Senior Category Marketing Manager (Permanent)
Full-Time/Permanent role.
Because we strive to put people first.
Culture, our way.
The Opportunity
The Senior Category Marketing Manager translates category strategy into an integrated marketing plan that drives customer demand, engagement and commercial performance.
Working closely with the Head of Category Marketing and senior Buying and Merchandising partners, you will own the category planning process, connect product and trading priorities across channels and make clear recommendations on sequencing, focus and activation.
You will lead complex cross-functional programmes, provide direction to Category Marketing Managers, Officers and Trainees, and ensure category activity is strategically coherent, commercially responsive and delivered to a consistently high standard.
This role is accountable for leading, shaping and delivering end to end multi million pound campaigns from brief to delivery across paid (owned, earned and shared) media. This requires proven creative and strategic judgement and experience in field as a marketeer. Navigating the insights, research, strategic and creative development, production and delivery.
Job DescriptionKey Responsibilities
Integrated Category Planning & Prioritisation
- Lead the development and management of the integrated category marketing plan.
- Translate category growth ambitions into clear campaigns, launches, trading moments and customer activity.
- Maintain a single view of priorities, dependencies, investment and delivery across the category.
- Recommend sequencing and trade-offs based on customer value, product importance and commercial opportunity.
- Continuously adapt the plan in response to performance, business needs and emerging opportunities.
Campaign & Customer Journey Leadership
- Develop integrated campaign strategies that connect customer, product and trading priorities across the full journey.
- Define campaign objectives, audiences, propositions, channel roles and activation requirements.
- Set clear briefs and provide strategic direction to channel, specialist and agency teams.
- Ensure experiences are joined-up, distinctive and consistent with category and brand objectives.
- Maintain a high bar for customer relevance, product storytelling and execution quality.
Commercial & Trading Partnership
- Act as the senior day-to-day marketing partner to Buying, Merchandising and Trading teams.
- Use category, stock and trading insight to identify demand opportunities and performance risks.
- Recommend marketing interventions in response to launches, seasonal opportunities and changing trading conditions.
- Ensure short-term activity supports trading needs without undermining longer-term customer growth.
- Bring clear marketing recommendations into category reviews and planning processes.
Stakeholder & Delivery Leadership
- Lead cross-functional planning across Digital, CRM, Brand, Creative, Media, Social, PR, Retail and Analytics.
- Establish clear ownership, decision points, timelines and governance for major activity.
- Influence senior stakeholders to align around category priorities and customer outcomes.
- Resolve delivery conflicts and escalate material strategic, commercial or resource issues.
- Create collaborative, disciplined and agile ways of working across teams.
Performance, Insight & Optimisation
- Set campaign and plan-level measures aligned to category objectives.
- Monitor customer, commercial and campaign performance and turn insight into action.
- Lead testing and learning plans that improve effectiveness and return on investment.
- Recommend whether activity should be scaled, changed or stopped based on evidence.
- Lead post-campaign reviews and embed learning into future planning.
Team Leadership & Capability
- Provide clear direction, coaching and performance support to marketing teams
- Delegate ownership at the appropriate level while retaining accountability for the integrated plan.
- Build capability in planning, customer thinking, commercial judgement and stakeholder leadership.
- Contribute to Category Marketing standards, tools and operating rhythms.
- Role-model a customer-first, commercially accountable and inclusive culture.
Experience
- 5+ years experience in category, integrated, brand or commercial marketing roles.
- Experience owning complex multi-channel plans in retail, fashion, ecommerce or a consumer-led environment.
- Track record of translating strategy and commercial objectives into effective marketing programmes.
- Strong experience leading cross-functional teams, senior stakeholders and agency partners.
- Evidence of delivering measurable customer and commercial outcomes and improving marketing effectiveness.
- Experience managing or coaching marketing team members is desirable.
Skills
- Strong strategic planning, prioritisation and programme leadership.
- Commercially astute, with a clear understanding of customer and trading drivers.
- Confident influencing and challenging senior cross-functional stakeholders.
- Ability to connect strategy, customer experience and operational delivery.
- Strong analytical judgement and performance orientation.
- Clear communication, briefing and decision-making.
- Effective people leadership and coaching.
What You’ll Get:
The work you do shapes the impact we have. We’re focused on providing you with the culture to reach your potential. Your wellbeing is our top priority.
Lifestyle at Primark: Healthcare, pension, and potential bonus. 27 days of leave, plus bank holidays and if you want, you can buy 5 more. Because Primark is all about tailoring to you, we offer Tax Saver Tickets, fitness centre, and a subsidised cafeteria.
Ready? Good - because we can’t wait to see what you can offer. You’ll be joining a team of innovative and experienced people where you’ll truly belong, collaborating on projects that will shape the future of our industry. Apply to be part of our future and we’ll support you in developing yours.
About Primark
At Primark, people matter. They’re the beating heart of our business and the reason we’ve grown from our first store in Dublin in 1969 to over 80,000 colleagues and over 480 stores in 18 countries today and growing.
So, what’s a career at Primark all about? The positive impact you’re making, the experiences you’re having and the people you’re with. It’s that feeling that turns a job into something more. Celebrating the wins, working at pace, and pulling through the challenging times with passion, courage, and your team by your side. It’s what drives us every day.
You’re our driving force. Embrace what sets you apart, own your career and develop in ways you never expected. Leave your mark. And do it your way.
Skills Required
- 5+ years experience in category, integrated, brand or commercial marketing roles
- Experience owning complex multi-channel plans in retail, fashion, ecommerce or consumer-led environments
- Proven track record translating strategy and commercial objectives into effective marketing programmes
- Strong experience leading cross-functional teams, senior stakeholders and agency partners
- Evidence of delivering measurable customer and commercial outcomes and improving marketing effectiveness
- Experience managing or coaching marketing team members
- Strong strategic planning, prioritisation and programme leadership skills
- Commercially astute with a clear understanding of customer and trading drivers
- Confident influencing and challenging senior cross-functional stakeholders
- Strong analytical judgement and performance orientation, including testing and optimisation
- Clear communication, briefing and decision-making skills
- Effective people leadership and coaching capability
Primark Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Primark and has not been reviewed or approved by Primark.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is often characterized as fair or good compared to similar retail roles, and overtime availability can improve take-home earnings. Recent UK minimum-rate increases and the removal of age-related pay tiers reinforce a sense of improving pay fairness.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid time off stands out as comparatively strong for retail, with full-time roles described as having notably generous PTO alongside sick time and paid holidays. This breadth can increase the overall value of the compensation package beyond hourly wages.
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Parental & Family Support — Enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption, and surrogacy payments are positioned as meaningful additions to the rewards package. Ongoing colleague discounts and family-oriented support contribute to a more rounded benefits offering.
Primark Insights
What We Do
Primark is an international fashion retailer employing more than 80,000 colleagues across 17 countries in Europe and the US. Founded in Ireland in 1969 under the Penneys brand, Primark aims to provide affordable choices for everyone, from great quality everyday essentials to stand-out style across women’s, men’s and kids, as well as beauty, homeware and accessories. With a focus on creating great retail experiences, Primark has over 440 stores globally and continues to expand with the aim of reaching 530 stores by the end of 2026. Primark is working to make more sustainable fashion affordable for everyone through its Primark Cares strategy, a multi-year programme that focuses on giving clothing a longer life, protecting life on the planet and supporting the livelihoods of the people who make Primark clothes. As part of this, Primark unveiled nine commitments it is working to achieve by 2030. These commitments include making all of its clothes from recycled or more sustainably sourced materials by 2030, halving carbon emissions across its value chain and pursuing a living wage for workers in its supply chain.
