Category Development Manager

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Category Development Manager

Requisition ID: 13044

Who We Are

Suntory Group is a global leader in consumer-packaged goods, renowned for producing and distributing a uniquely diverse portfolio of beverages, premium spirits, beer, wine, and wellness products throughout the world. Founded as a family-owned business in 1899 in Osaka, Japan, Suntory has grown into a company operating throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. We are driven by a profound purpose: To inspire the brilliance of life, by creating rich experiences for people, in harmony with nature.

At Suntory Beverage and Food, we boldly move forward together to realize the dreams of becoming a world-leading next-generation global beverage company – you are an important part of this and here’s how your role helps us win.
Here, you have the opportunity to work with talented and inspiring leaders, the freedom to dream big and think differently. We commit to creating a work environment where you can bring your true self and Unleash your Spirit.

The Category Development Manager Benelux defines where to play and how to win for priority categories. The role turns shopper, occasion, category and market understanding into clear growth choices and strategic recommendations. As the senior category authority within Commercial Excellence and a strategic right hand to Brand Managers, the role shapes category and portfolio choices, leads the Benelux In & Out agenda across channels, and connects category opportunities with customer, channel, RGM and activation expertise.

About your role

Do you naturally look beyond individual brands and see the bigger category opportunity? Are you curious about why shoppers make the choices they do, where future growth will come from, and how those insights can shape commercial strategy?

As Category Development Manager Benelux, you will help define where we play and how we win across the soft drinks category. You’ll take a broad, forward-looking view of the market, identifying the segments, shopper opportunities and growth spaces that could shape our future portfolio across Belgium and the Netherlands. Your recommendations will influence our longer-term category strategy and priorities within MTP and AOP.

This is a highly influential role within Commercial Excellence. You’ll combine shopper and market understanding with strong commercial judgement to turn insight into clear choices, helping the business decide where to invest, what to prioritise and which opportunities have the greatest potential for sustainable growth.

This role can be based out of Amsterdam (NL) or Hoeilaart (BE).

What You'll Do

• Shape our Benelux category vision: Develop a holistic view of the soft drinks category, looking beyond our existing brands to identify attractive segments, whitespace opportunities and future growth spaces.
• Bring the shopper to the heart of our decisions: Build a deep understanding of shopper needs, occasions, missions and path to purchase, helping us understand not just what people buy, but why they buy it and how they behave at the point of purchase.
• Turn strategy into action: Translate category opportunities into clear priorities for MTP and AOP, ensuring longer-term strategy becomes actionable commercial plans.
• Shape our portfolio: Lead the Benelux In & Out agenda and develop commercial business cases for where products should be introduced, expanded or potentially removed across retail and out-of-home channels.
• Influence innovation and investment choices: Bring the category and shopper perspective into portfolio and innovation decisions, helping assess the size of the prize, market fit, customer relevance and potential return.
• Lead our shopper insight agenda: Work with external insight, data and research partners, decide where we need deeper shopper understanding and turn those learnings into practical recommendations for the business.
• Influence across the business: Partner closely with Commercial Excellence, Marketing, Brand, Customer Category Management, BI, RGM and senior leadership, using insight and expertise to align stakeholders around the opportunities that matter most.
• Lead cross-functional category projects: Bring structure to complex commercial questions and lead multiple strategic projects from opportunity identification through to recommendation and implementation.

What's in it for you

This is an opportunity to step beyond traditional category management and help shape the future of our soft drinks business in the Benelux. You won’t simply analyse the category as it exists today. You’ll help determine where we should play tomorrow.

You’ll have genuine strategic influence, helping shape portfolio, innovation and investment choices and contributing to decis