Category Manager

Overview

We are a food company owned by Danish farmers, supplying high-quality food to customers and consumers all over the world. From butchers to business developers, we are more than 26,000 colleagues.

Why come to Danish Crown?

• Amazing 28 days' holiday plus bank holidays - that's 36 days holiday a year
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption and share parental leave
• Enhanced company sick pay
• Matched company pension scheme
• Heavily discounted meat for all staff through the staff shop
• Well-being programmes, with free optional health care cash plans to cover your everyday healthcare costs and which offer a wide range of digital and virtual wellbeing tools to support both your health and the people you care about
• Free Employee Assistance Programme for all colleagues and their families
• Free parking
• Free tea and coffee on all sites
• Development opportunities for those that would like to progress in a global business

Area of responsibility

We are seeking a dynamic and strategic Category Manager to join our team, focusing on the Bacon & Gammon category. This role plays a pivotal part in supporting Danish Crown UK's retail business by providing data-driven insights and expertise to both retail partners and internal New Product Development (NPD) teams. The Category Manager will drive innovation in product and packaging to appeal to modern consumer preferences.

Responsibilities

• Collate the relevant data & insights that Danish Crown needs to develop its understanding of the current and potential bacon and gammon consumer profile (demographic, lifestyle, usage and attitudes, shopping and consumption behaviour).
• Propose consumer segmentation and archetype mapping to guide strategic decision making around product and packaging development.
• Provide expert, insights-based perspective on the broader consumer & occasion trends (e.g. convenience or health) that impact the bacon & gammon categories and wider MFP category.
• Identify possible opportunities for 'modernising' gammon (product recipes, cooking formats, packaging formats etc.) using both qualitative and quantitative data.
• Present strategic recommendations internally to NPD / technical / procurement following the Danish Crown innovation pipeline process.
• Present insight-backed strategic propositions to Danish Crown's valued retail customers for mutually beneficial category growth.
• Prepare and present business cases for necessary CAPEX investment.
• Lead the testing of new concepts / recipes / pack formats with consumers, together with the UK Marketing team and/or with the retailers' category team.

Job Requirements

• Category Strategy Development: Develop and execute category strategies that align with Danish Crown UK's overall business objectives, focusing on growth opportunities within the Bacon & Gammon category.
• Data Analysis and Insights: Utilize market data, consumer trends, and competitor analysis to identify opportunities for growth and innovation. Translate insights into actionable strategies.
• Retailer Relationships: Build and maintain strong relationships with retail buyers, becoming a trusted advisor by presenting category insights and strategic recommendations that drive mutual business growth.
• NPD Collaboration: Work closely with internal NPD teams to guide product and packaging innovation initiatives. Provide consumer insights and category expertise to influence product development decisions.
• Presentation Skills: Prepare and deliver compelling presentations to retail buyers, showcasing category strategies, market insights, and product innovations. Additionally, present internally to senior management to secure CAPEX investment for strategic initiatives.
• Performance Monitoring: Monitor and evaluate category performance against KPIs. Implement corrective actions and optimizations as necessary to achieve sales and profitability targets.