Senior Category Manager - Meat & Poultry

Brakes; England; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Senior Category Manager to enhance their meat and poultry offerings. This role involves developing strategic category plans, managing promotions, and leveraging customer insights to drive sales and margin growth. The ideal candidate will possess strong commercial acumen and experience in category management within a foodservice or retail environment. With a hybrid work model, you will have the flexibility to work from home and the office, making it an exciting opportunity for those passionate about the food industry. Join a team that values growth, innovation, and sustainability.

Benefits

Company Car or Cash Allowance

Annual Bonus

Private Medical Healthcare

25 Days Holiday

Pension Scheme

Recognition Awards

Career Development Opportunities

Discounts on Food and Products

Discounts on Cinema Tickets

Cashback via Benefits Portal

Qualifications

• Proven track record in financial and commercial skills applied to business objectives.
• Experience in customer insights, data analytics, and pricing strategies.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deliver category plans to meet sales and margin targets.
• Manage promotions and pricing strategies to foster growth opportunities.

Skills

Financial Analysis

Commercial Acumen

Data Analytics

Pricing Strategies

Promotional Planning

Education

Professional Qualification in Marketing

CIPS Certification

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft PowerPoint

Tableau

Job description

Job Description

Brakes is recruiting for a Senior Category Manager - Meat & Poultry to join the Merchandising team on a 9-12 month fixed-term contract, reporting to the Category Merchandising Director.

As the Senior Category Manager - Meat & Poultry, your responsibilities include developing and delivering a category plan that supports range development and achieves the in-year margin budget. This involves range management including NPD, promotions, cross-selling, customer marketing activity, and pricing. You will deliver and evaluate comprehensive category insights on total performance, owning the category presence in all customer and sales communications, including online, to enhance the category's profile internally and externally. This role suits a candidate with broad commercial experience within Head Office Retail, Foodservice, or a blue-chip food manufacturer environment.

We offer a hybrid contract with 1-2 days a week in our Ashford, Kent office. Ideally, candidates will be located in the Southeast/London. Flexibility for team and supplier meetings across the UK is required, and a full, clean driving license is essential.

Key Accountabilities & Responsibilities:

1. Utilize customer, market, and supplier insights for category performance analysis, guiding the wider team to create strategies to meet sales and margin targets.
2. Review and analyze category performance monthly, adapting strategies and marketing plans to maximize opportunities, and present findings to the team.
3. Own and activate all in-year deliverables, including range planning, NPD with gap analysis, and activation/growth levers.
4. Project manage the Sysco 6 Stage Category Management programme.
5. Run promotions and implement pricing strategies to protect existing business and foster new growth opportunities.
6. Support strategic priorities such as Brakes Essentials, Sysco premium, and partnerships with Sysco subsidiaries like Fresh Direct & Kff.
7. Develop strategic relationships with suppliers to drive growth and support margin investment across range, promotions, and marketing plans.
8. Manage the yearly marketing plan for the category, including supplier activation.
9. Support corporate sustainability initiatives, ensuring opportunities for recognition with accreditation bodies (e.g., Red Tractor) are realized, and support initiatives like transitioning to higher welfare chicken.
10. Present to and train sales teams on category knowledge and strategic messaging.
11. Own category data accuracy, ensuring internal and external content (e.g., E-List, product launches, discontinuations, website descriptions) is up-to-date.

About You:

The successful candidate will be results-driven with a proven track record in applying financial, commercial, or procurement skills to business objectives such as cost savings or service enhancements. Strong commercial acumen, relevant sourcing, and category experience are essential, with a focus on driving sales and margins. Experience with customer insights, data analytics, pricing, promotional planning, and financial analysis is required. Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Excel including VLOOKUP, formulas, pivot tables; PowerPoint) and Tableau is expected. A professional qualification in Marketing, Category Management, Merchandising, or CIPS is desirable.

What You Will Receive:

• A competitive salary & annual bonus
• Company car or cash allowance of £7,000 per annum
• Enrolment into the Sysco Pension Scheme
• Life Assurance
• Private medical healthcare cover
• 25 days holiday + bank holidays, with options to purchase additional holidays
• Discounts on food and products through staff shop
• Discounts on cinema tickets, shopping, and cashback via Sysco benefits portal
• Recognition awards and incentives
• Career development opportunities within Sysco, a global leader in foodservice