Category Manager, US Foods

Illinois Ag; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 82,000 - 109,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus eligibility

Hybrid work model

Job summary

McCain in North America is seeking a Category Manager to partner with Sales, Marketing, Analytics, and Channel Leadership. You will turn data, market insights, and trends into actionable recommendations that drive growth across the U.S. market.

The role emphasizes category leadership, collaboration, and delivering differentiated category solutions while ensuring governance and performance tracking. A university degree and 5+ years of experience are required, with a global mindset and strong

Qualifications

• University degree required.
• 5+ years of progressive commercial experience in the U.S. market.
• Experience in a global organization; food industry experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Provide category leadership and insights to support operating plans, commercial strategy, and channel plans across North America.
• Develop and enhance category reporting for QBRs and portfolio analysis.
• Partner with GTM channel leaders and cross-functional customer teams to develop category components of Joint Business Plans.
• Translate channel strategies into customer-specific execution plans covering assortment, distribution, pricing, promotions, space and layout decisions.
• Lead the development, execution, and measurement of category plans to strengthen customer engagement and growth.
• Collaborate with channel leaders, analytics, and other stakeholders to deliver differentiated category solutions.
• Monitor and evaluate category and sales performance to support forecasting and target setting.
• Communicate category performance, insights, and action plans with channel managers and sales teams.

Skills

Data analysis

Forecasting

Planning

Performance tracking

Storytelling

Communication

Presentation skills

Influencing

Education

University degree

Job description

# Category Manager, US FoodsBack to search resultsApply to this positionFollow CompanyMore Jobs from McCain...Send to Friend**Requisition ID: 44837****Job Description**In every role, McCainers are ambitious, curious, and passionate about creating exceptional work experiences - together. With a customer-first mindset, we make doing business with McCain easy.**About the role.** The Category Manager is a key member of McCain’s North America Go-To-Market (GTM) team and serves as a trusted category partner for both internal and external customers. This role combines strategic thinking with strong execution, transforming data, market insights, and category trends into compelling stories and actionable recommendations that drive business growth. The Category Manager plays a critical role in shaping channel and customer strategies, strengthening customer partnerships, and delivering disproportionate growth across the U.S. market.**What you’ll be doing.*** Provide category leadership and insights to support McCain’s annual operating plan, commercial strategy, and channel plans across North America.* Develop and enhance category reporting to identify opportunities, support Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs), and inform portfolio, innovation, and gap analysis.* Partner closely with GTM channel leaders and cross-functional customer teams to develop the category components of Joint Business Plans and Customer Growth Plans.* Translate channel strategies into customer-specific execution plans that support assortment, distribution, pricing, promotions, space, and layout decisions.* Lead the development, execution, and measurement of category plans that strengthen customer engagement and drive sustainable commercial growth.* Collaborate with channel leaders, culinary teams, sales analytics, and other stakeholders to deliver differentiated category solutions.* Monitor and evaluate category, channel, and North America sales performance to support planning, forecasting, and target setting.* Deliver commercial insights and data-driven recommendations to support business decisions and in-market execution.* Ensure adherence to commercial processes, controls, and governance standards to enable consistent sales execution.* Communicate category performance, insights, and action plans with channel managers, channel leaders, and sales teams.**What you’ll need to be successful.*** University degree required.* Minimum of 5 years of progressive commercial experience supporting the U.S. market.* Experience working within a global organization; food industry experience strongly preferred.* Strong commercial acumen, including data analysis, forecasting, planning, and performance tracking.* Proven ability to translate data and insights into clear, compelling business recommendations.* Demonstrated success influencing and collaborating across all levels of a matrixed organization.* Entrepreneurial mindset with a proactive, hands-on approach to problem-solving.* Excellent storytelling, communication, and presentation skills.* High degree of resilience, adaptability, and comfort working in ambiguous environments.* Performance-driven with a strong sense of urgency, accountability, and ownership.* Alignment with McCain’s values, leadership principles, and culture of humility.**About the team.** This role sits within the North America Go-To-Market team and partners closely with Sales, Marketing, Culinary, Analytics, and Channel Leadership teams. Operating within a highly collaborative matrix organization, the Category Manager serves as a critical link between category strategy and customer execution, helping drive category growth and commercial success across multiple channels throughout the U.S. market.**About McCain.*** Click Here to learn more about McCain and how we provide opportunities to make an impact that matters.**Leadership principles.** At McCain, our leadership principles guide how we engage with customers, collaborate as a team, and achieve success. We focus on understanding customer needs, driving innovation, empowering people, and taking ownership to clear obstacles and deliver results.**AI & Digital Capabilities.** At McCain, AI and digital capabilities are part of how we work and innovate. We value curiosity toward emerging technologies and the thoughtful, responsible use of AI-enabled tools to improve outcomes as part of our future-ready culture.**The McCain experience.** We are McCain. This statement is a testament to our collective strength and our individual value. Your contributions play a vital role in our success. Our winning culture is rooted in authenticity and trust, empowering us to bring out the best in one another. Here, you’ll find opportunities to learn, grow, and thrive. Join us and experience why we’re better together. Our purpose is grounded in building meaningful relationships. We’re big believers in the power of working together in person—it helps us stay connected, collaborate more effectively, and grow as a team. At the same time, we recognize the importance of flexibility. Most office-based roles follow a hybrid model, with the option to work remotely two days a week. There may be exceptions depending on the role and location, so we encourage you to speak with your recruiter for more details.**Compensation Package**: $81,600.00 - $108,900.00 . USD annually + Bonus eligibilityThe above reflects the target compensation range for the position at the time of posting. Hiring compensation will be determined based on experience, skill set, education and training, and other organizational needs. This posting is for an existing vacancy.