Category Manager (12 month fixed term contract/maternity cover)

About Ella’s Kitchen

Part of the Hain Celestial Group family of brands, Ella's Kitchen’s mission is to help little ones grow up happy, healthy, and never hungry. Set up in 2006 by Ella's Dad Paul Lindley, the company prioritises health and nutritional value, but never at the expense of taste or convenience. Ella’s Kitchen strives to be good in every sense, offering healthy, handy, and fun food that doesn’t cost the earth. In 2016, Ella’s Kitchen certified as a B Corporation, a global movement of pioneering companies that are using their business as a force for good. By certifying as a B Corp, it reinforces that the business is meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. 

We are looking for someone brilliant who believes in our mission and can live and breathe our values of childlike, winning together, owning it, fostering inclusion and being curious.

At Ella’s Kitchen, we are guided by our values; they set the tone of our culture and we look out for newbies who will be a natural fit to our values and complement and contribute to our business.

About The Hain Celestial Group

Hain Celestial Group is a leading health and wellness company whose purpose is to inspire healthier living for people, communities and the planet through better-for-you brands. For more than 30 years, our portfolio of beloved brands has intentionally focused on delivering nutrition and well-being that positively impacts today and tomorrow. Headquartered in Hoboken, N.J., Hain Celestial’s products across snacks, baby/kids, beverages, meal preparation, and personal care, are marketed and sold in over 75 countries around the world. Our leading brands include Garden Veggie™ snacks, Terra® chips, Garden of Eatin’® snacks, Earth’s Best® and Ella’s Kitchen® baby and kids foods, Celestial Seasonings® teas, Joya® and Natumi® plant-based beverages, Greek Gods® yogurt, Cully & Sully®, Imagine® and New Covent Garden® soups, Yves® and Linda McCartney’s® (under license) meat-free, and Alba Botanica® natural sun care, among others.

Our Commitment To Equality, Diversity And Inclusion

At Ella’s Kitchen, we are committed to promoting and enabling a positive culture where everyone can be themselves and diversity of thought is welcomed.

We give a full and fair consideration to all applicants regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity.

If you need reasonable adjustments made to the recruitment process, please let us know so we can support you in the right way.

Location:                   Near Henley-on-Thames – you’ll be able to work flexibly between home and our lovely Barns (minimum of 2 days per week).

Reports to:                Category Controller (Runs Making the Category Grow)

Contract:                    Full time, Permanent, Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm

Purpose of role:

·      To be lead Category manager for UK Grocery Accounts

·      Deliver insight from all available retailer data sources that drives tangible business results

·      Contribute to creation of a ‘Category-First’ mentality at Ella’s Kitchen

·      Equip and encourage the business to make category responsible Core E/NPD decisions

Role activities / responsibilities:

1)  Category Leadership with Top 4 Grocers (50%)

(Accounts to be confirmed during interview)

a.     Build category relationships with the internal and external customer teams so that you understand the needs, motivations, and aspirations of both businesses, producing win:win category recommendations…

b.    …Use all available data sources to do so:

                                              i.    Be the expert when it comes to IRI data, understand their performance, and identify their (and our) category opportunities for growth

                                             ii.    Overlay Kantar consumer metrics to hone analysis and recommendations

c.     Be a key part of range planning processes

d.    Utilise Space Planning to:

                                              i.    measure space to sales

                                             ii.    highlight opportunities

                                           iii.    bring range recommendations to life

2)  Other retailers (30%)

(Accounts to be confirmed during interview)

a.     Build relationships with other grocery retailer teams (internally and externally) so that you understand the needs, motivations, and aspirations of both businesses, producing win:win category recommendations…

b.    …Use all available data sources to do so:

                                              i.    Be the expert when it comes to IRI data, understand their performance, and identify their (and our) category opportunities for growth

                                             ii.    Overlay Kantar consumer metrics to hone analysis and recommendations

c.     Be a key part of the range planning process in these accounts.

3)  Internal Focus (20%):

a.     Help curate, develop and deploy our Ella’s Kitchen Category Vision internally, leading the entire organisation towards a ‘Category-First’ mentality.

b.    Equip our commercial teams so that they can mine their own ad-hoc data, and help them to think wider than Ella’s when measuring success (our ‘tail’ vs the Category ‘tail’)

c.     Champion how Mums and Dads behave when shopping in all internal discussions (e.g. NPD Funnel and the development of sell-in 1-pagers & decks), which will include leading category inductions.

d.    Ensure that our (Friends) qualitative insight is developed beyond brand and thus, along with continuous quantitative data sources (IRI / Kantar / Dunnhumby), equips us with best in class sales stories for NPD and range architecture

e.    Provide ad hoc support on ROS, Distribution and Category inputs for NPD projects.

You will need:

·      To embrace, embody and exude all that is special and unique about Ella’s Kitchen

·      Excellent commercial skills

·      An understanding of Category Fundamentals vs Management vs Leadership

·      Proactive ‘do-er’, keen to be involved in the success of the team

·      Ability to thrive in an entrepreneurial, fast paced environment

·      Relationship building skills – getting the best out of others to achieve the plan

·      The ability to influence others through your flexible style

·      Great communication skills

·      A results focussed mindset with the ability to “never never give up” and find solutions to challenges

·      Experience of online retailing

·      Passionate about systems with the ability to utilise technology for continuous improvement

·      Passion for the brand and what Ella’s stands for – improving children’s lives through healthy relationships with food.

Experience of the following would be advantageous:

·      Nielsen Answers

·      IRI Plussuite

·      i2C

·      Dunnhumby

·      Kantar

·      Space Planning

·      Retailer relationships, ideally with top four supermarkets

And What You’ll Get In Return:

·      Bucket loads of training and development, supporting your career pathway

·      Competitive salary

·      Discretionary bonus scheme

·      A Box of Treats, including private medical, dental, pension, life assurance, 25 days holiday and the ability to buy more, high street discounts, amazing wellbeing events, Give It A Go days… to name but a few!

·      A really awesome place to come to work … our beautiful Barns in the Oxfordshire countryside, but the flexibility to achieve a good work/life blend