Category Manager - LiveKindly

Job Description

Do you believe in the power of food to shape a kinder future? At LiveKindly Collective, we’re not just building brands - we’re cultivating a movement. From dinner tables to retail aisles, we put compassion, sustainability, and innovation at the heart of everything we do.

The LiveKindly Collective Africa is the regional heartbeat of our global mission - driving plant-based innovation, deepening retail partnerships, and connecting with consumers across South Africa and beyond, as part of The LiveKindly Collective’s worldwide commitment to making kindness the new norm in food.

We’re searching for a purpose-led trailblazer to lead our customer marketing team. In this role, you'll lead cross-functional partnerships between internal teams and customers, turning insights into shopper-first action. You’ll shape pricing, promotion, assortment, and in-store excellence - boosting profitability while elevating the plant-based shopper experience.

This isn’t just a job. It’s a chance to inspire communities, shift culture, and bring plant-forward living to life - at shelf and beyond.

Join a team that’s radically reimagining how kindness shows up in business - from boardroom to basket. Together, we’ll build a world that lives kindly, eats consciously, and grows responsibly.

Duties & Responsibilities

Category Management

• Analyse shelf health (on-shelf availability, right forward share, best shelf position).
• Analyse pricing data (from relevant pricing tools) with corrective actions where out of strategy.
• Monitor product availability, visibility and affordability and consolidate feedback into actionable plans for the customer team to implement.
• Use and leverage specific category insights.
• Execute brand standards (brand DNA) and support development and execution of channel-specific brand standards.
• Measure and review category performance; margin and customer profitability.
• Create specific shelf planograms for customers/categories, ensuring fair share of shelf for all category participants
• Conduct periodic updates of planograms with new launches.
• Conduct periodic reviews of planograms and ranging to ensure maximised shelf efficiency.
• Communicate with all account management and sales operations on any implementation initiatives to ensure smooth operation execution.

Information Analysis, Management and Reporting

• Provide detailed and precise reports to illustrate trends, predictions and relevant strategies, with a focus on NRM analytics.
• Analyse and interpret key data.
• Provide regular reports on category results, including NRM reports.
• Assist in the production of reports, data, presentations and any other items deemed necessary to support the sales function.

New Product Launches

• Develop and deliver new product launch plans in the trade, with required analysis and feedback.
• Support new product introductions for listing into mix.

Customer Relationship Management

• Ensure that critical customer information is available to the customer team.
• Identify customer information requirements.
• Follow up and ensure that sales team initiatives (customer plans) are effectively implemented with the identified customers.
• Prepare, analyse and present category reviews to customers and interact with customers on assortment analysis, category performance and ranging.
• Liaising and engaging internally with Supply Chain and the factory team

Category Planning

• Support the annual joint business planning process through data analysis and opportunity identification.
• Run customer-specific category management projects.
• Integrate research insights into the category process for actionable on-ground deliverables.
• Develop proposals and recommendations for customers in executing category management projects, including NRM initiatives.
• Liaise with the operations team to ensure smooth implementation, including NRM practices.

Performance Evaluation

• Measure and review category performance and customer profitability.
• Compile and consolidate business dashboards, scorecards and measurement.
• Conduct category performance analysis (incl. causes of deviation). Identify opportunities, including NRM opportunities.

Financial Management

• Manage the budgets within agreed limits and ensure that all initiatives are shown to be commercially sound, including NRM principles.
• Meet budgetary targets.
• Forecasting - working with the demand and customer teams in ensuring accuracy in category forecasting

Shopper Marketing

• Activate targeted shopper campaigns based on behavioural insights
• Translate shopper understanding into tailored in-store experiences and promotions
• Collaborate with the customer team to bring brand stories to life at shelf
• Align activation with channel dynamics and category roles for optimal ROI
• Support perfect store execution across touchpoints, ensuring consistency and impact

Minimum Requirements

• A degree or diploma in marketing, business management or other relevant discipline (minimum 3 years)
• Valid Code EB drivers’ licence

Experience and Skills

Minimum 3 to 5 years’ experience in category management and/or shopper marketing with demonstrated strength in:

• Category Management and Thought Leadership
• Net Revenue Management
• Shopper Understanding and Shopper Marketing
• Data analytics and insight generation using various data sources (e.g. Nielsen RMS & CPS, Circana, REX, Insights, ASK’d, etc)

Other core skills required:

• Budget planning and cost management
• Commercial acumen
• Project management
• Multifunctional skill base (financial, customer operations or marketing)
• Marketing and brand management
• Market research and interpretation

Leadership standards and behaviours:

• Growth Mindset
• Strategic Thinking
• Driven and capable of independent work
• Able to manage complexity and breadth while effectively managing time and conflicting demands