The Category Manager - Mainstream Spirits role requires an extremely organized, dependable, and self-motivated individual capable of excelling in a hands-on, fast-paced environment. The successful candidate will be a disciplined and creative leader responsible for bringing Diageo's world-class line of brands to life, expanding influence, and managing complexity within a matrix organization. This role involves significant people leadership, managing a team of 5 dedicated to developing industry-leading Shopper Marketing Growth Drivers.
Role Responsibilities
- Partner closely with Marketing leadership to define and drive high-impact, scalable Shopper Marketing growth drivers across the mainstream spirits portfolio for KBL, including category innovations and extensions that deliver long-term growth.
- Own end-to-end leadership of the commercial spirits portfolio (mainstream), to maximize revenue and share growth.
- Lead the commercialization and tailored adaptation of brand and portfolio initiatives into targeted channel and customer programs that deliver against aggressive commercial plans and Marketing Business Plans (MBPs).
- Create and scale large, insight-driven programs designed for execution across diverse customers within the marketplace, driving sustainable growth and competitive differentiation.
- Drive the development and delivery of customer- and consumer-centric programs that enhance traffic, basket size, and conversion rates, directly impacting top-line performance.
- Direct the engagement and performance management of Below the line (BTL) agency partners to uphold industry-leading standards, ensuring innovation, creativity, and excellence in Shopper Marketing activations.
- Cultivate strong, collaborative relationships with a broad spectrum of internal and external stakeholders—including supply chain, finance, legal, operations, distributor partners, and key customers—to enable seamless program delivery and business alignment.
- Leverage deep data analytics and insight capabilities to translate complex information into actionable, commercially viable in-store and on-premises programs, from initial concept through toolkit development to execution and measurement, all aimed at driving category growth.
- Lead the transformation and evolution of the Shopper Marketing team structure and scope, playing a pivotal role in defining new responsibilities, workflows, and ways of working to meet future business needs.
Key Accountabilities
- Sustainable Growth: Demonstrate strong analytical skills and commercial foresight to be able to create and see to execution programs that unlock sustainable growth.
- Influence & Decision Making: Possess good presentation skills, using a data-driven story to influence and drive decision-making for direct reports as well as senior collaborators.
- Program Development: Ability to build, adapt, and/or build big, creative programs. Develop & translate customer & shopper insights into customer specific activities and programs.
- Financial Management: Meet budgetary objectives and adjust project constraints based on financial analysis.
- Performance Tracking: Consistently measure and intervene to make sure the programs deliver/exceed targets, ensuring timely issues and course correction based on judgment from performance tracking.
- Team Development: Maintain people leadership capability in service of business delivery and ensuring achievement of long-term career objectives.
Key Relationships
The role involves managing relationships with Commercial and Marketing Directors, Sales team, Finance team, Marketing team, Procurement team, and 3rd Party agencies.
Required Experience and Skills
- A proven track record in either Marketing and/or Sales (Customer Marketing).
- Strong creative judgment and good commercial understanding (of our customers and their shoppers).
- Strong understanding of channels, shopper insights etc. to develop brilliant shopper programs.
- An individual who understands how to get things done within Diageo and can influence across a broad network of the organization – there is some ‘thinking’ involved’ but much of this will be about simply ‘decide’ and ‘act’.
- An ability to inspire agencies to deliver great work and ideally some experience of working with key customers.
- Strong people skills and ability to drive positive culture.
- A business-related qualification (BA/BSc/HND).
- Previous commercial management experience.
- Experience in leading and managing change.
