Category Manager – Skincare Brands

Company: IFC Ventures

Location: Mumbai

Experience: Minimum 4+ years

Industry: FMCG / Beauty / Skincare / Cosmetics / Personal Care

Department: Category Management / Brand Management / Marketing & Sales Strategy

Employment: Full-Time

Job Description

IFC Ventures is rapidly expanding its portfolio of modern skincare, haircare, and cosmetics brands across India. We are looking for a highly driven and analytical Category Manager – Skincare Brands to lead category development, portfolio expansion, pricing, channel strategies, and GTM execution across retail, modern trade, e-commerce, and D2C channels.

This role requires deep knowledge of skincare products, category trends, consumer insights, competition analytics, pricing strategy, merchandising, product development, and marketing planning within the beauty & personal care segment.

Key Responsibilities

1. Category Strategy & Growth

• Build and execute the category strategy for skincare, face care, acne care, moisturizers, and cosmetics.
• Identify category gaps, high-growth segments, pricing opportunities, and new product development ideas.
• Develop annual category growth plans, revenue targets, and profitability matrices.

2. Product Portfolio & Brand Development

• Lead product launches, SKU planning, lifecycle management, and portfolio optimization.
• Work closely with R&D, packaging, and design teams on formulation inputs, ingredient benchmarking, and trend analysis.
• Define claims, positioning, USPs, and brand messaging for new skincare products.

3. Consumer Insights & Market Research

• Analyse consumer behaviour, buying patterns, skin concerns, and trend shifts in the beauty & personal care market.
• Conduct market studies, focus groups, competitive benchmarking, and price-value mapping.
• Track emerging global skincare trends (acne care, barrier repair, serums, SPF, active-based skincare).

4. Pricing, Margins & P&L Ownership

• Define pricing, margins, retailer slabs, and profitability structures for the skincare category.
• Manage category P&L, forecasting, contribution analysis, and SKU-level profitability.
• Develop pricing ladders aligned with brand positioning and competition.

5. Channel Strategy (MT, GT, E-commerce, D2C)

• Build customized strategies for Modern Trade, General Trade, E-commerce, Quick Commerce, Pharmacies, and D2C.
• Evaluate channel performance, shelf share, online visibility, and pricing competitiveness.
• Drive cross-channel brand consistency, portfolio activation, and category presence.

6. Merchandising, Visibility & Promotion Planning

• Plan in-store merchandising, planograms, visibility assets, displays, testers, and sampling initiatives.
• Collaborate with sales teams to develop trade promotions, discounts, offers, and visibility budgets.
• Evaluate ROI on campaigns, visibility spends, and promotional effectiveness.

7. Data Analytics & Performance Tracking

• Monitor sales performance, market share, competition movement, and category KPIs.
• Develop dashboards for sell-in, sell-out, productivity, profitability, and inventory health.
• Track NPD performance, rate of sale, seasonality trends, and lifecycle decisions.

8. Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Marketing, Sales, SCM, Finance, R&D, and Creative teams.
• Coordinate GTM planning, launch timelines, demand forecasting, and inventory alignment.
• Support Modern Trade, E-commerce, and GT teams with category insights and product training.

Required Skills & Competencies

• 4+ years of experience in Category Management, Brand Management, Product Management, or Marketing within FMCG / Beauty / Skincare / Cosmetics / Personal Care industries.
• Strong understanding of skincare categories (moisturizers, serums, acne care, SPFs, cleansers).
• Excellent analytical, commercial, and strategic planning skills.
• Deep experience in pricing, portfolio management, product lifecycle, and GTM execution.
• Ability to work with cross-functional teams and handle multiple brand portfolios.
• Strong communication, negotiation, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Proficiency in Excel, analytics tools, forecasting, and data interpretation.

Preferred Experience

• Prior experience managing skincare or cosmetic brands.
• Exposure to Modern Trade, E-com marketplaces (Amazon, Nykaa), Quick Commerce (Blinkit, Zepto) and D2C.
• Strong knowledge of ingredients, formulations, and global beauty trends.
• Experience with P&L ownership and category profitability.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Management, or related field.
• MBA preferred but not mandatory.

Why Join IFC Ventures?

• Fast-growing portfolio of premium skincare & beauty brands, food, lifestyle & wellness products.
• Opportunity to build and scale new categories from scratch.
• High-growth environment with strong entrepreneurial culture.
• Work closely with leadership on brand strategy and category expansion.