Category Development Manager
Role Overview
Arla makes healthy taste delicious and produces dairy products enjoyed in over 100 countries.
Brands include Puck, Lurpak, The Three Cows, Starbucks, and Castello.
There are 1,200 employees in the Middle East and Africa and 19,000 global employees.
Arla has a €10bn turnover and is one of the largest dairy companies in the world.
Key Skills for This Role
Full Job Posting
About Arla
Arla makes healthy taste delicious and produces dairy products enjoyed in over 100 countries.
Brands include Puck, Lurpak, The Three Cows, Starbucks, and Castello.
There are 1,200 employees in the Middle East and Africa and 19,000 global employees.
Arla has a €10bn turnover and is one of the largest dairy companies in the world.
Role Overview
Arla is looking for a strategic and insight-led commercial marketer to lead the development of the cooking cheese category in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The role requires a strong analytical mindset, a deep understanding of market dynamics, and a passion for driving growth through collaboration.
This position is based in Riyadh and reports to Category Lead for Cooking Portfolio.
The role supports the creation and execution of local category strategies, develops insight-based recommendations, and works closely with commercial teams to drive in-market performance.
Responsibilities
- Leading local category strategy development for the cooking cheese across all key channels and customers.
- Translating shopper, consumer, and customer insights into actionable growth plans, with a strong focus on penetration and market share acceleration.
- Driving the annual category planning process in partnership with Regional Marketing, Sales, and Finance.
- Leading innovation planning and in-market execution for NPDs.
- Partnering with Customer Growth and NRM teams to build compelling commercial stories, initiatives and toolkits that drive in-store performance.
- Managing the category P&L in collaboration with Finance, ensuring sound financial decision-making and scenario planning.
- Coaching and influencing internal stakeholders across functions to champion the category and embed best practices.
Requirements
- Degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Economics or related field.
- 5–7 years of experience in FMCG, ideally within Category Development, Marketing or Commercial roles.
- Proven leadership of category strategies and cross-functional collaboration.
- Comfortable navigating both the strategic and operational sides of the business, with a solid grasp of category P&L dynamics.
- Excellent analytical capabilities.
- Strong communication skills.
- A track record of influencing stakeholders at multiple levels.
- Proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint is expected.
- Fluency in English and Arabic are essential.
Nice to Have
- Knowledge of Nielsen, shopper panels, or retail audit tools is a plus.
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