Category Development Manager
Welcome to Haleon. We’re a purpose-driven, world-class consumer company putting everyday health in the hands of millions. In just three years since our launch, we’ve grown, evolved and are now entering an exciting new chapter - one filled with bold ambitions and enormous opportunity.
Our trusted portfolio of brands - including Sensodyne®, Panadol®, Advil®, Voltaren®, Theraflu®, Otrivin®, and Centrum® - lead in resilient and growing categories. What sets us apart is our unique blend of deep human understanding and trusted science.
Now it’s time to fully realise the full potential of our business and our people. We do this through our Win as One strategy. It puts our purpose - to deliver better everyday health with humanity - at the heart of everything we do. It unites us, inspires us, and challenges us to be better every day, driven by our agile, performance-focused culture.
Category Development Manager
About the role
As a Category Development Manager, you will drive sustainable category growth by translating shopper, category and market insights into actionable strategies for Haleon and its retail partners. You will lead category development partnerships with key customers, shape assortment and Perfect Store recommendations, and strengthen Haleon's position as a trusted category advisor across key health categories.
To succeed, you should combine analytical thinking with excellent communication skills, a deep understanding of shoppers, and the ability to build trusted partnerships with pharmacies chains and retailers.
The role sits within the CEE Shopper & Category Development team and reports to the CEE Category Development Lead.
Role Responsibilities
Serves as the category and shopper expert for the local Leadership Team and Commercial Teams, translating shopper, retailer and market insights into growth opportunities across key Haleon categories, including Oral Care, Respiratory, Pain and Vitamins.
Leads the end-to-end category development process with key local retailers across Mass Market and Pharmacy channels, ensuring category strategies are tailored to retailer and shopper needs.
Contributes category expertise and growth recommendations to Joint Business Plans, while partnering with Key Account Managers who lead customer alignment and commercial delivery.
Transforms category, shopper and market insights into compelling category growth stories and recommendations in collaboration with Sales, Marketing and Customer Marketing teams.
Defines and owns Perfect Store standards for appointed customers, including target assortment (distribution KPIs) and shelf layout (visibility KPIs).
Develops and maintains channel- and retailer-specific planograms recommendations to improve shopper navigation and category performance.
Supports New Product Launches through category-led recommendations, including assortment strategy, target distribution, merchandising guidelines and shopper insight-driven selling stories.
Identifies assortment gaps, portfolio opportunities and category growth levers, building compelling internal and external recommendations that create value for retailers, shoppers and Haleon.
Leads category performance reviews, monitors agreed category and Perfect Store KPIs, and recommends actions to improve category and Haleon brand performance.
Builds category management capabilities across internal teams and retail partners through training, coaching and best-practice sharing.
Partners with Consumer Business Insights and Analytics and relevant research teams to strengthen Haleon's shopper knowledge base and embed insights into category strategies and commercial decisions.
Why you?
Basic Qualifications:
University Degree, preferably in Economics, Business Administration or a related field.
A minimum of 5 years of experience in commercial functions within an FMCG company or with a leading FMCG retailer, including at least 2 years in Category Management.
Knowledge of the local market.
Fluency in Romanian and English.
Experience working with Mass Market retailers and Pharmacy channels.
Confidence in building relationships and influencing retail partners.
Proven experience leading category development projects with retailers and translating insights into actionable growth recommendations.
Very good Excel skills, particularly confidence in using pivot tables.
Significant analytical skills and proficiency in syndicated and shopper data sources, such as Nielsen, IQVIA, Circana and YouGov (GfK) household panel data.
Proven ability to translate complex data into clear recommendations, compelling selling stories and senior stakeholder presentations.
Solid commercial and financial understanding, with the ability to connect category recommendations to customer and business outcomes.
Excellent communication, influencing, collaboration and stakeholder management skills across Sales, Marketing, Customer Marketing and external retail and pharmacy partners.
Deep shopper understanding and up-to-date knowledge of shopper, category and retail trends.
Hands-on experience with planogram-building tools and developing assortment, shelving and visibility recommendations.
Practical experience with shopper and category research methodologies.
Experience with Perfect Store frameworks, compliance metrics and category performance reviews.
An entrepreneurial, results-oriented mindset with accountability for delivery and continuous improvement.
Opportunities for growth
None of us should ever feel like we are standing still. Instead, we want Haleon to be a place where we feel like we are always progressing. Improving everyday health takes dedication. Energy. Effort. So we look to reward your contribution with a benefits package that includes:
Career at one of the leading global consumer companies.
Hybrid work.
Reward package (annual bonus & awards for outstanding performance, recognition awards for additional achievements and engagement).
Company car.
Extensive support of work life balance (flexible working solutions including working from home possibilities, health & wellbeing activities) .
Family benefits (extra parental leave, caregiver’s policy).
Mobile, laptop.
Medical subscription and P4P package with the local provider.
Life and accident insurance.
Meal tickets.
Location - this role is based in: Bucharest, Romania
This position is a grade: 7
Please save a copy of the job description, as this may be helpful to refer to once the advert closes.
RON 19 510,25 - RON 26 826,61 The salary range for this position is indicative and provided as a guide. The final offer may vary depending on factors including relevant experience, skills, qualifications, and internal equity considerations. Further details regarding the total reward and benefits package will be shared during the recruitment process. Salary ranges may vary by location in line with local market conditions and applicable pay transparency regulations. Compensation information is shared for the primary location of this role. Where the position is advertised with additional locations the compensation range will be discussed during the recruiting process.Job Posting End Date
2026-09-24Equal Opportunities
Haleon are committed to mobilising our purpose in a way that represents the diverse consumers and communities who rely on our brands every day. It guides us in creating an inclusive culture, where different backgrounds and views are valued and respected - all in support of understanding and best serving the needs of our consumers and unleashing the full potential of our people. It’s important to us that Haleon is a place where all our employees feel they truly belong.
During the application process, we may ask you to share some personal information, which is entirely voluntary. This information ensures we meet certain regulatory and reporting obligations and supports the development, refinement, and execution of our inclusion and belonging programmes that are open to all Haleon employees.
The personal information you provide will be kept confidential, used only for legitimate business purposes, and will never be used in making any employment decisions, including hiring decisions.
Adjustment or Accommodations Request
If you require a reasonable adjustment or accommodation or other assistance to apply for a job at Haleon at any stage of the application process, please let your recruiter know by providing them with a description of specific adjustments you are requesting. We’ll provide all reasonable adjustments to support you throughout the recruitment process and treat all information you provide us in confidence.
Note to candidates
The Haleon recruitment team will contact you using a Haleon email account (@haleon.com). If you are not sure whether the email you received is from Haleon, please get in touch.