Category Manager in London

Mind Partners is an executive search firm with offices in London and Paris. We specialise in retained headhunting for executives, senior management, and experts. We are now partnering with Nuxe UK in the search of their new Category Manager.

Nuxe Group was born from an entrepreneurial adventure that started in the 1990s, when Aliza Jabès, founder and former CEO, bought a small Parisian R&D laboratory. Today, NUXE Group gathers about 800 people all around the world, driven by the passion for nature, science, and arousing senses. Nuxe is a leading French brand pioneer in natural cosmetology. In 30 years of existence, it has become the reference player in that sector, which it has contributed to creating. NUXE UK has a turnover of £9.5M. It is looking to appoint a Category Manager, Pure Players, to join the Sales Department. The position will report directly to the Commercial Director UK&I.

Requirements

• For Specific Pure Player customers, the Category Manager is responsible for:
• Developing and executing trade strategic plans for Nuxe ranges to drive sales, visibility and profitability.
• Managing product assortment, pricing, promotions and inventory to optimize Category performance.
• Retail Promotions and Campaigns: Planning and executing in-store promotions, point-of-sale materials, and merchandising efforts to attract attention and drive sales.
• Developing solid relationships with key customers to improve category offering and negotiate favorable terms.
• Collaborating with various teams, like marketing and sales to identify and implement new products, services and marketing initiatives.
• Analysing market trends, consumer behavior and competitor activities in order to identify growth opportunities and market gaps.
• Budget Management: Handling budgets for customer-specific commercial activities and ensuring campaigns deliver return on investment.

Your first area of work:

• Develop and execute trade strategic plans for Pure Player customers to drive the Category and Nuxe Market Share.

Your responsibility:

• Sales, profitability and market share for Pure Player customers.

Your scope:

• Pure Player customers.

Your missions:

• Conduct thorough market research and analysis to identify emerging trends, competitive landscape and customer preferences and provide actionable plans.
• Develop and execute comprehensive category management strategies to achieve business objectives and drive growth.
• Maintain robust category management tools and processes, ensuring seamless strategy execution across the organisation.
• Monitor and evaluate category performance, leveraging key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify areas for improvement and implement corrective measures.
• Lead supplier negotiations, ensuring favourable terms and conditions to drive cost savings and strengthen supplier relationships.
• Collaborate with marketing teams to develop effective product messaging, positioning and communication strategies.
• Execute pricing strategies and promotional plans to optimise profitability while considering market dynamics and customer value perception.
• In charge of the Joint Business Plan activation plan to drive sales and profitability through a promotional plan, a visibility plan, merchandising and category.

Your second area of work:

• Budget Management: Handling budgets for customer specific commercial activities and ensuring campaigns deliver return on investment.

Your responsibility:

• Budget Management and P&L accountability.

Your scope:

• Pure Player customers.

Your missions:

• Manage the budget allocated to Pure Player customers with a ROI approach.
• Align with the KAM responsible for Pure Player customers on investments and profitability of each action.
• Monitor the allocated budget following the group guidelines.

The Category Manager Pure Player’s role is responsible for driving sales growth, market share and profitability across selected online retail partners. The position focuses on developing and executing customer-specific category strategies, managing assortment, pricing, promotions and visibility plans, while building strong relationships with key accounts. The role also involves analysing market trends and performance, leading Joint Business Plan activations, collaborating closely with Sales, Marketing and Supply teams, and managing customer investment budgets with a strong focus on ROI and profitability. In addition to the strategic category management responsibilities, the role includes day-to-day account management activities, ensuring smooth operational execution with Pure Player partners. This includes product set-up for new launches, order processing and coordination, promotional administration, and maintaining the accuracy of product and commercial data across customer platforms.

The requirements:

• 2 years of proven experience in Trade Activation/Category Management, especially online.
• University degree level or equivalent, ideally in Business or Marketing.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Excellent negotiation abilities.
• Agile, hands-on, self-driven, and proactive mindset.
• Adaptable and excels in fast-paced environments.

Benefits

• Excellent salary package: basic salary + 15% bonus (discretionary, and based on objectives).
• Pension: 5% from employer, 3% minimum from employee, salary sacrificed with savings reinvested into the employee’s pension.
• Private health insurance.
• Long-term sickness and death in service protection.
• Hybrid role: minimum 2 days a week in Liverpool Street office.
• Office Gym.
• 25 days holidays (+ bank holidays).