Category Management Director

Director, Category Management

Job Title: Director, Category Management

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:Lead and drive the India category management team and function in-line with seasonal Go-To-Market (GTM) milestone deliverables. Own the category strategies and drive implementation through the development of country specific ranges, pricing strategy and expansion opportunities within the wider Emerging Markets (EM) framework.

Drive cross-functional Marketing execution ensuring one category voice reaches the consumer today, tomorrow and in the future.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership

• Develop and implement strategies that integrate local consumer insights, market trends, and country-specific dynamics while aligning with global and EM directives.
• Serve as a local expert, embedding Channel specific opportunities, consumer insights, and trends into brand and category strategies.

Seasonal Range Planning & GTM Execution

• Lead a team of Category Managers and Creation Team to create seasonal GTM plans and regional ranges aligned with growth goals.
• Design compelling range and concept selections across Categories, balancing brand priorities, commercial needs, and local market nuances to ensuring winning strategies across channels.
• Oversee the GTM process, ensuring seamless communication across EM and Channels across the market country teams and integrating channel inputs.
• Enhance commercial outcomes by driving sell-in processes, focusing on key accounts.

Planning & Insights

• Develop and govern seasonal range plans across channels, and segments while ensuring alignment with EM strategies and providing insights to the EM Analytics team.
• Partner with market Brand Finance to align Seasonal business planning targets (Net Sales, Volumes, Go-In-Margin) and drive cross-category alignment and actions.
• Track Sell-Through and Sell-In performance, generate reports, and deliver actionable insights for strategic

decision-making.

Business Development & Projects

• Identify and drive growth opportunities in collaboration with country and channel teams.
• Lead or contribute to initiatives aligned with market priorities and business growth initiatives, such as Responsiveness, Value Consumer, and Local Production.
• Work on creation programs as needed to enable channel opportunities as well as to manage local regulations

Leadership & Culture

• Cultivate a high-performance culture, fostering engagement and professional development.
• Set clear targets for direct reports and provide ongoing coaching for growth and improvement.
• Agility and speed to cater to changing category and regulatory requirements.

Key Relationships:

• EM BU
• Brand Activation
• MOPS, PMO
• Demand Planning, SCM, Finance (marketing ROI), Sourcing (Creation)
• Sales (all channels)

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong understanding of local markets' consumers, accounts, economic environment and commercial needs.
• Distinct track record of success in GTM planning, merchandising and/or sales experience in a global or market function.
• Strong presentation/communication, negotiation and influencing skills, especially with senior stakeholders within a global matrix organization.
• Strong cross-functional and stakeholder management experience across commercial functions (e.g. marketing, sales, etc.) and support functions (finance & sourcing), as well as different organizational levels (Global, Market, etc.)
• Strategic thinking to build long-term plans and agility to quickly adapt to changing business needs.