Category Strategy & Commercial Insight Manager in Northampton

In a world where commercial decisions should be shaped by insight rather than intuition, what examples can the candidate provide that demonstrate their ability to turn consumer, shopper or category data into actions that measurably improved performance? When growth isn’t found by following the obvious, which instance best illustrates the candidate’s ability to uncover an untapped category opportunity — including the data sources that revealed it, how the commercial case was built, and how insight was converted into execution? With stakeholders often pulling in different directions, how has the candidate used data-driven storytelling to align priorities, influence direction, and deliver a category outcome that otherwise wouldn’t have been achieved?

MacGregor Black are partnering with a leading FMCG food & beverage organisation to appoint a Category Strategy & Commercial Insight Manager. This role is central to shaping the category agenda and leveraging insight to unlock sustainable commercial growth. Sitting at the intersection of category management, commercial strategy, and consumer/market intelligence, the successful candidate will act as a strategic advisor to senior commercial stakeholders and key customers across both Retail and Out-of-Home channels. To translate market, shopper and consumption dynamics into strategic recommendations that optimise category performance, strengthen customer partnerships, and guide the business on where to play and how to win.

Key Responsibilities

• Define the long-term category strategy - grounded in consumer behaviour, shopper missions, and channel dynamics - and ensure alignment with wider commercial goals.
• Lead the discovery of incremental growth opportunities, using syndicated data, loyalty analytics, panel insights, and bespoke research to identify white-space, occasion-based opportunities and portfolio optimisation levers.
• Turn insight into commercial action, partnering with revenue management, marketing and sales to inform pricing strategy, promotional planning, portfolio architecture, channel prioritisation and customer sell‑ins.
• Strengthen customer relationships as a trusted strategic advisor, delivering persuasive evidence‑based category stories to influence ranging, shelf blueprint, merchandising, and joint business planning.
• Support innovation and renovation strategy through insight, guiding opportunity sizing, concept screening, positioning, and launch tracking to maximise market traction.
• Monitor performance and market disruption, providing proactive read‑outs on brand, competitor and category trends and translating them into clear business risks and opportunities.
• Manage external data and insight partnerships, ensuring value extraction from platforms including Nielsen, Kantar, loyalty datasets and other syndicated tools.

What We’re Looking For

• Substantial experience in Category Strategy, Category Management, Insight or Shopper Strategy within FMCG - ideally food or beverage.
• Advanced capability in analysing syndicated and shopper data (e.g., Nielsen, Kantar, loyalty programmes, OOH sources, consumer panels).
• Strong experience influencing commercial decision‑making - able to shape strategy and drive business change through insight‑led storytelling.
• Proficiency across Excel, Power BI, and PowerPoint to distil complex data into simple and compelling narratives.
• Proven success partnering with senior internal stakeholders and major retailers/OoH customers.
• Strategic thinker with commercial acumen, comfortable owning decisions and operating autonomously.

What Will Set You Apart

• A track record of turning insight into measurable category or commercial value (e.g., distribution gains, NPD performance uplift, profitable mix shifts, improved promotional ROI).
• Demonstrable strength in navigating conflicting priorities and securing alignment through data‑driven storytelling.
• Experience shaping portfolio / pack / pricing / promotional strategy within a commercial transformation journey.

Salary £45-50k plus benefits. For more information, contact Alice Redmond. Mid‑Senior level, Full‑time, Food and Beverage Manufacturing.