Category & Shopper Strategy Director - Europe

Welcome to Haleon. We’re a purpose-driven, world-class consumer company putting everyday health in the hands of millions. In just three years since our launch, we’ve grown, evolved and are now entering an exciting new chapter – one filled with bold ambitions and enormous opportunity.

Our trusted portfolio of brands – including Sensodyne®, Panadol®, Advil®, Voltaren®, Theraflu®, Otrivin®, and Centrum® – lead in resilient and growing categories. What sets us apart is our unique blend of deep human understanding and trusted science.

Now it’s time to fully realise the full potential of our business and our people. We do this through our Win as One strategy. It puts our purpose – to deliver better everyday health with humanity – at the heart of everything we do. It unites us, inspires us, and challenges us to be better every day, driven by our agile, performance-focused culture.

The Category & Shopper Strategy Director Europe is a senior leadership role within the European Commercial Excellence Team, responsible for shaping and accelerating Haleon's Customer, Category, Shopper, and Digital Commerce agenda across Europe. This role drives the development, localisation, and execution of category growth strategies and shopper engagement frameworks that create value for both customers and consumers across diverse European markets.

The role leads a team of experts spanning Category Management, Shopper Insights & Shopper Marketing, Digital Commerce & Digital Shelf Optimisation, Perfect Store Excellence, and Commercial Innovation & Technology.

The Director is accountable for building capability across these functions at scale, ensuring consistent deployment of best practices and commercial excellence across European markets. The role also leads Haleon’s Shopper Science Lab, translating shopper and customer insights into commercially actionable strategies that accelerate growth and strengthen customer partnerships.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead localisation and execution of Haleon’s category growth strategies across European markets and key regional customers.
• Develop category leadership frameworks that drive growth for Haleon brands and customer categories.
• Lead generation of shopper insights through the Shopper Science Lab and external partners.
• Establish and continuously improve Haleon’s end-to-end Shopper Marketing process across Europe.
• Adapt global and business unit shopper toolkits to reflect local market realities and shopper needs.
• Lead assortment, merchandising, range optimisation, and space management solutions.
• Drive Perfect Store and Picture of Success standards across Europe.
• Lead Digital Commerce capability development, including Digital Shelf Optimisation, Retail Media, and Omnichannel Shopper Engagement.
• Identify and implement emerging tools, AI applications, and analytics capabilities.
• Build scalable commercial capability programmes across Category Management, Shopper Marketing, Digital Commerce, and Perfect Store disciplines.
• Lead strategic category collaboration sessions with Europe’s key retail and pharmacy customers.
• Represent Haleon in senior customer engagements and executive-level category discussions.

Qualifications & Experience

Essential

• University degree or equivalent commercial experience.
• Significant years of experience across commercial functions within Consumer Healthcare, FMCG, Retail, or related sectors.
• Strong experience across Category Management, Shopper Marketing, Key Account Management, Digital Commerce, Commercial Excellence, and Retail or Brand Marketing.
• Demonstrated experience leading regional transformation and capability-building programmes.
• Strong digital, data, analytics, and insight-generation expertise.
• Proven success leading high-performing teams across multiple markets.
• Deep understanding of European retail, pharmacy, and omnichannel landscapes.
• Ability to travel across Europe (approximately 25%).

Preferred

• Experience in Digital Commerce, Retail Media, and Revenue Growth Management.
• Strong strategic influencing and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience working in complex multinational organisations.
• Demonstrated success in building commercial capabilities and scalable operating models.

Key Success Outcomes

• Accelerate category growth and market share across Europe.
• Build best-in-class shopper and category capabilities.
• Strengthen category leadership with key European customers.
• Drive omnichannel excellence and Digital Commerce growth.
• Create a scalable commercial excellence agenda across European markets.
• Establish Haleon as the leading shopper-centric Consumer Health company in Europe.

Job Posting End Date

2026-08-12

Equal Opportunities

Haleon are committed to mobilising our purpose in a way that represents the diverse consumers and communities who rely on our brands every day. It guides us in creating an inclusive culture, where different backgrounds and views are valued and respected – all in support of understanding and best serving the needs of our consumers and unleashing the full potential of our people. It’s important to us that Haleon is a place where all our employees feel they truly belong.

During the application process, we may ask you to share some personal information, which is entirely voluntary. This information ensures we meet certain regulatory and reporting obligations and supports the development, refinement, and execution of our inclusion and belonging programmes that are open to all Haleon employees.

The personal information you provide will be kept confidential, used only for legitimate business purposes, and will never be used in making any employment decisions, including hiring decisions.

Adjustment or Accommodations Request

If you require a reasonable adjustment or accommodation or other assistance to apply for a job at Haleon at any stage of the application process, please let your recruiter know by providing them with a description of specific adjustments you are requesting. We’ll provide all reasonable adjustments to support you throughout the recruitment process and treat all information you provide us in confidence.

Note to candidates

The Haleon recruitment team will contact you using a Haleon email account (@haleon.com). If you are not sure whether the email you received is from Haleon, please get in touch.