Category Brand Manager - FMCG

Location: Bangalore, India Experience: 4 - 6 years Industry: FMCG (Food & Beverage preferred) Travel: ~20% international Reporting: Direct - Head of Marketing | Dotted line - Business Head (ROI) About the Role: We're looking for a commercially driven, entrepreneurial Category Brand Manager with 4 - 6 years of FMCG experience, ideally in Food & Beverage. This is an individual contributor role built for someone who is agile, resourceful, and thrives working under constraint and ambiguity. Strong Category Management experience is essential - exposure to Brand Management is a plus, not a substitute. You combine sharp insighting with commercial acumen and execution excellence to build categories, not just brands. You are result oriented, take full ownership, and turn purposive marketing into measurable business outcomes. International exposure - across Indian and global markets - is a strong plus. Key Responsibilities: 1. Category Strategy & Insighting: - Own category growth strategy, translating insighting, market analysis and commercial thinking into action. - Drive initiatives that grow off-take, market share, penetration and consumption frequency. 2. Innovation & NPD: - Own end-to-end NPD - insight, concept, commercialization, launch and post-launch evaluation. - Build robust business cases for innovation and portfolio expansion. 3. Marketing Planning & Execution: - Run the annual marketing calendar - ATL, BTL, digital marketing, trade marketing and consumer trial programmes. - Ensure every initiative has clear commercial objectives and measurable outcomes. 4. Cross-Functional & Commercial Partnership: - Partnering with the Sales team and distributors to ensure sharp execution in market. - Cross functional collaboration with R&D, Supply Chain, Finance and Operations; manage external agency partners. 5. Performance Management: - Track initiatives against business objectives; course-correct on post-launch performance. - Ensure marketing investment delivers a measurable, strong ROI. What We're Looking For - The Core DNA: - 4 - 6 years in FMCG (Food & Beverage preferred); strong Category Management experience valued over traditional Brand Management. - Agile, entrepreneurial and resourceful - genuinely comfortable working under constraint and ambiguity. - Result oriented, with high ownership and a strong bias for action. - Sharp consumer insighting combined with strong commercial acumen and analytical rigor. - Hands-on exposure to digital marketing and trade marketing. - Proven track record partnering with Sales teams and Distributors, with genuine cross functional collaboration. - International exposure across markets is preferred. - A believer in purposive marketing - every initiative tied to a clear business outcome. What Success Looks Like: - Growth in consumer off-takes, market share and secondary sales. - Successful commercialization of new products (NPD). - Improvement in brand health and consumer metrics. - Strong, measurable return on marketing investment.