Category Manager

YOU

This is a fixed term contract until August 2025

Can you put category thinking at the heart of our business? As our Category Manager you’ll be part of a fun and vibrant team where you’ll bring your analytical skills to identify opportunities and risks for our customers and our business, plus, you’ll use the Category Vision to be the champion of the shopper and influence change. You’ll get to work with a variety of people in our brand and sales organisations and help to shape the direction of both Suntory and our customers’ business.

….and you’ll also get to work with fabulous brands, like Lucozade and Ribena.

YOUR ROLE

• Identifying category growth opportunities and threats for our customers and Suntory brands.
• Building strategic external relationships with our key customers
• Creating solid, credible internal relationships with commercial and brand colleagues
• Using a range of qual and quant data to deliver rounded insight and recommendations
• Tailoring the Category Strategy with our customers to engage and deliver long-term scalable competitive advantage and growth.
• Implement and deliver strategic, category-focused projects, e.g. deep dives into promotions, underperforming segments, range and space optimization
• Support business planning by defining core ranges, SKU optimisation, and review and course correction of NPD & core
• Supporting selling stories into our customers with strong category rationale

WHAT YOU BRING

• You’ll have category leadership experience gained in FMCG
• Turning macro, category, shopper and consumer data into actionable insight
• Transitioning insight into action and delivery
• Strong analytical skills
• Able to learn and extract actionable insight from a number of data sources e.g. Nielsen, iRi, Kantar, Mintel, Aimia, Dunnhumby, Sales Out
• Leadership of projects across multiple teams
• Ability to engage customers and stakeholders in a strategic agenda
• Demonstrated strategic and category thought leadership
• Ability to create and deliver compelling category selling stories based on insight

ABOUT US

Suntory is a Japanese company and the world’s third biggest player in the drinks industry. The continuous success and growth of each individual makes Growing for Good possible. We believe in moving forward boldly, together. Our Coleford Factory was built in 1946 and spanning 53 acres, our factory employs more than 300 people who help make our much-loved drinks, Lucozade and Ribena. Our diverse and iconic portfolio include amongst many other brands, Orangina, Yamazaki and Hibiki whiskies, Premium Malts and V. We wouldn’t achieve what we do without our people who are at the heart of everything we do. Our people unleash their spirit daily; they craft exceptional drinks, and they fuel our Growth

YOUR FUTURE WITH US

Joining Suntory isn’t just about taking on a role, it’s about embarking on a career journey. You have the opportunity to work with talented, inspiring and authentic leaders and have the freedom to dream big and go for it (Yatte Minahare). At Suntory you’ll find a supportive work environment that values work life balance and that will help you realise your full potential and grow for good. Our People and Culture team are a team that genuinely care about creating a great experience for our employees and we would love you to be part of it.

OUR COMMITMENT

At Suntory, we greatly appreciate the value that diverse knowledge, perspectives, and backgrounds can bring. Our colleagues from a wide range of cultures, lifestyles, and experiences contribute significantly to our collective success. We understand that our candidates all have unique career trajectories and experiences, and this can sometimes deter you from applying for a role if you don’t feel that you meet all the criteria. If you believe that you have relevant skills and experience that you feel could benefit us, we would love to know what unique perspectives and experience you can bring to help make us better, together in a company that is committed to Growing for Good and Giving Back to Society.

Our recruitment, selection and assessment process is based on the skills and competencies of the above role. We are committed to and value diversity, equity and inclusion in our recruitment process and do not discriminate based on gender, race or ethnic background, class, economic status, disability status, sexual orientation, age, political beliefs, marital status or any other protected characteristic. We want to ensure that our interview process is as inclusive as possible. If you require any reasonable accommodation as part of the process, do not hesitate to let your recruiter know who will be happy to help.