers, including managing key event and range reviews as well as day-to-day engagement. Internally, you will own customer category relationships by working collaboratively across cross-functional teams and ensuring all stakeholders remain aligned.

Who We Are Looking For: Proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint, is essential, alongside strong analytical skills and familiarity with working with a range of data sources e.g. Nielsen, Circana, Kantar; on top of a solid understanding of category management fundamentals. The ideal candidate will excel in building relationships and influencing stakeholders effectively. You should be capable of balancing multiple priorities and managing key stakeholders within a fast-paced, ever-changing environment.