Commercial & Category Director

Location - Hybrid (South East UK, 1 / 2 days PW)

We're partnering with a this unique FMCG to hire a senior commercial and category leader for a newly created role at the forefront of an exciting growth agenda.

This is a rare opportunity to combine strategic thinking, commercial leadership and category expertise to help shape how an emerging category is sold, activated and scaled across UK retail.

You'll have the freedom to build the strategy, create the retailer proposition and influence key commercial decisions, while remaining close enough to the action to bring it all to life.

The Challenge:

As the commercial lead for a rapidly growing category, you'll be responsible for developing the vision, proposition and selling strategy that drives retailer engagement and commercial growth.

Working across commercial, category, marketing and leadership teams, you'll help define how the category is positioned, how retailers unlock value from it, and how it becomes a meaningful growth driver across the market.

Key areas of responsibility include:

• Developing compelling retailer-facing growth strategies and selling stories
• Influencing commercial decisions around pricing, promotional strategy, pack architecture and activation
• Building category-led business plans that drive distribution, visibility and commercial performance
• Creating persuasive, insight-led narratives that demonstrate category growth and shopper incrementality
• Partnering with major retailers to shape execution, merchandising and category development plans
• Leveraging global expertise and best practice to establish a category-leading approach

The Right Candidate:

We're seeking an experienced FMCG leader with a proven track record of influencing commercial growth through category thinking, customer insight and strategic selling.

You’ll likely bring:

• A number of years’ experience across commercial, category and customer-facing FMCG roles
• Exposure to Health, Wellness & Beverage Categories would be ideal (adjacent categories considered)
• Experience within a major FMCG business, ideally complemented by time in a more entrepreneurial or scale-up environment
• Credibility and gravitas when engaging with senior stakeholders, customers and strategic partners
• A proactive, hands-on mindset with the ability to create rather than simply inherit
• A grocery retail network would be beneficial but not a pre-requisite

Why is it right for you?

This isn't about managing an existing category plan.

It's about creating one.

You'll have the opportunity to influence the commercial direction of a high-growth category, build retailer partnerships, shape go-to-market strategy and create frameworks that will ultimately be adopted across multiple international markets.

Backed by the investment, scale and resources of a global business, you'll have the platform to make a visible commercial impact while enjoying the autonomy typically associated with a much smaller organisation.

If you're excited by building growth stories, influencing customers, shaping strategy and delivering results, this is an opportunity to leave a genuine mark on a category's future.