COMMERCIAL STRATEGY &

CATEGORY PLANNING MANAGER

P&P InterSearch is partnering with an international FMCG company to appoint a Commercial Strategy & Category Planning Manager for its local business.

This person will define how the company translates its business and category strategy into customer and channel plans: where growth should come from, which commercial initiatives deserve investment and how pricing, promotions, visibility and execution should be adjusted to improve performance.

Reporting directly to the General Manager and joining the local leadership team, the new leader will work across Sales, Marketing, Finance and Supply Chain. The role will bring these functions around one clear commercial agenda, using market, customer and shopper insights to challenge established approaches and identify new sources of profitable growth.

The position leads a specialised team covering category, channel and shopper planning. It offers a strong next step for an accomplished Manager or Head who has already influenced commercial decisions across functions and is ready to take broader responsibility for the direction and performance of the business.

The business challenge

The company is moving towards a faster, more agile and more data-driven way of operating.

The new leader will help the organisation reconsider established practices, improve the quality and speed of commercial decisions and build stronger alignment across functions. The mandate includes identifying new sources of growth, improving the effectiveness of commercial investments and creating greater discipline around planning and execution.

The successful candidate will join a business with strong brands, extensive market presence and significant growth opportunities. At the same time, the role requires comfort with change, incomplete information and decisions that may challenge established ways of working.

What you will be responsible for

• Lead the commercial, customer and category planning agenda.
• Translate business and brand priorities into actionable plans by customer, channel and consumption occasion.
• Identify growth opportunities using category, shopper, customer and competitive insights.
• Lead the monthly commercial planning process, integrating sales forecasts, pricing, promotions, visibility and investment priorities.
• Develop and govern the promotional strategy, ensuring that investments generate measurable commercial returns.
• Monitor sales, market share, profitability, promotional effectiveness and execution performance.
• Recommend corrective actions when performance deviates from plan.
• Ensure consistency between the strategies developed for different channels and prevent conflicting or value-diluting initiatives.
• Partner with Sales, Marketing, Finance and Supply Chain to improve decision-making and market execution.
• Bring an objective, fact-based external perspective into leadership discussions.
• Challenge initiatives that do not support customer needs, market realities or commercial priorities.
• Build strong planning capabilities within the team and raise standards of accountability and execution.
• Assess, coach and develop team members while making the necessary organisational decisions.
• Contribute as a senior member of the local leadership team.

What we are looking for

The right person will bring:

• Solid experience in FMCG, ideally within food, beverages, snacking, dairy, consumer goods or another execution-intensive category.
• Experience translating category and brand strategies into customer and channel plans.
• Strong understanding of promotional planning, pricing, commercial investments and performance analysis.
• Exposure to forecasting and regular business planning processes.
• Experience working across multiple channels, preferably including modern trade and traditional trade, HoReCa or out-of-home.
• A record of leading complex cross-functional initiatives.
• Experience managing and developing a team.
• Strong analytical capability and the confidence to make decisions even when systems or data are not perfect.
• The credibility to influence senior stakeholders and defend a well-supported point of view.
• Experience in a business transformation, commercial redesign or significant change programme.
• Fluency in Romanian and English.

The leadership profile

We are looking for a commercially astute and influential leader who brings clarity to complex business decisions and creates alignment across functions.

The successful candidate will:

• apply sound judgement to identify the priorities that will have the greatest impact on growth and profitability;
• build a clear point of view from market evidence, customer dynamics and performance data;
• influence senior stakeholders and challenge established assumptions with confidence and credibility;
• make timely decisions, including difficult trade-offs around priorities, investments and resources;
• lead change through ambiguity and maintain momentum when facing organisational resistance;
• take an enterprise-wide perspective, balancing the priorities of customers, brands, channels and functions;
• set high standards of accountability while building trust and constructive collaboration;
• develop a capable, independent team and address performance or capability gaps decisively;
• translate strategic choices into focused execution and remain accountable for measurable business outcomes.

Why consider this opportunity

• A visible role with direct exposure to the General Manager and leadership team.
• Genuine influence over the company’s commercial direction.
• Responsibility across customers, categories and channels.
• The opportunity to shape processes and ways of working rather than simply inherit them.
• A strong platform for an accomplished Senior Manager or Head ready to step into a broader business leadership position.
• Access to international expertise and opportunities to exchange practices across markets.
• A business environment that values ownership, speed, learning and constructive challenge.

Interested?

If your experience is relevant and you would like to explore the opportunity, please apply with your English CV until latest MONDAY 19.10.2026.

If the role is not suitable for you but you know a strong commercial professional who may be relevant, we welcome confidential recommendations.

All applications and conversations will be handled with complete discretion by P&P InterSearch.

Please consider that only the suitable candidates will be contacted for interview, but we appreciate everyone’s interest in our projects and would like to keep in touch for future projects.

Pendl & Piswanger offers HR and management advisory services in the last 40 years in CEE. As members of InterSearch, a worldwide executive search firm with more than 100 offices in 50 countries, we are amongst the top search firms globally and operate across all major industry sectors. We are experienced, innovative, and totally committed to our clients who gain competitive advantage by hiring great people. For more information, please visit www.ro.intersearch.org.

Apply here!