Category Lead - FMCG

Key Responsibilities:

Consumer & Market Understanding:

• Lead consumer research to understand behavior, consumption patterns, and buying triggers.
• Build personas and insights frameworks for decision-making.
• Map the FMCG competitive landscape and identify whitespace opportunities across formats, occasions, and price points.

Category & Product Development:

• Define category vision across assortment, pricing, packaging, and product architecture.
• Build SKU-level strategy aligned with consumer demand and business goals.
• Partner with product and sourcing teams to develop new SKUs, pack architecture, and innovation roadmaps.

Commercial Strategy & Margin Ownership:

• Own the category P&L with a focus on sustainable margin growth.
• Negotiate TOTs and trade terms with vendors, brands, and distributors.
• Optimize cost structures, sourcing, and promotional levers to enhance profitability.

Space, Inventory & Supply Planning:

• Define & optimize shelf layouts (offline & digital) to maximize revenue per SKU.
• Collaborate with supply planning for forecasting, ensuring freshness and availability.
• Build efficient replenishment and inventory processes to reduce wastage.

Insight & Data-Led Decision Making:

• Use data, analytics, and consumer insights to inform category decisions.
• Create business cases, category decks, and performance reviews.
• Present proposals and insights to senior leadership with clarity and impact.

Go-to-Market Execution:

• Work with Marketing, Design, Product, and Supply Chain to ensure launch readiness.
• Contribute to packaging cues, messaging, claims, and GTM storytelling.
• Track post-launch performance and iterate using KPIs and consumer feedback.

What You Bring:

• 4+ years in FMCG category management, merchandising, or brand/category ownership.
• Strong experience launching or scaling FMCG categories or product lines.
• Deep understanding of GT, MT, D2C, pricing strategy, and consumer research.
• Experience negotiating TOTs and driving category-level profitability.
• Strong analytical mindset and commercial acumen.
• Excellent communication, storytelling, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• A builder's mindset - entrepreneurial, hands-on, and comfortable with ambiguity.