Category Specialist Romania

Job Description:

Job Description:
Category Specialist for Romania is one of local experts on Petcare category in this market and is responsible for delivering best-in-class category leadership with customers to drive growth and customer engagement. This role reports to Category Management Customer Deployment Head for Central Europe (10 markets) and functionally will co-pilot local Category Manager.

Using a mix of market, shopper and customer insights to identify category growth opportunities, the role leverages / executes these through excellence in all Category Leadership initiatives, tactics and practices. Category and Mars performance at Customers in scope with focus on distribution and excellent in-store execution are the ultimate KPI.

What are we looking for?
* College degree, ideally business related
* Minimum 2 years of professional experience in category management, ideally some of it within the FMCG industry
* Customer focus in mind with ability to engage, influence and impact retailers by providing guidance on strategic direction of category
* Understanding of FMCG context and retail landscape within Romanian market, know-how of Slovakian retail environment is a plus
* Business acumen and proven track of record of analytical ability to drive and translate insights into relevant strategies and tactics (actions / initiatives) internally and for execution with our customers
* Proficiency in Nielsen Discover (Spaceman is a plus)
* Language fluency in both Romanian and English required

What will be your key responsibilities?
Act as a co-pilot for Category Manager in Romania, working under their guidance. Deliver high-quality data analysis, reporting, and insights to support strategic category growth. Support the deployment of the Category Vision and drive excellent in-store execution in collaboration with the Romanian team and selected retail partners. Partner with selected customers to strengthen collaboration, execute cluster strategies, and implement the Picture of Success (PicoS), enhancing both distribution quality and quantity. Serve as one of the local experts on the Petcare category, identifying growth opportunities and driving them forward with Sales teams, retailers, and cross-functional stakeholders during business planning.

DATA ANALYSIS AND REPORTING
* Support the preparation and analysis of sales, market, and category performance data to uncover actionable insights.
* Assist in creating regular and ad-hoc reports to inform decisions within the Category Management team.
* Ensure data accuracy, consistency, and reliability in all reporting deliverables.
* Promote the use of Excel-based tools and Power BI dashboards across Sales teams to encourage self-service insights and improve efficiency
DEPLOY CATEGORY VISION WITH CUSTOMERS
* Contribute to the in-store execution of the category vision with selected customers.
* Assist in implementing shelf and category management initiatives aligned with key growth drivers.
* Participate in Sales and MS&D function meetings to support alignment on account plans.
* Collaborate on retailer projects that align with Mars customer strategy and require category support.
DRIVE EXCELLENT IN-STORE EXECUTION
* Contribute to the in-store execution of the category vision with selected customers.
* Co-pilot Key Account Managers to agree on and drive bold actions per customer related to Perfect Store
* Continuously drive category understanding and engagement into market category vision and Picture of Success on-shelf
* Prepare planograms as per project requirement
BE CATEGORY EXPERT IN THE MARKET
* Work closely with the Category Manager to monitor category performance using key KPIs, identifying opportunities for growth and improvement.
* Contribute to the continuous enhancement of local reporting tools and insight generation processes.
INTEGRATE CATEGORY PERSPECTIVE IN BUSINESS PLANNING
* Assist the Senior Category Manager in shaping category inputs and incorporating external benchmarks into business planning cycles, supporting both short-term (YTG) and long-term (Y1+) strategies