About the Role
The company’s quick commerce offering is seeking a Category Manager to act as a single threaded business owner for the private label/white label space across various categories with a particular emphasis on fresh produce, perishables, and the grocery portfolio. This high-ownership leadership role exists at the intersection of category strategy, P&L management, and selection development for one of the company’s fastest-growing businesses in the MENA region. The leader will be responsible for end-to-end category outcomes, which include driving margin improvement, creating a distinctive and hyper-local private label/white label selection, premium offerings, and expanding instant consumption verticals. The position necessitates working backwards from customer needs in a rapid delivery environment, while closely collaborating with internal teams such as vendor management, selection, pricing, instock, legal, and tech organizations to shape the long-term direction of the category. The ideal candidate will possess strong commercial acumen, structured problem-solving skills, and the ability to influence senior stakeholders and cross-functional teams within a dynamic and sometimes ambiguous environment. You will work with cross-functional partners, convert data into actionable strategies, and cultivate long-lasting vendor relationships that promote sustainable growth. If you are a curious, self-starting professional who excels at transforming ambiguity into opportunity, we invite you to explore this opportunity.
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Key Job Responsibilities
- Build effective category strategies in the private label/white label space across categories with a focus on fresh produce, perishables, and grocery portfolio.
- Identify and evaluate new category and product opportunities that align with quick commerce growth mandates.
- Develop category roadmaps, business cases, P&L models, pricing strategies, and go-to-market plans.
- Evaluate private labels from other marketplaces and adapt them to local markets post establishing local relevance.
- Lead the end-to-end new product development and commercialization processes through stage-gate methodologies.
- Monitor competitive and market dynamics (assortment, pricing, market share) and translate these insights into actionable category interventions.
- Manage relationships with external partners, co-manufacturers, suppliers, research agencies, and strategic collaborators.
- Liaise with manufacturers regarding formulation and packaging for new products and packaging developments.
- Track revenue, profitability, market share, launch performance, and ROI, recommending corrective actions as necessary.
- Author high-quality business documents (strategy papers, business reviews, investment proposals, leadership escalations) and represent the category in senior leadership forums.
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Management, Business Administration, Economics, Engineering, or Marketing.
- Proven experience reflecting strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and effective communication abilities.
- Background in Retail, FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods), or a client/vendor-facing environment such as sales or negotiation.
- Experience in annual brand planning and media planning.
- MBA in a relevant field of operations.
- Minimum of 5 years of Food FMCG experience in Brand Management.
- Broad exposure to Brand Management, New Product Launches, Media Planning, and Market Research.
- Demonstrated ability to launch and commercialize new categories, products, or brands.
- Solid expertise in market assessment, consumer insights, category strategy, pricing, commercialization, and financial modeling.
- Experience collaborating with co-manufacturers, suppliers, and external strategic partners.
- Strong commercial acumen, analytical skills, stakeholder management, and project leadership capabilities.
- Development of annual marketing plans and coordination for successful execution aimed at growing and achieving both short- and long-term sales, profit, and market share positions.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience partnering with technical and product stakeholders to define requirements, prioritize features, and influence product roadmaps.
- Proven ability to influence multiple stakeholders and lead cross-functional teams across various geographies and business units.
- More than 5 years of experience in the Food & Beverage FMCG sector.
