Junior Category Manager - CPG/Retail Food
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
Quest Search & Selection is currently recruiting for a Junior Category Manager - CPG/Retail Food on behalf of a successful multi-channel B2C consumer business.
In this role, you will support the delivery of sales, profit, and cash performance through effective stock management, product planning, store grading, and planogram strategies. Working closely with the merchandising and buying teams, you will maximise product availability, optimise stock allocation, and identify opportunities to drive sales and improve category performance. You will also provide regular feedback to the Category Manager on product quality, customer insights, in-store merchandising standards, and emerging trends, while helping to minimise markdown risk and maximise commercial returns.
Quest Search & Selection are proud to represent one of UK's leading seasonal retailers who have different sites across the UK.
Key Responsibilities of this Junior Category Manager - CPG/Retail Food role:
- Supports retail growth strategy, partnering with Finance teams to manage sales, margin, and KPI delivery.
- Analyses data and market trends to inform category direction, range selection, and stock forecasting.
- Maintains product data, costs files, and implements planograms across categories.
- Leads end-to-end development of bespoke products, ensuring quality, margin, and timely delivery.
- Develops and executes promotional and seasonal strategies, including POS and digital activity.
- Drives commercial performance through trading analysis, forecasting, and stock optimisation.
- Supports store layout, space planning, and effective communication of range and promotions.
- Manages supplier relationships, tenders, and day-to-day coordination on range, delivery, and merchandising.
- Gathers customer insights to inform category improvements.
- Manage POS materials and merchandising planograms.
- Handling reporting and administrative duties, including admin-heavy cost file management.
- Supported pricing and product ranging activities.
- Produced and analysed reports, including best-seller performance reports.
Key Requirements of this Junior Category Manager - CPG/Retail Food role:
- Ideally 3 plus years in FMCG or retail experience.
- Ideally worked in different categories within grocery
- Experience in supermarket, convenience retail or account management is essential
- Skilled in range architecture, planogram development, and space planning/analysis would be ideal
- Proven supplier management and buying experience.
- Good commercial awareness, including understanding of P&L, sales, and margin drivers.
- Flexible to travel to different sites 40% (car & driving license is essential).
- Able to balance customer, operational, and commercial priorities when developing strategies
Benefits of this Junior Category Manager - CPG/Retail Food role:
- Life assurance.
- £6,500 car allowance
- 20% friends and family discount.
- Head office in Hertfordshire(1-2 days per week WIO)
- Free parking.
- Learning and development support.
If this sounds like you and you are keen to apply for this Junior Category Manager - CPG/Retail Food please apply quoting reference no.JO-/A
We request that candidates send their CV as a Microsoft Word document where possible.
Quest Search and Selection is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Lead your CV with a Personal Statement that explicitly names 'Category Management', 'planogram development', and 'FMCG' — these are called out repeatedly as core requirements.
📊 Quantify your commercial impact: e.g. 'Managed a 120-SKU range across 3 categories, reducing markdown by 12% through improved stock forecasting.'
🎯 Highlight any supermarket, convenience retail, or account management experience prominently in your Work History section — the advert flags this as essential.
🚗 Mention your full UK driving licence explicitly in your CV header or profile, as 40% travel to sites is required and a licence is listed as essential.
🤝 Include a bullet on supplier relationship management in each relevant role — the advert specifically calls out tenders, day-to-day coordination, and delivery management as key responsibilities.
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Developed and maintained planograms across 4 food categories covering 200+ SKUs, improving on-shelf availability by 9% over two trading quarters.
- •Managed supplier tenders and day-to-day coordination for 15 ambient grocery suppliers, achieving a 6% average cost reduction through renegotiated terms.
- •Produced weekly best-seller performance reports and trading analysis for the Category Manager, identifying a seasonal range gap that generated £85,000 in incremental revenue.
Free to copy — tailoring requires a 30-sec CV upload.
Your cover letter is ready
We've drafted a cover letter for Quest Search and Selection Ltd. Preview the opening, then unlock the full personalised version.
Letter preview — tailored to Quest Search and Selection Ltd
Dear Hiring Manager,
Quest Search and Selection's Junior Category Manager opportunity within CPG and Retail Food is precisely aligned with the direction I want my career to take. Having developed hands-on experience in planogram development, range architecture, and supplier management within FMCG retail, I am confident I can contribute meaningfully to your client's category performance from day one.
My background in retail category management includes supporting end-to-end range reviews across grocery and convenience formats, managing cost files, and producing trading analysis reports that informed promotional and seasonal strategies. I have worked closely with buying and merchandising teams to optimise stock allocation and reduce markdown risk, and I am comfortable managing supplier relationships through tenders and day-to-day coordination.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›Walk us through how you would build a planogram for a new seasonal food category from scratch.
- ›How do you approach stock forecasting when preparing for a peak trading period in a retail environment?
- ›Describe your process for conducting a range review — what data sources do you use and what metrics drive your decisions?
- ›How have you used trading analysis to identify and act on a commercial opportunity within a category?
- ›What is your approach to managing cost files and ensuring margin accuracy across a product range?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you identified a gap in category performance and took steps to address it.
- ›Describe a situation where you had to manage a difficult supplier relationship to ensure on-time delivery.
- ›Give an example of when you balanced competing priorities — customer, operational, and commercial — when making a category decision.
- ›Tell me about a time you used customer insight data to influence a range or promotional strategy.
- ›Describe a situation where you had to communicate a complex range or promotional change to multiple internal stakeholders.
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time you identified a gap in category performance and took steps to address it.
Describe a situation where you had to manage a difficult supplier relationship to ensure on-time delivery.