Category Development Manager - Distributor Sales - Dubai

at  Arla Foods

At Arla, we do so much more than make some of the world’s favorite dairy products. We make healthy, tasty and delicious products, where mornings are worth getting up for, and family dinners unforgettable. Puck®, Lurpak®, The Three Cows® – names like these make us a vital, natural part of modern life in over 100 countries around the world. There are 2,200 employees in the Middle East and North Africa(MENA) and 19,000 global employees at the heart of our business. Every single one of us plays an important role and together we build on our +13bn Euros turnover and establish our position as one of the largest dairy companies in the world.
Do you get energized by the dynamic pace of the MENA region and are you structured and creative by heart? Are you motivated about Trade Marketing – both off and online, working with some of the strongest brands? And are you a team player who likes to collaborate with multiple internal and external stakeholders balancing the interests of both our customers, our sales department, and our marketing department?
Then grab this exciting opportunity to be a part of the Distributor sales team in our regional office in Dubai, where you will take the lead in developing and executing Trade Marketing plans across all of our brands in 12 different countries. Libya, Yemen, Jordan, Bahrain, Morocco, and Egypt just to mention some of them!
You will join the Distributor sales team working together with a highly commercial team and markets where a strategic growth mindset, agility, and being frontline obsessed are part of the everyday job. Distributor Sales is delivering +140 mEUR in Revenue. The future looks very strong with expectations to strengthen our position being the growth engine for the ARLA MENA business. We strive to be a great place for talents and impactors to learn and develop their international skills.

TRANSLATE SHOPPER BEHAVIOR TO BEST-IN-CLASS IN-STORE CAMPAIGNS AND ACTIVITIES

As Category Development Manager for Distributor sales, it is your job to ensure the perfect delivery of activation of brands and products in-store. You use your understanding of shopper behavior and store opportunities to develop best-in-class solutions, and you execute in-store campaigns together with our partners in close collaboration with both our sales managers and regional marketing departments.
Furthermore, the Category Development Manager is tasked with proactively seeking new and innovative concepts and opportunities to drive business growth. This includes leveraging brand, digital, and formal consumer insights. Collaborating with the Regional marketing team, your role will involve building strong relationships with our customers and translating our regional category strategies into a local market context. Additionally, you will take the lead in fully developing the Distributor Sales Innovation strategy and pipeline, ensuring alignment with business objectives, consumer behavior, and market demands. You will have a large contact base working with multiple internal stakeholders as well as external partners.

You will be responsible for driving Arla Foods’ trade marketing strategy across some of the Distributor Sales key markets in the MENA region working closely with local partners:

• Manage the total marketing and discount budget for the markets with a focused mindset building strategic Channel and Category growth. In doing so you will build activity plans with key stakeholders to strengthen brands in local markets
• You will build and develop strong relations with distributors, suppliers, your team members, and the regional marketing team to support the growth agenda of Distributor Sales
• You will be responsible for strengthening the NPD pipeline to support sustainable growth and profitability, ensuring that Arla’s response is relevant to consumer needs & occasions.
• You will follow and monitor market development through local market visits and coordinate with Arla Sales Managers on market situations on marketing plans, actual performance, prices, market presence, and development of market shares. Also, review competitor activity, and take a lead in proposing new and disruptive activities
• Based on your market insights and analytic mindset, you would propose and secure the right level of promos, and branding, and ensure that seasoned campaign materials are allocated and distributed to local markets in coordination with expected sales numbers and Sales Managers
• You will support both internal and external stakeholders with in-depth channel and category knowledge that allows them to make an informed decision that helps them deliver their objectives
• Be a leading representative with a strong voice for Distributor Sales in the regional marketing forum. Your main task is to bring the local context closer to the regional marketing team and ensure relevant campaigns
• People manager for an Assistant Category Development Manager, with the focus on winning together and development

WE HAVE A PURPOSE FOR GOOD

At Arla, we strive to unlock the highest potential in each other while working together to create a sustainable future of dairy. We call it Stronger People Stronger Planet and it is deeply anchored in our organisation and founded on our commitment to respecting human rights, increasing access to healthy dairy nutrition, inspiring good food habits, and improving the environment for future generations. In order to succeed we need to hire people with a sustainable mindset. Could this be you?

You will be responsible for driving Arla Foods’ trade marketing strategy across some of the Distributor Sales key markets in the MENA region working closely with local partners:

• Manage the total marketing and discount budget for the markets with a focused mindset building strategic Channel and Category growth. In doing so you will build activity plans with key stakeholders to strengthen brands in local markets
• You will build and develop strong relations with distributors, suppliers, your team members, and the regional marketing team to support the growth agenda of Distributor Sales
• You will be responsible for strengthening the NPD pipeline to support sustainable growth and profitability, ensuring that Arla’s response is relevant to consumer needs & occasions.
• You will follow and monitor market development through local market visits and coordinate with Arla Sales Managers on market situations on marketing plans, actual performance, prices, market presence, and development of market shares. Also, review competitor activity, and take a lead in proposing new and disruptive activities
• Based on your market insights and analytic mindset, you would propose and secure the right level of promos, and branding, and ensure that seasoned campaign materials are allocated and distributed to local markets in coordination with expected sales numbers and Sales Managers
• You will support both internal and external stakeholders with in-depth channel and category knowledge that allows them to make an informed decision that helps them deliver their objectives
• Be a leading representative with a strong voice for Distributor Sales in the regional marketing forum. Your main task is to bring the local context closer to the regional marketing team and ensure relevant campaigns
• People manager for an Assistant Category Development Manager, with the focus on winning together and developmen