Head of Category Management (9 month Fixed Term Contract)

Job Title: Head of Category Management (FTC)

Location: London/Hybrid, with weekly or bi-weekly travel to Norfolk

Reporting To: Chief Product Officer

Who We Are

At Monica Vinader, we believe luxury should be empowering, long-lasting and responsibly made. Guided by integrity, craftsmanship and innovation, our goal is to elevate people’s lives by opening access to a more beautiful world. From crafting consciously with recycled precious metals and ethically sourced materials, to designing enduring, versatile pieces made to be layered, loved and lived in every day, we are redefining what modern jewellery can be. We create jewellery that marks moments, tells stories and becomes part of who you are, all while making responsible luxury more accessible. Our Commitment To Sustainability, Innovation And Positive Impact Continues To Be Recognised Across The Industry. We Are Proud To Have Received Responsible Jewellery Brand, 2026 – Country & Town House Responsible Business of the Year, 2025 – Positive Luxury Top 50 Inspiring Workplaces (UK & NI), 2024 – Inspiring Workplaces

With a global footprint across physical retail, e-commerce and trusted partners, we put our community at the heart of everything we do. Proudly female-founded and inclusive, we build meaningful relationships with the people who wear and love our jewellery. We are looking for a Head of Category Management to join us as we continue this journey and help us shape what the future of modern jewellery can and should be.

Where we need your help

The Head of Category Management role is an exciting opportunity to help bridge the gap between creative vision and bottom-line growth by serving as the primary commercial voice within the design and development lifecycle and product range architecture. Acting as the strategic architect of the product portfolio’s financial and market performance, you will translate complex data into actionable strategies that ensure New Product Development (NPD) and ongoing range management is optimised for global performance and aligned with commercial targets.

What You’ll Do

Role Purpose

The Head of Category Management is the strategic architect of our product portfolio's financial and market performance. You will be responsible for translating complex data into actionable product strategies, ensuring our New Product Development (NPD) aligns with commercial targets, margin requirements, and market opportunities, and that the overall range has high efficiency, is well managed and optimised for global performance. You will serve as the primary commercial voice within the design and development lifecycle, bridging the gap between creative vision and bottom-line growth.

Key Responsibilities

Commercial Strategy & Portfolio Management

• Strategic Planning: Lead the creation of the annual product strategy, delivering data-driven insights on portfolio performance, velocity & volume metrics, and customer behaviour to inform decision-making.
• Target Setting: Use data and channel/market team insights to define top-line development targets by product type, finish, and stone type, establishing "NPD Red-liners" to focus the team on high-opportunity development areas.
• Briefing: Coordinate with brand and channels to ensure delivery of newness for the right commercial and culturally relevant moments, inclusive of loyalty, customer surprise and delight, and gift with purchase need.
• Competitor & Market Intelligence: Maintain a robust "Competitor Architecture" to ensure our pricing and product mix remain dominant and relevant within the market, understanding range, materials & price. Coordinate improved accessibility, maintenance and insights from this data.
• Margin & Pricing Governance: Lead bi-annual RRP (Recommended Retail Price) reviews, by assessing market pricing & product performance and defining a clear price architecture that supports the brand elevation while, changes to offset inflation in raw materials and labour while optimising overall margin.

Range Performance & Performance Tracking

• Lifecycle Analysis: Deliver detailed NPD reporting and retrospectives, analysing how newness impacts continuity and identifying why specific launches may or may not have resonated with customers, always delivering actionable clear insights.
• Range Management: Manage the assortment, efficiency and overall size of the range within target. Facilitate and propose evolution when relevant. Oversee the Quarterly Range Review process and integration on markdown approach.
• Range Segmentation: Coordinate and drive range segmentation needs to maximise channel resonance, for example management of a core range or specific product edits.
• Range Taxonomy: Oversee the structure of the range within Range Taxonomy to ensure clear and focused applicable definitions, newness builds, RRP positioning, margin targets & discount rules.
• Executive Reporting: Own the delivery of the monthly Board Report data, providing synthesised insights on KPI tracking and range architecture to the leadership team. Ability to determine the right key metrics to use and track success.

Newness Commercial Alignment

• Regularly align with Design & Development leads to ensure the launch cadence matches commercial targets and marketing pacing.
• Macro Critical Path x GTM: Own the coordination of key NPD Go To Market timelines and management of associated stakeholders, which drive macro NPD timelines & workstreams (commercial, creative, brand and buy inputs).
• Inventory & Forecast Integration: Partner with Trading and Merchandising teams to plan launch periods, sell-thru targets, review NPD forecasts, coordinate with merch/channel/regional input & buy-in on forecasts, ensuring business expectations are aligned with projected KPIs and actual performance.
• Ranging: Oversee the sequencing of product ranging to ensure the micro level product development & commercial coordination is delivering into the overall business product need.

Cross-Functional Leadership & Influence

• Stakeholder Management: Lead NPD GTM alignment meetings during the development phase of new product, with key stakeholders to ensure cross-functional input alignment on NPD initiatives, commercial & creative reasoning and seasonal plans. Synthesise data inputs into actionable strategic NPD plans.
• Creative & Commercial Tension: Facilitate and drive data backed views, logic and product knowledge, in creative forums to hold pragmatic conversations with senior stakeholders and drive decision making with clarity.
• Trading Insights: Strong ability to understand product metrics, drive evolution of reporting tools and improve automation, to ensure time is maximised on providing the insights and next steps. Ability to synthesise and track insights on a frequent/seasonal basis to track not only what we said we would, but what is still relevant today.
• Commercial Insights Hub: Provide a regular cadence of trend and sales insights to the wider business, facilitating effective, data-led decision-making across all departments.

As a People Manager

• Coach and develop your direct reports to deliver their role to the best of their ability.
• Maintain a foundational understanding of company policies that affect your team, including any team members in other territories or business divisions, and ensure those policies are applied fairly and consistently.
• Recognise and celebrate successes.
• Manage your team’s performance, attendance and any incidents that arise.
• Support your team in prioritising their wellbeing, providing guidance on workflow management and prioritisation to enable work/life balance.
• Lead by example, showcasing the MV behaviours, competencies and values.
• Empower your team to make decisions, providing guidance and support and identifying the learning opportunity from our ‘test and learn’ behaviour.
• Collaborate with the People & Culture team for advice on complex or sensitive matters.

Above all, you will bring a love of product. Driven by a deep love for the craft and a commitment to our values, you are a strategic high achiever who uses data to tell our story, ensuring our products not only succeed commercially but authentically represent everything we stand for. You will be comfortable asking the right questions, and extracting value from data.

Merchandising planning experience is essential, with experience in the following:

• Portfolio Build & Rationalisation
• Experience Regional/Channel Nuance
• Change Management & Process Design
• Influencing Creative Personalities
• Life Cycle "Post-Mortems"

The following competencies are key to being effective in this role:

• Connect & Empower
• Communicates Effectively: Translates complexity into clarity, influences across functions. Exceptional written and verbal presentation skills, with the ability to "tell the story" behind the numbers to stakeholders at all levels.
• Drive & Deliver
• Dives Deep: Synthesises insights, ensures evidence-based planning to make informed decisions. Proven ability to interpret YOY and other performance data to propose structural changes to ranging and development.
• Master & Apply
• Applies Knowledge with Impact: Connects functional insights to business priorities. Functional/Technical Expertise: Focuses on raising standards across teams as a subject matter expert. Builds advanced proficiency & knowledge of the product range, alongside data visualisation and analytical tools.
• Grow & Adapt
• Challenges & Commits: Leads constructive challenge, commits with influence. Comfortable working with various different levels of stakeholders to facilitate and drive outcomes.

To be successful at Monica Vinader, it helps if you...

• Are hands-on, solutions-focused, and entrepreneurial.
• Collaborate openly with humility, honesty, and humour.
• Embrace learning, teaching, and personal growth.
• Stay resilient, adaptable, and self-motivated in a creative environment.
• Speak up when you don’t know—and act fast to figure it out.

Additional Requirements

• Ability to document your authorisation to work in the United Kingdom.

Travel Requirements

Regular travel to our Norfolk office will be required. The NPD team is based in Norfolk and will require weekly or bi-weekly travel there to fulfil the needs of the role.

Our Aims and Values

Our mission is to be the leading accessible luxury brand, by delivering outstanding quality, design and customer service. We are:

• Customer Obsessed: We put our customers at the centre of every decision and deliver thoughtful, personal experiences.
• Caring: We act with respect and empathy for people, communities, and the planet.
• Fast Paced: We move with focus and flexibility to make progress quickly and decisively.
• Exceptional: We hold ourselves to high standards and are always learning, improving, and raising the bar.
• Commercial: We make smart, data-led decisions that create long-term value for the business and our customers.

Monica Vinader as a global business makes the following inclusive culture pledge: Our jewellery is for everyone and so is our community. Together, we will continue to implement sustainable changes to ensure that career opportunities and progression are open to all. We commit to celebrating the diverse voices of our employees, partners, and the customers we serve.

This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of duties to be performed by the employee. This job description may be altered to reflect the business needs of the company.

Monica Vinader as a global business makes the following inclusive culture pledge: Our jewellery is for everyone and so is our community. Together, we will continue to implement sustainable changes to ensure that career opportunities and progression are open to all. We commit to celebrating the diverse voices of our employees, partners, and the customers we serve.