Category Director - Housewares; Cook, Kitchen Accessories & Utility

A rare and exciting opportunity for a Housewares Category Specialist to join the RKW team at Director level, is now live.

We are specifically looking for someone to drive the Category Strategy for a diverse portfolio of ranges and products across sections of our Housewares division.

This will require someone with a long-term vision and a deep understanding of the market, with a proven track record in driving sales across a full spectrum of customer channels.

RKW is Europe’s leading distributor and manufacturer of small domestic appliances and housewares products.

The Category Director for Cook, Kitchen Accessories & Utility is responsible for leading the full commercial and product lifecycle strategy for a broad portfolio spanning Cookshop, Kitchen Accessories, Food Preparation, Tools & Gadgets, Storage, Waste Bins, Home Utility, Laundry, and Cleaning segments.

The role ensures the business delivers profitable growth, channel‑aligned ranging, and compelling consumer propositions while maintaining a strategic balance of value, quality, and innovation.

• Define and deliver the long‑term category strategy across Cook, Kitchen Accessories, and Home Utility, aligned to financial targets and margin expectations, as set out in the Cookshop & Kitchen Accessories strategy frameworks.
• Lead strategic focus on top revenue‑driving categories (e.g., pots & pans, storage, waste bins), ensuring effective lifecycle management and the right balance of core, growth, and exit ranges.
• Drive market, consumer, competitor and commercial insight into decision‑making across all category plans.

• Work with the Product Management team to oversee the NPI roadmap, ensuring timely approvals, channel‑appropriate propositions, and aligned go‑to‑market plans.
• Manage SKU lifecycle from ideation through to exit, including major range reviews, SKU rationalisation activity, and driving margin improvement initiatives.
• Work with supply chain, product management and buying to ensure cost efficiencies, MOQs, and margin targets are consistently achieved.
• Own the commercial performance for the categories, delivering sales, margin, and ASP improvement through value‑driven and quality‑led propositions.
• Identify new channel/customer opportunities including Grocery, Online, Traditional and European markets, supporting sell‑in with compelling product content and investment‑aligned activation plans.
• Lead demand generation and demand capture tactics in partnership with marketing teams to fuel top‑of‑funnel awareness and in‑market conversion.

• Partner with other Category Directors, Product Managers, Buyers, Merchandising, Supply Chain, and Marketing to ensure seamless end‑to‑end category execution and commercial alignment.
• Support selling teams with improved category education, core range definition, Good‑Better‑Best propositions, and channel placement clarity.
• Ensure product content, forecasts, costings, and approvals are aligned ahead of key milestones, including sell‑in and retail promotional windows.
• Work with Product Managers, Buyers, and cross‑functional category contributors to build a high‑performance culture.
• Establish best‑practice processes in category management, product development, lifecycle management, and competitor benchmarking.
• Drive continuous improvement in ways of working across Cook, Kitchen Accessories and Utility teams, aligning with wider organisational strategy.

• Proven experience in Category Management/Senior Sales experience within Cookshop, Homewares, Utility or adjacent consumer goods categories.
• Strong commercial acumen with a track record of delivering margin, ASP and profitable range growth.
• Deep understanding of consumer insight, trend analysis, and competitor landscapes.
• Strong product development and lifecycle management expertise, including NPI processes.
• Excellent influencing skills with the ability to drive alignment across buying, product management, supply chain, and marketing functions.
• Leadership capability to guide multi‑disciplinary teams and develop future commercial talent.
• Highly…