Overview
Home. There’s no place like it. And there’s no feeling like helping people create the joy of feeling truly at home. At Dunelm, that’s what we do. We’re the UK's number one choice for homewares because we make home life lovelier for our customers. And the caring and supportive culture we've created makes this a place you'll feel right at home too.
We are the UK’s Number One homewares retailer offering c85,000 products building a consumer-focused total retail business that delights customers through our multichannel operation.
We are ambitious in our plans to drive further expansion of the business to more customers, shopping more frequently, with more choice, enhanced digital and physical services, and new capabilities to innovate and operate at pace in a fast-changing landscape. In developing the business for the long-term benefit of our customers, we are investing in our supply chain, stores and technology to improve the customer proposition as we move forward.
Department Overview
As a Digital Category Strategy Partner, you will play a pivotal role in shaping and delivering the digital growth agenda across key categories. Reporting into the Head of Digital Trade and Optimisation, you will act as a strategic partner to Category Directors and Senior Leadership team —translating commercial ambitions into actionable digital plans that drive performance, customer relevance, and market competitiveness.
This role is focused on unlocking long-term category growth through data-led insight, market awareness, and cross-functional collaboration. You will lead the development of digital category strategies that align with business priorities, influence promotional and exposure plans, and ensure digital channels are fully leveraged to deliver commercial success. What you'll be doing
Strategic Category Partnership
- Act as a trusted digital advisor to Category Directors and Commercial leadership team, translating commercial strategies into digital growth plans.
- Influence category-level decision-making by providing digital insight, market intelligence, and performance analysis.
- Ensure digital priorities are embedded in category strategies and aligned with wider business goals.
Digital Growth Planning
- Lead the development of digital category plans that drive revenue, share, and customer engagement.
- Shape seasonal and long-term planning cycles, ensuring digital levers are fully utilised to support category ambitions.
- Align with digital marketing, CRM, and digital teams to maximise exposure and campaign effectiveness.
- With a big picture and forward planning mindset, feed into relevant trade planning & optimisation workstreams.
Performance & Market Insight
- Monitor and analyse category performance across key digital KPIs, identifying risks and opportunities.
- Provide actionable insight to inform strategical trading decisions including promotional planning, and investment prioritisation for voucher codes & events.
- Track competitor activity and market trends to help categories stay ahead and beat the market with actionable outcomes.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Work closely with optimisation, content, and trading teams to ensure category strategies are executed effectively across digital channels.
- Partner with SEO, paid media, affiliates and CRM teams to drive traffic and visibility for priority categories.
- Support campaign and launch planning with clear digital objectives and performance outcomes & targets, ensuring effort is matched with a relevant ROI.
Promotional & Commercial Strategy
- Shape and influence the category voucher code (global and personalised) and promotional strategy to support category growth and competitiveness.
- Ensure promotional mechanics are aligned with customer needs, commercial goals, and market dynamics.
- Collaborate with commercial & finance to evaluate effectiveness and optimise future activity.
What we'll look for in you
- Proven experience in digital trading, category strategy, or eCommerce within a fast-paced retail or consumer-facing environment.
- Strong commercial acumen and strategic thinking, with the ability to translate data into actionable plans.
- Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, particularly with senior commercial leaders.
- Deep understanding of digital channels, customer behaviour, and performance metrics.
- Experience working cross-functionally with marketing, product, analytics, and tech teams.
- Comfortable working with ambiguity and managing multiple priorities in a dynamic environment.
