Category Strategy Manager

About the role

This is an exciting opportunity for a Category Strategy Manager to join the Commercial Planning team and be a key member of the Category Proposition Group Leadership team. You will be responsible for supporting the Head of CPG in developing an ambitious yet realistic 1-3 year commercial plan for the CPG, which defines the priority areas for investment (eg new product development, corporate responsibility, marketing support) and other areas of focus in support of the the overarching 1-3 year Commercial and Customer strategic Plan (e.g. COGs and efficiency). The Category Strategy Manager will deliver specific projects in support of delivering the overall CPG plan, bringing together data and insight to create clear Category strategy plans and will regularly review progress against both the overall CPG plan and the individual category strategies.

• Salary – £65,000 – £105,200

• Contract type – This position is a Permanent contract.

This role is known internally as Category Manager\’

• Working pattern/flexible working – The Partnership has adopted a hybrid working approach, meaning you\’ll be able to work a mixture between the office and home based upon your personal needs whilst balancing the needs of the business. The Category Manager team aim for around 2-3 days a week in the office to connect and on a more ad-hoc basis to attend key meetings.

• Location – This role is based at our Bracknell Head Office.

Key responsibilities

• Delivering the Category strategy projects for the CPG area that you business partner (as well as other possible cross directorate projects)

• Acting as the voice of the customer in the CPG team keeping up-to-date with market trends, competitor and supplier activity and ensuring that Waitrose performance is understood (and held to account) against this context

• Working as part of the category management team to embed the new thinking on category roles and new commercial performance tool outputs into the category management process – with a focus on continuous improvement

• Working with the CPG leadership team, responsible for developing the 1-3 year commercial plan for the CPG which includes the priority areas for investment, category strategy, COGs and efficiency and delivers against clearly defined targets (e.g. market share, sales, profit)

• Closely track performance against this and coordinate necessary inflight actions

• Using the Category Roles Framework and Category Strategy process as well as input from the lever owners to create clear and deliverable multi-year Category Strategies across the levers (eg. price, promotions, range) which deliver improved performance against customer and commercial metrics (eg market share, sales, profit)

• Steering cross functional teams of 20+ people (across Buying, Brand Development, Technical, Space, Value, Customer, Retail and Merchandising, Supply Chain) on each category strategy project and ensure they deliver against stretching customer and commercial targets with clear ownership and accountability of all required actions and follow up, benefits tracking and corrective action taken where necessary. Influencing senior stakeholders is critical

• Partnering with Commercial Managers and Value Chain Analysis team to ensure that Category strategies are supported by forward thinking and deliverable supplier strategies which deliver sufficient COGS efficiencies. Provide senior support with insight for commercial negotiations as required

• Using data & analytics from multiple sources including Customer Insight, BrandView, ShopperI, Kantar, Business Objects and suppliers to build strategies meshing all insight together to win with customers and deliver commercial targets

• Supporting Range Reviews and other lever deep-dive activities within Category Teams where appropriate and collectively drive improvements in assortment and space KPIs – including performance density, line density and in-shop efficiencies (Direct to Shelf DTS)

• Supporting the Space team, leverage the data and insights for category reviews but also day to day operational improvements – ensuring the direction and integrity of the strategy\’ remains on track over the 1-3 years

• Ensuring the continuous improvement of the Category strategy process – leveraging best practice and input from suppliers (where appropriate) and incorporating the latest thinking from lever owners (e.g. value, product development, CSR etc.)

• Partnering with the insight and analytics teams to ensure that we are using data and insight in strategy formulation and decision making with ever increasing sophistication

• Be the best practice insight/analytics champions in Trading – role modelling and coaching so that the Trading division is continuously upskilled in its use of data and analytics

• Focused ad hoc Category support where required

Essential skills/experience you\’ll need

• Experience in Strategy development, ideally in a retail or commercial environment

• Senior Buying or Category management experience or commercial equivalent

• Financial acumen with very high numeracy, analytical and critical thinking skills

• Extensive experience with stakeholder management and influencing

• Comfortable with presenting and skilled in data storytelling

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About The Partnership

We\’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We\’re not just employees, we\’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there\’s never been a more exciting time to join us.

We\’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect.

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we\’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective.

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.

Important points to note:

It\’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you\’ll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third-party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.

We also recommend that you apply as soon as possible as vacancies can close early if we see a high number of applicants.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.

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