Senior Commercial Strategy & Planning Manager

We are PZ Cussons. Our purpose is For everyone, for life, for good
. Sustainability and the wellbeing of people, families and communities everywhere are at the heart of everything that we do. Since our founding in 1884, we have been creating products to delight, care for and nourish consumers. Across our core categories of Hygiene, Baby and Beauty, our trusted and well-loved brands include Carex, Cussons Baby, Sanctuary Spa and St. Tropez.

Job Title:

Senior Commercial Strategy & Planning Manager

Location:

Manchester
Contract Type:
Permanent

At PZ Cussons, we make some of the UK’s best-loved brands – think Original Source, Carex, Imperial Leather, Sanctuary Spa, Childs Farm and more. We’re a FTSE-250 business with global reach and bold ambitions. If you want to join a business with dynamic, fast‑paced working environment and a collaborative atmosphere whilst working flexibly but with the opportunity to collaborate in our stunning offices, then this could be the right role for you.

The Senior Customer Strategy & Planning (CS&P) Manager plays a pivotal role in driving commercial performance by shaping and executing channel‑specific strategies that align with brand objectives. Acting as the critical link between Sales and Marketing, this role is responsible for developing and delivering pack, price, and promotional strategies tailored to each customer and channel. Through close collaboration across teams, the Senior CS&P Manager ensures the effective execution of brand plans in the trade environment, optimises trade spend ROI, and supports National Accounts as a strategic ‘co‑pilot’ to enable sustainable and profitable growth for PZ Cussons in a competitive FMCG landscape.

This role sits within the Commercial Strategy & Planning team within the wider Commercial function which consists of both Senior CS&P Managers and CS&P Managers.

The role reports to the Head of Commercial Strategy & Planning. Key working relationships with Commercial, Heads of Brand and Marketing teams including project leads for NPD, Category, Commercial Finance and Supply Chain teams.

• Develop consumer‑relevant pricing strategies across packs, brands, and channels to maximise market competitiveness and shopper value perception.
• Manage optimal price laddering and pack‑price architecture (PPA) across the current portfolio, and support brand teams with strategic pricing recommendations for innovation and long‑term growth.
• Lead the analysis of promotional effectiveness using data‑led insights and performance metrics to inform future promotional strategies and improve ROI.
• Create, own, and maintain promotional guidelines ("golden rules") by brand and channel to ensure promotional activities consistently deliver commercial targets.
• Facilitate collaborative working across Marketing, Commercial, and Category functions through regular reviews and timely updates to drive alignment and integrated planning.
• Guide and champion pricing and promotional strategy for new product development (NPD) to enable successful market entry and long‑term viability.
• Drive the commercial readiness of NPD launches by collating assumptions for gate sign‑off and delivering customer‑facing decks to support strong trade sell‑in and launch performance.
• Lead trade spend optimisation through insight‑led recommendations aligned with strategic priorities to maximise ROI, improve customer investment efficiency, and enhance brand visibility.
• Support the sales team in creating and delivering channel‑appropriate plans aligned to strategic categories (grow, protect, optimise) to unlock customer opportunities and drive commercial success.

• Brings proven significant experience in fast‑paced, consumer‑driven environments with a clear understanding of category dynamics and customer needs.

• Experience in using category data sources such as IRI/Kantar/Neilson, and proficient in excel.

• Demonstrates a solid understanding of commercial levers and market dynamics to drive brand and business performance.