Category Manager Beer & Drinks

Category Manager (CM) for Beer and Drinks is one of the key positions contributing to setting and achieving the overall business targets of SFR Poland. CM is responsible for delivering fully loaded Category P&L.

CM develops a category strategy in accordance with the corporate and local retail strategy and a yearly category plan following the European process structure and timings. The plan includes assortment, pricing, promotions, as well as supply chain and commissions. CM is responsible to successfully deliver the plan through service stations and vendors.

To deliver on the main areas of responsibilities the CM should be able to:

• Understand key business drivers and consumer insights within Beer and Drinks and transform these insights into a commercial strategy.
• Conduct and execute detailed category plans based on current category performance, issues, market intelligence and consumer insights.
• Conduct detailed assortment, space and cluster analysis in order to optimize the assortment and category performance and thereby maximize sales and profit.
• Define and secure execution of the pricing strategy, analyse category profitability in details and lead vendor price negotiations.
• Lead the development, execution and evaluation of consumer promotions with a positive ROI. Secure strong support from vendors to build the category.
• Develop yearly sales and margin forecast, based on the category plan and market development. Secure alignment with local key stakeholders to secure excellence in execution.
• Develop and execute vendor strategies including identifying strategic vendors and their strategies, classifying vendors with correct segmentation strategies and secure alignment with procurement.
• Manage category stock performance and initiate corrective actions as required, by setting service level and stock turn targets. Create promotional orders and monitor vendor delivery performance.
• Work cross functionally and get buy in for your ideas. 

The CM for Beer and Drinks will be responsible for coordinating all initiatives with different stakeholders in the organization, including local management and European counterparts. To succeed in the role, the person will require solid competences in building strategic working relationships with key stakeholders and be able to transform category strategies into understandable action points for other levels and functions.

Competency requirements:

• Higher education, preferably in business/economics
• Strategic capabilities combined with focus on detail
• Analytical, fact based and solution oriented in decision making
• Proactive and taking responsibility, with a strong will to win in a team context
• Excellent in communication and in building strong strategic relationship with key stakeholders
• Fluency in English, both oral and written
• Strong Microsoft Office skills

Critical experience

• Min. 5 years of experience working in Retail or FMCG organisations in roles like category management, procurement, key account management, category buyer or trade marketing.
• Solid understanding of Retail, efficient value chain, demand driven forecasting and business intelligence.
• Excellent in negotiations.

Our values - Courageous, Open, Passionate and Caring - are at the core of our management system. They drive our performance, and guide us in how we do business, how we work together, and how we act towards external stakeholders.
We welcome your application!