Product Performance & Lifecycle Manager in Manchester

This role sits in the NPI and Data Governance team within Product and Supplier Management. A fast-paced, exciting environment working globally with our markets, categories and suppliers to give our customers the best experience possible. This is a great place to work if you’d like to be at the heart of our commercial operation, working cross-functionally to execute category strategy. This role is designed to provide a centralised, cross-functional view of New Product Introduction (NPI) performance, ensuring early lifecycle risk detection, commercial optimisation, and alignment between Category, Inventory, and other key functions.

What you will be doing:

• NPI Performance Monitoring: Own the end-to-end tracking process for NPI performance at an EMEA level. Work with newly formed data team to help produce consistent, high-level reporting suitable for SLT review and KPI tracking. Shape and define requirements with senior stakeholders for dashboard development and deployment. Drive consistent use of reports and dashboards across P&SM, upskill understanding, gather insight and drive value. Ensure performance dashboards are updated and accessible to all stakeholders.
• Early Lifecycle Risk Management: Proactively identify underperforming NPIs within the first 3–6 months. Provide clear, actionable recommendations to Category Managers. Track follow-up actions to ensure timely resolution. Work with Demand planning and Inventory Control on NPI early life performance reviews and activity.
• Data-Driven Decision Support: Integrate and analyse data from the 3-6-9 reports to highlight trends, risks, and opportunities. Present insights and best practices across markets and categories. Drive continuous improvement in NPI launch and exit strategies.
• Cross-Functional Coordination: Act as the operational bridge between Category, Inventory, Distribution Centres, NPI, Marketing, Pricing, and Markets. Align all teams to a single, standardised process for NPI review and action. Ensure clear R&R definitions to maintain accountability.
• Stock Exit & ESG Impact Reduction: Build strong relationships with 3rd party brokers to maximise sell-through of slow-moving or obsolete NPI stock. Reduce scrapping rates to minimise environmental impact and provision charges. Provide holistic support to categories to coordinate and share best practice around range curation.
• Commercial Campaign Planning: Collaborate with Category, Marketing, and Pricing teams to design and execute targeted “offer” campaigns for NPIs. Track ROI of campaigns against sales uplift and provision reduction.
• Business level project support: Ability to manage business wide projects. Own and centralise data requirements for these projects. Communicate and manage Stakeholder requirements.

Measures of success:

• Sales performance: % of NPIs meeting / exceeding launch revenue targets.
• Risk detection: Average time from NPI launch to identification of underperformance.
• Provision reduction: Reduction in slow-moving NPI stock write-offs.
• Cross-team efficiency: Reduction in duplicated work between Category & Inventory teams.
• Campaign impact: Measurable uplift from targeted NPI promotional activities.

What we are looking for from you:

• Strong stakeholder management skills, excellent communication and ability to influence others.
• Project management experience in a multi-channel business.
• Expert handling large amounts of data, utilising Excel, database systems, and ERP systems such as SAP.
• Proven Commercial, data-led decision making skills.
• Strong troubleshooting skills.
• Excellent problem-solving capabilities.
• Detail-oriented with the ability to see the bigger picture.

At RS we’ve been solving engineering problems for over 80 years: big ones, small ones, easy and difficult ones. We turn the ‘what ifs’ into the ‘why nots’, the impossible into the possible. Our purpose? Making amazing happen for a better world. We offer service and product solutions. We send out a parcel every 2 seconds, to over 130 countries. We provide over 700,000 in-stock and over 3 million unstocked products to more than 1.2 million customers. We want people like you, as you are curious about things, you like doing things differently and in a human way with empathy. Because that’s exactly how we partner with people – our customers, suppliers, colleagues, and communities – to solve problems. We’ll also invest in your development and wellbeing – because building a more diverse and inclusive culture, being ethical, responsible, and committed to our Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) action plan is at the heart of everything we do. Come and join us and over 9000 colleagues and we’ll help you to think big, do more and unleash your brilliance, so you do amazing things too.