Category Development Manager, Personal Care

Caring for skin means caring for people

At Beiersdorf, we want to help people feel good about their skin – and our commitment goes far beyond caring for skin. For 140 years, we have developed innovative skin and body care products for well-known brands such as NIVEA, Eucerin, La Prairie, Hansaplast, and Labello. We act according to our purpose, WE CARE BEYOND SKIN, and take responsibility for our consumers, our employees, the environment and society.

Behind every brand, every product and every accomplishment are our more than 20,000 employees. It is for them that we live an inclusive culture of respect and trust that is strongly aligned with our values – CARE, COURAGE, SIMPLICITY and TRUST. We also embrace diversity by valuing the uniqueness of each individual and being committed to equal opportunities for all.

A welcoming workplace that offers personal and professional growth for all individuals.

At Beiersdorf, you’ll find:

• A welcoming workplace that fosters diversity, inclusion and belonging where every team member feels valued, respected, and supported
• Nimble teams that enjoy challenging work and the ability to make an impact
• A dynamic community of life-long learners that values acumen, aptitude and the ability to learn as well as hard skills and established expertise
• A purpose-led company that cares about your personal and professional development with the right balance of structure and flexibility to thrive
• A collaborative culture that leads with care, trust, simplicity and courage

Unique benefits that consider the whole person.
We understand that you have a life outside of work, and we support you with unique benefits including:

• Generous and flexible PTO policy
• Summer Friday hours
• Paid Parental Leave
• Comprehensive Wellness and Benefits program
• Cash Balance Plan (similar to a pension)
• 401k match
• Growing number of Employee Resource Groups or affinity groups - to foster meaningful connections and belonging with other colleagues
• Dynamic work model – a hybrid of in-office collaboration and remote focused work days

Experience, skills and competencies that lend themselves to this role:

We know that experience comes in all forms and we’re not necessarily looking for individuals who can hit the ground running (‘check all the boxes’) but may bring a unique blend of competence and capabilities that can grow into a role and/or bring news skills to the team.

OVERVIEW:

Beiersdorf Inc. is seeking a self-motivated individual who will deliver thought leadership, inspire Commercial Team, and unlock commercial growth opportunities through the creation of winning, category and shopper centric strategies and tactics to guide the execution of effective shopper and category management principles at store.

The Category Development Manager is the key internal and external Category Expert responsible of the development, communication and execution of Category Visions, Category Strategies & Tactics, and Go-To-Market Plans. The Category Development Manager will be an active business advisor, influencing to get buy-in, and defining Commercialization of Innovation through Category based storytelling that is rooted in Category and Shopper Insights enabling growth to our internal partners and external retail customers.

Reporting to the Director Category Management & Shopper Insights, and collaborating closely with Marketing, Sales and Shopper Marketing teams, utilising the full data and analytical resources of the company on shopper insight, data sources, syndicated and ad-hoc research to develop Category Vision and become the Category Expert. The successful candidate will develop and leverage a deep understanding of the business, relevant categories and shopper profiles and apply these insights on your way to becoming a trusted category expert. The right candidate will also leverage their experience and expertise to build and raise the level of category management and shopper insight expertise across the department.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Category Expertise & Strategy:

• Brings compelling, actionable insights, which will inspire strategic customers to implement strategies to drive growth at assigned Category and for Beiersdorf brands, leading to stronger strategic & consultative relationships.
• Be the indispensable business advisor on the business, partnering with the Customer Teams to bring a Category/shopper focus to key initiatives.

• Partner with Brand Teams to develop actionable insights that will support Category driving initiatives.
• You will serve as the Category expert by delivering insight-based engaging Category presentations and highlighting opportunities to drive Category Growth through Category Vision.
• You will establish a solid customer relationship based on building thought leadership.

Category & Shopper Insights:

• Utilizing Category analysis, shopper insights and other available analytic tools you will apply your expertise to drive solutions for Beiersdorf and our customers
• Developing insights, identifying opportunities and communicating recommendations to lead future industry growth to our internal partners and external retail customers.

Go to Market:

• Create and share compelling stories with Customers that provide insight to how shopper behaviors are influencing our categories.
• Driving insight-led presentations and forging internal and external relationships to think bigger and broader in what it means to win with Innovation, distribution and assortment, Category business reviews, shelf resets, and more.
• Contributes to driving company sales and profits and gaining advantage over competitors by driving strategic insights and value-added tools/programs to drive increased performance for designated brands at retail.

Category Tactics (Shelf, Distribution & Assortment):

• Planogram recommendations and Shelf Management guidance
• Distribution & Assortment guidance and gap closure for items on risk for deletion and net doors gained or lost.
• Test & Learn sell-in and coordination

SKILLS:

• Ability to interpret and communicate shopper & consumer data and effectively integrate them to tell fact-based stories to drive Category solutions is essential so we can thrive and win.
• Initiating and synchronizing our brand strategies and priorities with customer strategies for an outcome where we all win, executing new product initiatives accordingly
• Build key partnerships as a consultant to the customer that thrives on mutual trust and integrity in working relationships. Additionally, you work cross-functionally across the Beiersdorf organization.
• Take the lead by influencing the agenda through collaboration, negotiation and thought leadership.
• Constantly looking for opportunities to improve and seek creative solutions.
• Strong analytical thinking - digging into the reason behind the numbers, are able to look at the results and find out the reasons for what is driving those results and advise internal and external customers accordingly.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

• In-depth knowledge of retailers and the buying dynamics and motivations of their shoppers.
• Ability to manage projects with deadlines to meet customer needs.
• Strong oral and written communication skills to influence and secure cross-functional support with ability to present, sell-in ideas, and to increase effectiveness at achieving overall strategies in a highly collaborative environment.
• Must have excellent analytical skills and business acumen to build strong business cases for change.
• BS/BA in relevant field, Marketing/Business Administration preferred
• 3+ years’ prior experience developing strategic, omni-channel consumer and shopper marketing or category management for CPG (client or agency side, health and beauty experience preferred)
• Must be technology savvy and have strong office productivity software skills (e.g., PowerPoint, Excel, planogram software, Numerator, Nielsen/IRI, etc.)
• Ability to think strategically and to translate internal brand strategy into category relevant strategy.
• Creative thinker who can create winning, retailer relevant sales arguments in support of Beiersdorf strategies
• Strong interpersonal skills, innovative attitude, flexible, proactive, service-minded and a strong team player
• Self-motivated, reliable, able to multi-task and meet tight deadlines
• Problem-solving approach with a ‘Can-do’ attitude

At Beiersdorf, we embrace Diversity and aim to provide equal opportunities to all of our applicants – regardless of e.g. gender, sexual identity, nationality, ethnicity, religion or ideology, disability or age. We would therefore kindly ask you to include only information and data in your documents which are relevant for the assessment of your application (e.g. curriculum vitae with relevant references and certificates). For instance, please feel free to upload your CV without a picture.

Beiersdorf North America Company Culture Highlights

• Winner of Comparably's Award for Best Company Compensation 2021
• Winner of Comparably's Award for Best Leadership Teams 2021
• Winner of Comparably's Award for Best Places to Work in New York 2021
• Beiersdorf North America is ranked in the top 5% of companies for Compensation on Comparably.
• Product Department is ranked in the top 5% of companies for Overall Culture on Comparably.

Check us out on Comparably: https://www.comparably.com/companies/beiersdorf

Having trouble applying? Go to www.BeiersdorfUSA.com to search our careers page. Beiersdorf is an Equal Opportunity Employer.