One of our national procurement clients are looking for a Category Development Manager to join their expanding team. This is an exciting role within our Food Category Team giving you the opportunity to shape, develop and deliver a short, medium & long-term category strategy. With support from your buyer, you will direct all procurement and supplier management strategies across fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables. You will work closely with our chef community to support menu and product development, driving our focus on sustainability, provenance and reducing carbon as a priority. Your primary responsibility is to deliver our overarching Foodbuy Strategy, drive volume growth, negotiate sustainable commercial terms & provide value and benefit to our clients. You will lead & support planning, negotiating, and executing contract renewals as well as managing supplier relationships. You will engage, inspire & collaborate with our culinary teams & development chefs and support their client food philosophies. You will be known for getting things done and will be a motivating force amongst your team and the wider food team. Lead your team to develop and execute a long-term category strategy to deliver sustainable improvements in terms of cost, quality, service and innovation, in collaboration with the companies procurement team & other relevant business stakeholders. - Identify potential new suppliers and producers, visiting, and meeting existing suppliers and producers, building, and maintaining relationships. - Deliver financial targets including inflation mitigation, cash & managing debt, new commercial value. - Develop and maintain long term pricing mechanisms/cost models across subcategories & supply base to drive sustainable, competitive advantage and ensure seasonal supply procured at optimum period. - Ensure your product range is compliant to food safety regulations & sustainability requirements, assuring high quality standards always and optimise as necessary. - Support your team’s personal development plans, provide regular training and ensure succession planning in place. - Support the Category Lead to develop a high performing team culture. - Evaluate tenders with the company sourcing team and make recommendations based on commercial, technical, supply and quality requirements, using your category expertise and knowledge. - Regularly review supplier performance to support category growth, identify priorities to drive commercial value. - Support our sales and bid teams when required. - Schedule Joint Business Plan meetings with strategic partners to deliver new commercial value, deepen supply partnerships. - Influence & support our companies clients and account teams to adopt our commercial terms and recommendations. Already operating as a category manager or senior category buyer, looking to develop and progress your career at a more strategic level. - Competent with Excel and analysing data, with an ability to interpret data to support decision making. - Contributory pension scheme. - Quick access for you and your immediate family to a Digital GP, and wider healthcare benefits. - Exclusive travel discounts with TUI, Expedia, Booking.Save money on your food shop with discounts on Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons and many more. - Receive Wow Points every time you spend and use them on a wide range of brands. - You can share all discounts and offers with your friends and families.
