Category Manager

  • Full-time
  • Travel: 20-30
  • Organization: Red Bull South Africa (PTY) LTD.
  • Job type: Permanent

Company Description

Our goal is to be at the forefront of shaping the Energy Category and the be only reasonable choice when deciding on an Energy Category partner. The Category Manager will be play an integral role in building, developing and maintaining credible, long-term, category lead relationships with Red Bull’s retail and gas station partners.  In addition to this, the Category Manager will work closely with the National Key Account Sales Team to leverage category insights and identify strategic and innovative opportunities for our teams to leverage in order to grow Red Bull sales and market share. The Category Manager will utilise the category management process to address Customer needs while improving Total Category as well as Red Bull sales. They will analyse syndicated data and shopper data to uncover actionable insights. The Category Manager is also responsible for the management and development of the respective Category Specialists within the team.

Job Description

CATEGORY CAPTAINCY & CUSTOMER CONSULTANT

Establish and maintain strong partnerships with Red Bull Sales Leaders, National Account teams, and key Retail Partners to support strategic category management planning.

Act as the partner of choice for category expertise, building category captaincy credentials with priority retail customers.

Use deep customer, shopper, and category knowledge to influence customer business planning and support joint business plan development.

Lead category conversations with National Accounts and Retail Partners, providing insight-led recommendations that support both retailer and Red Bull business objectives.

Develop strategic customer category management plans aligned to the customer’s commercial goals, shopper needs, and overall category growth opportunities.

Translate insights into clear, actionable recommendations for the sales team, identifying opportunities for Red Bull to drive category growth, improve execution, and increase in-store impact.

Educate and enable the sales team to understand and capitalise on category opportunities through tools, presentations, and ongoing support.

THE IN-STORE SALES DRIVER 

Lead the development and implementation of category growth initiatives with retail customers, focusing on in-store execution and shopper conversion.

Present Red Bull’s category credentials and recommendations to key development retailers in a credible, compelling, and commercially relevant way.

Provide best-in-class Category Management solutions across:

SKU optimisation, optimum product mix

Development of effective pricing/merchandising principles 

Proper shelf position

Shopper insights and recommendation

THE CATEGORY EXPERT

Analyse multiple data sources to build a deep and credible understanding of the Energy & Beverage category, shopper behaviour, market dynamics, and retail performance.

Use Nielsen syndicated scanning data, shopper loyalty data, market demographics, global and local shopper insights, and retailer data to generate recommendations for category reviews.

Develop and deliver regular category reviews, strategic plans, and growth recommendations for retail partners.

Partner with Retail Partners to develop, review, and manage planograms for the Energy & Beverage category.

Ensure close collaboration with Sales Teams so category tools, planograms, and recommendations are accessible, actionable, and effectively implemented.

Conduct shopper research studies based on the needs of the sales team, retail customers, and key business priorities.

Track market trends, competitor activity, innovation, pricing, promotions, and shopper behaviour to identify risks and opportunities.

Act as the internal subject matter expert for the category, sharing relevant insights and recommendations across the wider business.

KEY RESULTS AND DELIVERABLES 

Develop, implement, and track category initiatives, providing regular performance feedback and recommendations to customers and internal stakeholders.

Deliver measurable gains for the Energy category and Red Bull across shelving, merchandising, range, distribution, pricing, and promotional execution.

Track results, risks and opportunities on a monthly basis with customers and the Red Bull Sales Team, ensuring clear actions are identified and followed through.

Drive innovative and insight-led solutions that unlock category growth, while partnering with Sales to support customer engagement and in-store execution.

Deliver high-quality category reviews, presentations, and recommendations that influence customer decision-making and support joint business planning.

Ensure category tools, insights, and recommendations are easily accessible to Sales Teams and retail partners to drive execution and commercial impact.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Commerce, Economics, Data Analytics, or a related field.

Minimum 5 years’ experience in Off-Premise Sales, Category Development, Category Management, Key Account Management, or a related FMCG role.

Strong analytical capability, with the ability to interpret multiple complex data sources and translate them into clear, meaningful, and actionable insights.

Experience working with syndicated data sources such as Nielsen and/or IRI, shopper metrics, loyalty data, and customer performance data.

Strong understanding of category management principles, including range, space, pricing, promotions, merchandising, shopper behaviour, and in-store execution.

Customer-facing experience, with the ability to confidently present to, influence, and negotiate with senior stakeholders and key retail partners.

Familiarity with planogram software, such as JDA, and strong proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.

Strong project management, planning, organisational, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Self-motivated, commercially minded, and detail-oriented, with a proactive approach to identifying opportunities and driving category growth.

Willingness to travel (up to 25% of the time) to work with retail partners, attend customer meetings, and support market execution.

Additional Information

This job description is not exhaustive of the potential duties that the successful applicant will be required to perform, and is provided solely to assist potential job applicants in determining their suitability for the role and to apply for the job. It is not an offer of employment and Red Bull is under no obligation to hire an applicant who submits an application. 

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