Senior Category Manager (Crawley, GB, RH10 9AD)

Business Area: Nestlé Senior Category Manager

Location: Gatwick – Hybrid working: 2 days per week in our Gatwick office

Attractive Salary + car allowance

Some of our other fantastic benefits

• Potential, discretionary bonus
• Generous pension scheme
• 12 flexible days on top of 25-day holiday entitlement
• 2 paid volunteering days
• A focus on personal development and growth

Due to succession planning and internal moves, we are recruiting for a Senior Category Manager to join our Commercial Development team here at Nestlé.

Although this is a full-time permanent opportunity, please speak to us about what flexibility means to you as we are always open to discuss individual’s flexible working needs, don’t let this stop you from applying.

Position Summary

We have an exciting opportunity for a talented Senior Category Manager to join our CDT “Commercial Development team” in the UKI market to champion category and shopper insights within some of our leading customers grouped by channel, driving what’s best for the category and ultimately delivering growth for both. You will provide whole category analysis, recommendations and strategic advice based on solid category and shopper insight internally and externally. We want to be "Trusted for putting the Shopper first"**.

If you have the passion for category and shopper development and would like to work for a growing business, then this is the role for you…

Your impact

In this exciting and dynamic role within the Commercial Development Team, your role will be to lead the category and shopper agenda at a channel level. You will be responsible for leading, coaching and developing a team of Category Managers.

You will manage relationships at customer level for different channels and internally across functions by leading the category and shopper capabilities to inform and inspire how we continue to drive our growth agenda.

Key responsibilities of this role will include:

• Driving Category Growth by working closely with customers and the category development team in line with Category Vision

• Developing existing and new relationships with key customers to drive strategic category initiatives

• Setting the commercial plans for your customers grouped by channel, enabling Nestlé to win in the market

• Execution of the category vision drivers to unlock the potential growth in the category based on sound shopper and category insights

• Building and developing category and shopper marketing capabilities

• Leading the integrated commercial planning process for the channel

• Team Leadership & People Development

Your ingredients for success To be considered for this opportunity, you’ll be experienced in category management and development from within the FMCG sector. You will have experience of leading teams and developing people and have the confidence to influence people cross functionally and at a senior level.

Essential:

• Significant experience in Category Management or Category Development within FMCG

• Strong strategic capability with a track record of delivering category growth

• Flexibility and agility to solve problems rapidly and often creatively

• Proven experience of working collaboratively with colleagues to deliver exceptional results

• Excellent analytical skills and the ability to interpret data and translate this into insights and actionable recommendations.

Desirable:

• Experience of working with a breadth of customer insight agencies and systems

• Broader commercial or customer-facing experience.

What you need to know Advert posting date: 14/08/2026 Advert closing date: 28/08/2026

We will be considering candidates as they apply and we will occasionally close job advertisements early in the event we receive sufficient applicants, so please don’t delay in submitting your application.

At Nestlé, our values are rooted in respect and we believe that embracing diversity and fostering an inclusive environment allows everyone to reach their full potential and drives innovative thinking. We strongly encourage applications from individuals of all gender identities, ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities, parents, carers and members of the LGBT+ community. Please let us know if we can provide accommodations to ensure your full participation in the application process.

We take pride in championing inclusion and diversity. We proudly signed the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter, are committed to Disability Confidence, and have been recognised as a Times Top 50 Employer for gender equality for three consecutive years. Additionally, we are a headline partner of Diversity and Inclusion in grocery.

To find out more about Nestle’s commitment to DEI: Nestlé's Commitment to a Diverse and Inclusive Workplace

To find out more about your recruitment journey with Nestle: Recruitment Journey | Nestlé UK & Ireland