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Category Development Manager

City: Dublin

We are Reckitt

Home to the world's best loved and trusted hygiene, health, and nutrition brands. Our purpose defines why we exist: to protect, heal and nurture in the relentless pursuit of a cleaner, healthier world. We are a global team united by this purpose. Join us in our fight to make access to the highest quality hygiene, wellness, and nourishment a right and not a privilege.

Marketing

Marketing is at the heart of Reckitt. We pride ourselves on our unique way of driving growth for some of the world's most loved and trusted health, hygiene and nutrition brands. Our purpose and fight are what motivates us to design and deliver distinctive communications throughout our consumer funnel, so that we deliver category growth as well as a positive impact on society. With extensive media and digital teams embedded throughout the organisation, we measure both our business and our societal impact. Our global teams lead on our overarching brand strategy, brand guardianship and innovation pipeline in close partnership with R and D. Leaving our local marketing teams to deliver on our regional goals in partnership with our Sales teams. With the scale of our 2500 marketing community - alongside our leading-edge Marketing Academy - your opportunities to grow and upskill will be extensive.

About the role

The Category Manager will be responsible for leading category strategies and delivering insights to drive business growth. This role requires expertise in category management from and FMCG/Pharma background and a strategic approach to customer and market needs.

Your responsibilities

You will be responsible for influencing and driving our key retailer relationships to advance the in-store execution of the category. The role will involve internal cross functional working with the National Account and the trade marketing teams and ensuring clear strategic building blocks and tactics are being driven with the appropriate sense of urgency externally to result in store excellence and retailer performance. Reporting into Head of Marketing & Trade Marketing Ireland.

Develop and deliver effective 4P execution based on local Success Models and an understanding of customers, categories and consumers to maximise category performance
Liaise with Trade Marketing & Northern Europe Category teams to ensure that NPD plans and wider categories initiatives are aligned and best practices are shared .
Customise strategies and plans to align with and support the retailers strategy .
Own and lead category storytelling, ensuring insight-led, retailer-ready narratives that land clearly with buying and merchandising teams .
Effectively negotiate mutually beneficial solutions with various stakeholders and influence key decision makers to improve in-store presence and execution of the category
Implement own initiatives from concept to in-store execution
Embed shopper-centric thinking into all recommendations, using missions, occasions and behaviours to shape plans
Lead space and layout optimisation across shelves to maximise availability and conversion .
Drive ownership of the range review processes
Own the category insight agenda, leveraging multiple data sources (EPOS, panel, shopper, market and digital data) to identify growth opportunities, risks and emerging trends.
Lead market and performance measurement, tracking category, brand and customer KPIs (value, volume, price, distribution, ROS, share, promo efficiency) and translating into clear recommendations.
Develop clear performance scorecards and dashboards, enabling regular monitoring of category health, retailer execution and initiative ROI.
Identify and size category opportunities (e.g. distribution gaps, price architecture, pack optimisation, promo effectiveness) with quantified commercial impact.
Lead post-implementation reviews of key initiatives (range reviews, activations, NPD launches), embedding test-and-learn principles and continuous optimisation.
Translate complex data into actionable insight, moving beyond reporting to diagnosing root causes and defining clear actions.

The experience we're looking for

Strong commercial acumen with a clear understanding of the Customer Management Process.
Able to translate category strategy into retailer‑relevant execution and financial impact, including sales, margin, ranging, space productivity and ROI, with a solid understanding of retailer P&L, executional capabilities and strategic priorities.
Highly competent analysing large volumes of complex data across multiple sources, applying strong analytical rigour to generate clear, actionable insight. Able to identify true shopper behaviour drivers rather than surface‑level trends and consistently link insight to commercially meaningful recommendations and plans.
Confident communicator, able to operate and influence effectively at all levels internally and externally.
Proven ability to land ideas with customers and stakeholders, driving adoption of category recommendations.
Strong verbal storyteller and presenter, using data visualisation to bring insight to life.
Effectively manages objections and negotiates within a category context, tailoring messaging to different audiences.
Designs recommendations that are practical, scalable and implementable in‑store, with a strong understanding of retailer and store operations, POG and space constraints, merchandising principles, ranging logic and implementation realities.
Proactive and accountable, with strong pace and a clear bias for action.
Focuses on turning insight into execution through clear recommendations, disciplined implementation and robust tracking, taking full ownership of outcomes rather than analysis alone.
Strong knowledge of syndicated and customer data sources (for example Nielsen/IRI, retailer portal data and panel data).
Advanced proficiency in Excel, PowerPoint and the wider Microsoft suite, with working knowledge of Spaceman or equivalent tools , such as VST and JDA.

The skills for success

Consumer Insights, Analytical skills, Brand Strategy, Category Strategy, Presentation skills, Drive Innovation, New Product Development, Storytelling, Creativity, Marketing optimization, Digital Marketing, Commercial accumen, Collaboration, P&L management, FMCG/Consumer Health Experience, Brand Management.

What we offer

With inclusion at the heart of everything we do, working alongside our four global Employee Resource Groups, we support our people at every step of their career journey, helping them to succeed in their own individual way. We invest in the wellbeing of our people through parental benefits, an Employee Assistance Program to promote mental health, and life insurance for all employees globally. We have a range of other benefits in line with the local market. Through our global share plans we offer the opportunity to save and share in Reckitt's potential future successes. For eligible roles, we also offer short-term incentives to recognise, appreciate and reward your work for delivering outstanding results. You will be rewarded in line with Reckitt's pay for performance philosophy.

Equality

We recognise that in real life, great people don't always 'tick all the boxes'. That's why we hire for potential as well as experience. Even if you don't meet every point on the job description, if this role and our company feels like a good fit for you, we still want to hear from you. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, disability or medical condition; colour, ethnicity, race, citizenship, and national origin; religion, faith; pregnancy, family status and caring responsibilities; sexual orientation; sex, gender identity, gender expression, and transgender identity; protected veteran status; size or any other basis protected by appropriate law.

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