Category Development Manager

Category Benelux Development Manager

About us

With over 200 brands sold in nearly 180 countries, we're the world's leading premium drinks company. Bring your passion and use your curiosity as you explore, collaborate, and innovate to build brands consumers love. Together with passionate people from all over the world, you'll test new ideas, learn and grow, and unlock a brighter, more exciting future. Join us to create a career worth celebrating.

About the Role

Winning at the point of purchase with customers is fundamental for business growth as retailers and wholesalers settle how our categories and brands are presented to consumers and shoppers. Shoppers increasingly buy from a repertoire of brands and the vast majority of decision making happens at the point of purchase, hence our ability to influence this is critical to business growth.

Our team partners with Revenue Growth Planning (RGM), Commercial and Customer Activation leads. Together, we develop the one commercial plan and ensure the entire commercial and category development teams are fully equipped with comprehensive selling tools.

The Category Development team develops a deep understanding of customers while partnering closely with them on joint value creation projects. We utilize sophisticated category management skills to advise customers how to maximize their revenue, margin, operational efficiency and shopper satisfaction. Our team strives to establish Diageo as the most trusted and respected supplier in Benelux, recognized for their collaborative win:win approach and outstanding understanding of category, customer and shopper behaviour.

Role Responsibilities

• Establish and fully embed the Adult Drink strategy as the framework for expressing our category, brand, innovation and portfolio plans to customers in Benelux, with a focus on the Belgium market.

• Track, report, and articulate Category performance - turning data into insights and recommendations.

• Trend prediction and forecasting, market analytics and identifying new business opportunities in line with category trends.

• Lead customer engagement with Diageo's category vision, strategy and plans to identify opportunities to grow the spirits' category (incl. Non-Alc).

• Support Diageo to become the go to supplier (and most trusted/respected) for category management across all strategic customers.

• Make in outlet navigation (assortment, merchandising, pricing, promotion, display) simple and commercially focused.

• Connect our internal teams across commercial, shopper marketing, activation, RGM & data insights to drive tangible actions from insight that will drive the triple win for Diageo, Customer, and Shopper.

• 2-4 years of relevant marketing/commercial experience

• Existing capability to build genuine relationships based on mutual trust & respect

• Successful management of senior stakeholders, resulting in strong and positive outcomes

• Holistic skills across various marketing growth drivers as well as a track record of delivering groundbreaking business results

• Comfortable dealing with ambiguity and complexity

• Proven brilliant execution to high standards

• Strong commercial and numerical competence

• Strong knowledge of Excel and Powerpoint

• Knowledge of shopper analytics tools such as Nielsen (Circana), GfK is a plus

• Fluency in Dutch and English, French is a plus

• An inclusive company culture that puts employees and their development first

• A competitive salary with bonus and many benefits that suit your lifestyle

• An industry leading parental leave policy

• ...and of course, THE best colleagues!