Senior Category Manager

What we’re after: Senior Category Manager

Reporting Line: Head of Shopper Marketing & Category

Location: Hybrid – 1‑2 days a week (or more if you prefer) in our central London office (Goodge Street) and working from home.

Equality and Inclusiveness at Lily’s Kitchen: We want to build and maintain a values-driven culture of trust and inclusion, one that empowers people safely and comfortably to express every characteristic of their personal identity and experience. We are an equal‑opportunity employer and welcome everyone to our team. If you need reasonable accommodation at any point in the application or interview process, please let us know.

Your place at the Lily’s Kitchen Table: As our Senior Category Manager you will be part of the MDO team (Market Development Organisation), reporting into the Head of Shopper Marketing & Category Management. You will develop and deliver insight‑based category rationale to achieve KPIs and commercial business strategy. You will lead insight‑driven category plans with key customers and provide Lily’s Kitchen Sales and Marketing teams with insight and recommendations to maximise business performance. You will quickly become the trusted expert as a centre of excellence on the Pet Food Category, developing a deep love and understanding for the category, shopper and the four‑legged consumer. Your work will cover mainly the UK, but you will collaborate closely with and support our International Sales & Marketing Teams by sharing insights and actionable recommendations for international markets. As a key member of the MDO team, you’ll be pivotal in meeting revenue targets and bringing customer buying teams into our brand, using your expertise to deliver engaging category growth initiatives.

How will I make a difference?

• Develop range review recommendations to include assortment and layout in collaboration with Sales and Marketing, and present these to customers.
• Conduct measurement and evaluation on selected customer activities, and develop plans for econometric modelling of Lily’s Kitchen performance and elasticity.
• Monitor and advise on pricing strategies by retail segment using data and insights from external providers.
• Bring the external environment into Lily’s Kitchen, sharing macro trends, channel and competitor analysis so our teams are kept fully up to date with category developments & NPD within our customers.
• Become the objective expert for our customers, truly understanding their businesses, providing support and insight where required and sharing customer strategies and insight with our Sales and Marketing teams.
• Execute the commercial channel plans by demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of the shopper in order to unlock growth through the 4Ps.
• Work in collaboration with Marketing on segment performance to develop and deliver insight‑based category strategies to achieve category KPIs and commercial business strategy.
• Work closely with Sales team to understand what commercial opportunities exist within retailers.
• Be an ambassador for our social and environmental credentials – seeking opportunities to drive our ‘proper goodness’ content to our customers, communicating our hard work in this area.
• Support our sustainability and B Corp values by ensuring we tread lightly on the planet when looking at customer opportunities – we care about the earth.

How will I be successful?

• Proven experience in developing insight‑based strategies and selling propositions.
• A background in working in FMCG.
• Strong numeracy and spreadsheet skills to complement category analysis, range reviews, models, measurement and evaluation.
• Adept at data analysis with an understanding of effective merchandising, space planning, developing and implementing category strategies and the financial measures affecting category performance.
• Past experience in developing category relationships within Grocery Mults, Convenience or Symbol – a customer‑facing role.
• Experience of working with AC Nielsen/Circana data, Kantar Worldpanel and customer loyalty card such as Dunnhumby to formulate clear commercial strategies and identify opportunities.
• Experience working closely with at least one of the Big 4 Grocers.
• Evidence of influencing within different levels and teams.
• Commercially minded with experience in leading range reviews, developing rationale for new listings and distribution increases.
• Results driven with the ability to build effective relationships.
• First‑class communication skills, with the ability to communicate clearly, effectively and appropriately with other Lily’s Kitchen employees, your customers and others at all levels.
• Ability to think strategically, taking complex issues and addressing them step by step, taking a lateral approach where needed to overcome gaps in the data.
• A curious mind, eager to find out more about the customer and the business that will help to unlock improved performance.
• The ability to use your initiative – being a self‑starter with a positive “can do” attitude and the desire to grow others.
• Build honest and genuine relationships quickly with internal and external stakeholders.
• You will have an eagerness to immerse yourself within our culture and be a true ambassador for Lily’s Kitchen.
• It’s fast‑paced here at Lily’s Kitchen. You will need to be comfortable within a fast‑moving environment.

Benefits

• Dogs at work – what better way to put a smile on your face!
• Flexible Working: flexitime, working from home, part‑time working, flexible support, faith‑based public holidays.
• Save for the Future and Protect Loved Ones: a pension plan that goes beyond, the option for salary exchange and an option of an ethical pension fund reflecting our team’s attitudes and needs. Plus, a life assurance scheme to look after those that depend on you.
• Staying healthy and well: our team’s health and wellbeing is very important – we offer private medical, private dental, employee assistance programme, mental first aiders and a cycle‑to‑work scheme (and an electric car salary sacrifice scheme).
• Supporting our community: with a volunteering allowance we can give back to causes we are passionate about. Plus, supporting and having fun together as a team.

At Lily’s Kitchen we are pet food pioneers. We are changing the game with our mission to provide proper food for cats and dogs all over the world. Lily’s Kitchen was founded in London in 2009, by Henrietta Morrison who set out to feed her beloved dog, Lily, food she could trust. Lily’s Kitchen is now the No1 Brand in premium natural pet food, still focusing on the mission to inspire pet parents to feed their four‑legged friends natural, proper food for pets. Lily’s Kitchen was a founding member of the UK B Corp movement and the first pet food brand in the world to achieve B Corp status. Determined to use business as a force for good, Lily’s Kitchen has recently partnered with Dogs Trust to support dogs in need and is proud to lend a paw to charitable causes. We sell our nutritious natural recipes for cats and dogs in over 1,000 stockists, like Waitrose, Tesco, Ocado, organic food shops, vets, independent pet shops and garden centres all over the UK. We also sell internationally and are now sold in more than 30 countries worldwide.