(Senior) Category Controlling Manager

Job Location: ​Shanghai​

Company description

Ferrero is a family-owned company with a truly progressive and global outlook and iconic brands such as Nutella®, Tic Tac®, Ferrero Rocher®, Raffaello®, Kinder Bueno® and Kinder Surprise®. As the love for our brands continues to grow, so too does our global reach. Represented in more than 50 countries, with products sold in more than 170, the Ferrero Group is loved by generations around the world. The secret to our global success? 40,000 dedicated employees who celebrate care and quality to craft a business, careers and brands we are proud of. Join us, and you could be one of them.

Diversity Statement

Ferrero is committed to building a diverse and inclusive culture in which all employees feel welcomed and appreciated and have the same opportunities. We believe all of our people are equally talented in their own way. In nurturing the curiosity and natural abilities of our employees, we provide them, generation after generation, the means to succeed personally and professionally, enabling them to craft their journey at Ferrero. The diversity of our talents is what makes our work environment multicultural, innovative and highly rewarding.

About the Role:

To lead Category Marketing strategy in specified accounts and in right channels driving profitable category growth through strategic category insight and consumer behaviour understanding in the evolving channels. Lead proactive management of category marginality, provide insights for efficient and effective allocation of company resources. 

Main Responsibilities:

Being responsible for the financial evaluation of brand’s performance, defending category’s profitability and provide support for brand’s sustainable growth.

• Provide full support to Brand Managers by conducting comprehensive economic and financial evaluations for existing Brands and Innovation Projects. Prepare P&L for long term strategic plan when required, collaborate closely with various departments such as Marketing, Packaging, Industrial team, Trade Marketing, Supply Chain, and Sales. 
• Being the process leader for Brand performance, including specific reporting activities and monthly Gap Analyses, to provide strategic analysis to drive growth. 
• Lead the development of Business Cases for new investments, subject to evaluation with the local management team following ROI guideline. 
• Contribute to the efficient management of our Brand Portfolio, evaluating its industrial and financial implications for all new consumer and trade unit requests. 
• Lead the financial preparation of the annual marketing plan and track the monthly rolling forecasts, including detailed activity grids.
• Solid understanding of pricing strategies across different channel and justify the investment effectiveness.
• Build up proper evaluation module regarding efficiency and effectiveness of marketing investments as well as the tracking of ROI for pre and post event, provide insights and suggestions for improvement/ decision making.
• Proper documentation and tracking of new project’s status and follow up with relevant stakeholders.

Lead the China RTM project, monitor the result and deep dive the business to seek for continuous investment efficiency and support new business opportunities.

• Maintain Quarterly/monthly/weekly RTM dashboard for business performance tracking, coordinate the data source of different functions, ensure the data quality and accuracy, find business improvement initiatives with solid analysis and financial insights.
• Work closely with project team and Ferrero commercial functions to deeply understand the business running mechanism in the main channels that RTM project focus on. Visit distributors and target market when required. 
• Support field sales and project team with all the commercial activities, like distributor selection, trade spending planning & execution, SR/MDR people efficiency improvement. Do ad hoc business analysis and optimize relevant tools to adapt the business needs and changing environment.
• Lead the budget planning and forecast cycle of RTM project (volume uplift, gross sales value, TS investment, additional media A&P investment, OVH of project impact) by coordinating with different functions. Tracking and monitoring the PNL performance on routine basis to improve the profitability of the business
• Support the business for new channel’s development and value chain analysis
• Lead the documentation of the project team, ensure all the files are keep properly with orders and share the relevant tools in shared folders.

Being an active team member and an effective communicator integrating with other key stakeholders to provide a holistic category view.

• Coordinate with other team members to achieve synergies by providing shared templates and sharing updated information
• Participating in meetings with different stakeholders to actively contribute to the discussions.
• Continue to optimize the existing templates/way of working and share the best practice/knowledge within the team
• Communicate effectively to other functions for the key message that we need to deliver
• Cooperate and communicate with area category controllers and area controllers for group projects updates. 

Who we are looking for:

• University degree in Finance
• 7+ years of relevant experience in finance controlling, with 3+ years of experience in a finance role for Marketing P&L, RTM, Channel Management; FMCG companies preferred
• Knowledge of business performance monitoring and planning
• Expertise in budgeting and strategic planning
• Strong data analytical skills
• High attention to details without losing a big picture
• Good learning ability with logical and critical thinking
• Agility to work in a fast pace and under pressure
• Effective communication, engaging and cross-functional collaboration skills
• SAP system and functionality knowledge
• Fluent in written and spoken English and Mandarin is a MUST

How to be successful in the role and at Ferrero:

Consumers, quality and care are at the heart of everything we do. So, to be successful at Ferrero, you’ll need to be just as consumer and product centric as we are - dedicated to crafting brilliant results for consumers around the world.