Category Strategy Lead – Sauces, Seasonings & Desserts

YUM; Woking; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Yum! Europe is seeking a Category Manager for Seasoning, Sauces and Marinades, Dairy and Desserts across UK&I and Europe. You will shape category strategy, combine commercial insight with supplier capability, and drive growth and restaurant economics.

The role requires 8+ years in procurement/category management, strong supplier negotiation, and ability to lead cross-functional teams. Hybrid role based from Woking with travel as required; you will partner across brands, markets, innovation and

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in procurement, category management, commercial, supply chain or strategic sourcing, ideally within ingredients, sauces, seasonings, dairy, desserts, food manufacturing, foodservice, FMCG, QSR or retail.

Responsibilities

• Build and execute a 3–5-year category strategy that connects brand growth plans, consumer trends, menu innovation, commodity economics and supplier capability.
• Unlock the bold ambition for sauces, developing the supplier ecosystem, commercial models, capacity and innovation pipeline required to make sauces a stronger driver of customer choice, menu differentiation and profitable growth.
• Define the strategic role of desserts, identifying opportunities across product architecture, supplier capability, innovation, value and scale to support greater category growth.
• Bring strong commodity and market intelligence across dairy, oils, sugar, spices, seasonings and other key ingredient inputs, translating movements into commercial actions, sourcing strategies and forward-looking risk management.
• Build robust should-cost and cost-driver models to understand supplier economics, challenge pricing and identify opportunities beyond traditional tendering.
• Lead strategic sourcing, supplier selection, negotiations and commercial agreements, balancing price, total cost, innovation, quality, capacity and resilience.
• Develop strategic supplier partnerships that move beyond transactional sourcing towards joint value creation, innovation and competitive advantage.
• Use supplier capability, external innovation and market trends to proactively bring new products, formats, ingredients and technologies into the Yum! innovation pipeline.
• Identify opportunities to simplify specifications, harmonise demand, aggregate scale and leverage the broader One Yum! system.
• Manage commodity exposure, supplier performance, capacity, business continuity and category risk while maintaining strong commercial governance.
• Act as the category expert across Supply Chain, Marketing, Innovation, FSQA, Operations, Finance, Logistics, franchisees and suppliers.

Skills

Procurement experience

Category management

Commercial acumen

Supplier relationship management

Data analysis

Job description

Yum! Europe is seeking a Category Manager for Seasoning, Sauces and Marinades, Dairy and Desserts across UK&I and Europe. You will shape category strategy, combine commercial insight with supplier capability, and drive growth and restaurant economics.

The role requires 8+ years in procurement/category management, strong supplier negotiation, and ability to lead cross-functional teams. Hybrid role based from Woking with travel as required; you will partner across brands, markets, innovation and