Senior Category Manager (Marketing Team) - hybrid role (Naas)

About Kerry

Kerry Dairy Ireland is one of the world’s leading dairy businesses with a revenue more than €1bn per year.  With our strong dairy heritage and deep-rooted connection to our 3,000 milk suppliers, right through to our portfolio of innovative and high-quality brands, our vision for the business is to re-imagine dairy through innovation and sustainability to inspire a better future.   Our vertical integration through our grass-fed and low carbon farms produce 1.2bn litres of milk for our Dairy, Nutritional Ingredients, and Consumer Foods business and make us one of the most sustainable dairy businesses in the world. 

In the Dairy Consumer Foods business division (where this role is based) we have a strong track record in innovation underpinned by technology and science across both well known consumer brands and Private Label products. Through our multi-geographical presence (UK, Ireland, and Western Europe) we have a deep consumer insight and relationships with our retail customers. Our Core Categories include Butter & Spreads, Cheese & Cheese Snacking aswell asplant based through Dairygold, Charleville, Strings Golden Cow and Coleraine. 

About the role

To support our growth ambitions, a new Senior Category Manager role has been created within the Category Team in IOI.

The purpose of this role is to drive thought leadership and unlock opportunities for growth within the Categories we operate in, both externally in the Irish Grocery Retail trade, internally in cross functional teams and with key stakeholders in the business.

The role will involve day-to-day management of our Key Strategic Customers - Build, grow and maintain profitable and long-lasting relationships from a Category perspective on the Island of Ireland - Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Championing the consumer and shopper, leveraging strategic thinking and demonstrating actionable insights are at the heart of the role….. this will include Development & execution of leading Category Visions & Strategy with a disproportionate winning share for Kerry.

THE ROLE NEEDS TO BE BASED IN IRELAND.

What will you be doing?

• Manage relationships with priority & strategic Customers
• Review and validate key customer commercial activities for the customers category and deliver category recommendations for optimal distribution, range, space & merch layouts by channel aligned with customer strategies
• Development & execution of leading Category Visions & Strategy
• Identifying actionable insights to fuel our annual brand planning process across a portfolio of brands in Ireland.
• Proactively bringing the ‘outside in’, harnessing insights and disseminating them for action and business impact.
• Support the development of our Category Capability Framework

What do you need to be successful?

We are looking for a strategic thinker who is curious and passionate about data, trends, consumer & shopper behaviour and loves working in the FMCG sector.

Our ideal candidate will also be a dynamic team player that can build relationships and positively challenge to unearth and identify actionable insights that will drive value into our Business and our Customers Categories.

• Being able to flex and navigate a large network within Kerry, alongside the ability to work autonomously.
• Solid experience of working in Category Management and managing Strategic Customers across the Grocery Retail Trade.
• Previous experience in Category Management
• Highly analytical, comfortable quickly surfacing insights and sharing them in engaging ways with various audiences
• Brilliant communication skills and able to build relationships internally and externally with the trade.
• Skilled at working collaboratively and managing data agencies
• Expert working with Category software and portals e.g. Kantar, Dunnhumby, EYC, Talysis, Iri and Shopper Intelligence (all or most preferable)
• Proficient in excel and comfortable working with large amounts of data
• Whilst experience is important, finding the right person who will live and breathe our Kerry Values is something we’re super passionate about (ownership, enterprising spirit, courage, inclusiveness & open-mindedness)

Please note: We do not accept CVs or candidate profiles from recruitment agencies where Kerry terms of business have not been signed. Additionally, we will not consider or agree to payment of any recruiter fee under these circumstances. This also applies to CVs or candidate profiles sent directly to any Kerry Hiring Managers.