Commercial Strategy Manager

Overview

At PepsiCo UK, we’re proud to make some of the nation’s favourite snacks and drinks, including Walkers, Quaker, Doritos, Pipers and Monster Munch. With sites across the UK, including our Quaker mill in Cupar and Doritos factory in Coventry, we’re also home to one of the world’s largest crisp factories in Leicester.About the roleLeads the development of PepsiCo’s multi-year category strategy, identifying the consumer, shopper, customer and portfolio choices required to grow the category and enable PepsiCo to win disproportionately.

Translates the category strategy into a compelling Category Growth Story and customer-specific narratives for key moments in the selling cycle.

Owns the annual and long-term commercial planning process and leads a focused number of priority strategic questions for Commercial Leadership.

Responsibilities

Develop the category and commercial growth strategy

• Leads the development of one coherent, insight-led category strategy across channels, with a three-year strategic horizon.
• Identifies the priority consumer and shopper missions, occasions, segments, price tiers and white spaces that will shape future category growth.
• Defines the short and long-term category growth drivers and the role of PepsiCo’s brands, portfolio, innovation and assortment in delivering a triple win.
• Provides the category perspective within relevant portfolio, innovation, Comercialisation and IBP decisions.

Own annual and long-term commercial business planning

• Owns the annual and long-term commercial planning process, integrating category, customer, channel and portfolio perspectives into one coherent growth plan.
• Translates longer-term strategy into clear annual priorities, choices and interventions, aligned across Sales, Marketing, Category, NRM, Finance and Insights.
• Identifies the material opportunities, risks and trade-offs requiring leadership alignment and decision.

Shape the customer growth narrative

• Owns the overarching Category Growth Story, translating internal brand, portfolio and category strategies into a compelling external growth narrative.
• Translates the category strategy into customer-specific growth narratives, reflecting each priority customer’s strategy, shoppers, channel role and commercial priorities.
• Shapes the category story for Top-to-Tops and other key moments in the selling cycle, equipping Commercial and Category teams with the evidence and recommendations needed to unlock joint growth.

Lead focused strategic problem-solving

• Leads a small number of the business’s highest-priority commercial questions, framing ambiguous problems and translating analysis into clear choices and recommendations.
• Acts as a strategic thought partner to Commercial Leadership, bringing an objective perspective on material growth opportunities, risks and trade-offs.

Qualifications

• Minimum seven years’ experience in FMCG, ideally across Category, Commercial Strategy, Insights, Marketing or Customer roles.
• Demonstrable experience developing insight-led category, commercial or customer growth strategies.
• Strong practical experience of category-first and triple-win thinking.
• Experience leading business planning or complex strategic work across multiple functions.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and translate strategy into compelling customer and leadership narratives.

Skills and capabilities

• Category and commercial judgement: Connects consumer, shopper, category, customer and financial perspectives to identify growth opportunities, make clear choices and understand the commercial implications.
• Structured problem-solving: Frames ambiguous problems, develops and tests hypotheses and lands on evidence-led recommendations.
• Storytelling and communication: Simplifies complex analysis into compelling, decision-led narratives for senior internal and customer audiences.
• Influence and cross-functional leadership: Builds alignment around difficult choices and leads through influence without relying on direct authority.
• Ownership and delivery: Translates strategic recommendations into clear priorities and maintains accountability for measurable commercial outcomes.

Why Join Us? 

We offer a competitive salary, bonus, car allowance, flexible working, and a wide range of benefits—from critical illness cover and discounted gym memberships to enhanced parental leave and electric car schemes. Our commitment to wellbeing and career growth makes us a Top Employer for 14 years running.