At Yeo Valley, we're about more than just making great food – we're here to Nurture & Nourish People & Planet by Making Great Food the Right Way. Forever. As a co-owned business, we invest in our people, encourage growth, and believe in doing things properly. As a Category Manager, you will be responsible for building, developing, and managing relationships with key customers, supporting them on key pieces of analytics e.g. range reviews, pricing and promotional strategies etc. You will also implement the Category Vision that supports the deliverance of the Yeo Valley strategic plan within key categories and customers’ accounts. Your responsibilities will include: Using category data and category/shopper insights, you turn into deliverable plans and strategies that drives category growth that’s mutually beneficial to our customers and the business. As a Category Manager you will be a strong advocate of the Yeo Valley strategic plan, actively contributing to the creation and delivery of the applicable strategic priorities across the business. Lead the category development agenda by analysing and interpreting trends from Category and shopper data Manage, maintain, and develop category partnerships across key retailers Lead on analysis and insights on key strategic projects with customers to influence range reviews and pricing and promotional strategies Support with building the Category Vision to demonstrate areas of category opportunity and growth internally Full rollout and responsibility of Category Vision with some customers and support externally with others Support wider business projects and lead on projects within the Project Boards as dictated by Yeo Valley strategic priorities Communicate effectively and land with customers and colleagues the implementation of category initiatives and provide category insights for account plans, brand plans and channel plans Seek opportunities to enhance and enrich the company’s performance and lead with key recommendations with key customers demonstrating a proactive approach and turning insights into actions Provision of critical market information reports including new product development (NPD) analysis and market data reports Lead the ambition for Yeo Valley to be viewed as Category experts with key strategic customers in yogurts Regular store visits and category benchmarking Influence and drive strategic growth in the own label and brand NPD process with relevant category insights in order identify growth opportunities and land effectively with customers Identify and communicate competitor launches with key recommendations and action plans to follow internally and externally Produce and manage regular monthly reports on market data to highlight category dynamics and relevant insights This role sits within the Category and Insights team and reports to the Senior Category Manager. This role is a 12 month Fixed Term Contract, working 40 hours per week Monday - Friday, based in our YVHQ offices in Blagdon, Somerset. Whilst we operate with flexible working principles, we expect our co-owners to be present in the office 2-3 days a week. Sounds interesting, what do I need? Essential: Previous experience in a Category, Commercial or Marketing Manager role in the FMCG industry with significant experience in support and building relationships with retail partners Highly skilled in relationship management Confident communicator Great influencing skills Strong presentation skills Analytical skills Proficiency and experience with market data i.e. IRI /Nielsen / Kantar / Dunnhumby / Self-Serve Desirable: Previous experience of landing a Category Vision with a retailer Previous experience of being Category Captains/Partners Creative problem solving Why should I join the family? We’re independent, British and proud to be making the highest quality yogurts, desserts and ice cream under the Yeo Valley brand and for many of the UK’s major retailers. Operating from four dairies and two logistics centres in Somerset and Devon, we employ over 1900 staff and produce more than 25% of the UK’s packaged yogurt. We’re sure you don’t need convincing, but there’s a whole host of benefits that we offer. It goes without saying that you'll have access to free parking, top of the range personal protection equipment (PPE) and your own locker. You'll also receive the following: Competitive holiday allowance non-contributory pension scheme life cover healthcare cash back plan cycle to work scheme subsidised Yeo Valley products and services preferential rates with our partners learning and development opportunities; we’re committed to ensuring all of our employees have the chance to grow Our closing dates are a guide for when the application window should close, although we may close the advert sooner if we can. So, we recommend you get your application in straight away – and don’t miss the opportunity to join us! Unfortunately, we’re not able to provide employment sponsorship to candidates at this moment in time. Please note that Yeo Valley do not accept speculative agency applications; we will only accept applications from preferred suppliers that have been submitted to us via our recruitment portal at the point of instruction .