Category Development Manager

The Category Development Manager is an exciting opportunity to accelerate your career in procurement within Foodbuy’s category team. In this role you will take responsibility for the day-to-day execution of assigned categories and the execution of business plans within a supportive, growth focused environment. There is plenty of new opportunity that we want you to be able to quickly uncover using data analysis, and you will apply your procurement expertise including negotiation, budgeting and forecasting, aligning customer needs with program opportunities, fostering supplier relationships and engaging cross-functional resources to deliver your strategies for growth. As Category Development Manager, you will also work closely with other team members to further develop your category expertise and broaden your knowledge of the business. This role includes strong project management, analytical and customer service components.

What You’ll Do

• Lead day-to-day tactics and operations of assigned subcategories.
• Develop a category strategy in collaboration with other departments that meets targeted business objectives and delivers strong financial results.
• Become the subject matter expert for assigned subcategories, including knowledge of your suppliers’ contractual terms, market intelligence, and innovation and R&D trends.
• Develop and manage long-term, strategic supplier relationships to bring incremental value.
• Negotiate with suppliers to drive savings opportunities for customers and mitigate any adverse market conditions.
• Establish and monitor price benchmarks to maintain high portfolio value for customers.
• Manage term sets to ensure data releases to distributors are accurate and timely.
• Set annual budgets for your categories with monthly tracking and forecasting.
• Prepare supplier and category analyses and deliver presentations to stakeholders and leadership.
• Work cross-functionally to manage the implementation process for new contracts or program changes, including coordination of actions and deliverables across multiple teams.
• Manage response process for requests for additional information about products and resolution of supply issues.

What You’ll Need

• 5+ years of category management and procurement experience.
• Bachelor’s degree is required.
• A great attitude – flexibility, optimism, resourcefulness and transparency.
• A proven track record of delivering results delivery while being self-motivated and driven.
• Strong analytical skills to extract insights from complex data sets, data dashboards and reports.
• Strong ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously in addition to multiple stakeholders, while meeting deadlines.
• Ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment.
• High attention to detail and exceptional work quality.
• Strong networking skills, ability to influence and get things done through informal as well as formal channels including conflict resolution.
• Good knowledge of budgets and forecasting.
• Strong negotiation experience.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills to engage both suppliers and internal leadership, including presentation skills.
• High proficiency level with MS Office applications including Excel, Word and PowerPoint required.
• Experience in the foodservice disposables category is advantageous.
• Travel rarely required, but could be up to 5% annually.

Foodbuy USA