Category Developer - On Premise Diageo

Category Developer

As a Diageo-dedicated Category Developer, you'll be the sales and brand expert for an exciting portfolio of spirits within the On-Premise market. You'll build strong relationships with key accounts, grow brand presence, and bring the portfolio to life in bars, restaurants, and other influential venues.

What You'll Do:

• Drive sales, distribution, share, and velocity across your assigned accounts
• Become the go-to portfolio expert and trusted partner for customers
• Identify opportunities to secure the right brands, placements, and activations
• Execute impactful brand activations, events, and consumer experiences
• Educate customers and account teams on brands, trends, and opportunities
• Build strong relationships with key decision-makers and industry partners
• Stay highly visible in the market and help turn strategy into results

Category Developers will also participate in a two-week, in-person Category Academy Training designed to build deep portfolio knowledge and set you up for success in the role.

Job Responsibilities:

• Drive and delivery on sales and marketing goals of assigned category and brands
• Serve as the expert and resource for the division or group in developing beverage and marketing strategies and plans for growth of assigned category.
• Research trends, category, and portfolio to ensure that the group or division and company meet supplier goals as established.
• Present new products and beverage offerings and conduct monthly business reviews.
• Plan high-end consumer activations within key accounts to elevate category awareness based on customer needs.
• Drive real time market insights to inform, apply, unlock and accelerate growth.
• Lead, organize, report, field intel and insights for assigned territory and categories.

Collaborate with on-premise & retail sales teams, developing creative solutions to help drive business and growth in assigned categories across their assigned territory

• Develop and deliver training modules to the sales team, customer, and supplier regarding sales trends
• Determines specific areas in which the category has opportunity for growth (Territories, Accounts, etc)
• Establishes merchandising objectives relative to brand priority for each account by understanding company priorities and defining POS needs to the supplier
• Focus on increasing share and velocity of assigned category.
• Ownership of account plan and execution based on brand plans
• Obtains appropriate distribution of category throughout account base by presenting and selling based on the brands' features and benefits
• Conduct staff educations and building of the category.

Maintain and build strong relationships with the key stakeholders/gatekeepers of the assigned accounts

• Participate in supplier and category specific work-with sales calls.
• Attend educational workshops, reviewing professional publications, establishing personal networks to build and maintain industry knowledge.
• Maintains customer confidence and protects operations by keeping information confidential.
• Maintains a safe and clean working environment by complying with procedures, rules and regulations.

Other duties, as assigned by the jobholder's supervisor, may also be required.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in related field and/or equivalent training and work experience
• Minimum of 3 years in sales or industry related experience
• Deep knowledge of category or responsibility that this role will support
• Must have a valid driver's license and be able to operate a motor vehicle
• Proficient PC skills using MS Office and other various computer programs including presentation software
• Must be a results-oriented professional with verbal/written communication skills using diplomacy and discretion as well as customer service skills
• Ability to multi-task, work independently and/or within a team, pay attention to detail and meet deadlines
• Analytic and Reporting skills
• Utilize sound judgement and problem-solving skills
• Ability to work in fast-paced, high-volume, team environment

Preferred Qualifications:

• 5 years' experience in industry or related and category expertise experience; such as:
• CSS Certification or WSET Spirits level 2; or
• Category specific certifications (Whiskey or Tequila)
• On-premise/hospitality experience
• Strong understand or background of consumer engagement mechanics

Physical Requirements:

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to, stand, sit; talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer and telephone
• Required to be able to operate a motor vehicle and possess a driver's license.

Competencies:

• Accountable for results which impact the department.
• Selects best option from a set of defined procedures/ solutions using common sense and experience of similar situations.

This job description is only a summary of the typical functions of this position, not an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all possible job responsibilities, tasks and duties. Responsibilities, tasks, and duties of individual jobholders may vary from the above description.