Director, Category Development (Hair)

Job Title: Central Category Development Director (Hair Care)

Division: Consumer Products Division

Location: New York City, NY 

Reports to: VP, Category Development 

Who We Are:  

For more than a century, L’Oréal has devoted its energy, innovation, and scientific excellence solely to one business: Beauty. Our goal is to offer each and every person around the world the best of beauty in terms of quality, efficacy, safety, sincerity and responsibility to satisfy all beauty needs and desires in their infinite diversity.  

At L'Oréal Consumers Products, our mission is to democratize the best of beauty, and for us, beauty has to be sustainable. Our division holds the world’s #1 beauty brand with L’Oréal Paris, the #1 makeup brand with Maybelline New York, the #1 natural brand with Garnier, as well as NYX Professional Makeup.  

What We Are Looking For: 

An individual who can leverage deep shopper and social insights for selling opportunities & exhaustive category analysis to identify growth opportunities. 

This individual should establish omni-channel profitable strategies and accelerate the growth of the category and our brands. 

Key Responsibilities: 

Develop and own overall CPD category portfolio strategy  in Haircare

• Based on insights and customer knowledge, Identify CPD Long Term brands growth opportunities and bridged brand strategy with Category Strategy to maximize the potential.
• Relay omni-channel commercial insights into the Multifunctional Stakeholders
• Upstream influence to CMI, DMI, R&I, Sales & Marketing for category information & trends
• Communicate, influence and drive the category strategy with all internal stakeholders 
• Leverage social listening tools i.e. Quid to understand consumer sentiment and conversation topics linked to trends and retailers

Define consistent CPD category guidelines

• Recommend priority products to grow, maintain, products to delete for all CPD Hair Care brands
• Insure alignment between all brands on selling story and opportunities for CPD overall to win offline and online
• Identify grey/white space opportunities/ segment, channel, benefit, formats for CPD brand/category portfolio

Influence and drive Hair Care strategy at accounts and contribute to gain market share

• Drive long-term joint growth account specific strategy with top retailers offline and online for each category
• Develop partnership with account leadership to be a trusted resource for beauty

Leverage category insights and selling stories for account team and brands

• Manage cat dev manager to ensure consistent category view
• Own and manage platforms for knowledge sharing 
• Create Brand deep dives and reconcile their growth strategies to drive the category

Measures of Success: 

• CPD and Brands market share across all channels, incl. emerging / omni-channel
• Maximize (distribution, share of shelves, share of promotion) offline and online
• Quality of the Internal and external Strategic insights
• Grow Strategic Customer/Category combination
• Collaborate with the retailers to develop their category strategies and drive shopper penetration
• Deliver category projects
• Support ACM in Gaining Category Captaincy/Advisorships in strategic accounts
• Up to 36 months growth horizon 
• Team 360 feedback

The Network you Would Work With: 

Internal: General Managers, SVP Sales, Brand Category Heads, Brand Business Development, New Channel Lead, eCommerce Channel Lead, Customer Team Leaders, DMI, LAB and Category Development Management

External:  Customer Total Beauty Head, Customer Category Head, Customer Buyer

Required Qualifications: 

• Minimum 7 years’ experience in Category Development, Sales or Marketing role
• Proven experience of landing Range Reviews (RR), retailer strategies and projects
• Proven ability to develop sharp insight and build it into action plans to optimize sales and profit
• Multi category experience preferably in the Beauty Space
• Shopper insights knowledge
• Have achieved a level of influence both internally and externally
• Shown ability to have a clear plan and vision for the category and can/have mobilized the internal teams (DMI, Marketing, Sales, CMI) to execute against the plan
• Provide clear structure and guidance in recommendations and know how to drive action plans
• Systems knowledge in Nielsen POS, Nielsen Panel, Spectra, Rakuten, Numerator, Spate, Social Listening Quid, Suzy Surveying

What’s In It For You: 

• Salary Range: $139,700-$199,100 (The actual compensation will depend on a variety of job-related factors which may include geographic location, work experience, education, and skill level) 
• Competitive Benefit Package (Medical, Dental, Vision, 401K, Pension Plan) 
• Hybrid Work Policy (3 Days in Office, 2 Days Work from Home)  
• Flexible Time Off (Paid Company Holidays, Paid Vacation, Vacation Buy Program, Volunteer Time, Summer Fridays & More!) 
• Access to Company Perks (VIP Access to L’Oréal’s Internal Shop for Discounted Products, Monthly Mobile Allowance) 
• Learning & Development Opportunities for Career Progression (Unlimited Access to E-learnings, Lunch & Learn Sessions, Mentorship Programs, & More!) 
• Employee Resource Groups (Think Tanks and Innovation Squads) 
• Access to Mental Health & Wellness Programs  

Don’t meet every single requirement? At L'Oréal, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and innovative workplace. If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with the qualifications listed in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways! You may just be the right candidate for this or other roles! 

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and take pride in a diverse environment. We would love to find out more about you as a candidate and do not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, or other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital or veteran status, medical condition or disability, or any other legally protected status. 

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