Category Manager, Category Strategy & Own Label

Position Title:
Category Manager, Category Strategy & Own Label

Position Type: Regular
- Full-Time

Scarborough

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.

In every role, McCainers are ambitious, curious, and interested in helping each other create good work experiences. We think about the customer and make doing business with McCain easy. The Category Manager – Category Strategy & Own Label is a pivotal executional role, bringing category growth strategies to life across Retail and Food service channels. This role plays a key part in translating strategic direction into practical, customer- and consumer-led initiatives that accelerate growth for McCain.

Working in close partnership with the Senior Category Manager and environment specialists, you’ll tailor category strategies and activation plans to the specific needs of each channel and customer environment. You’ll leverage robust data and insight to design, deliver and track initiatives that strengthen the commercial performance of McCain’s Own Label portfolio. You’ll also support the growth of McCain Group’s Own Label business in the UK, collaborating closely with UK and European commercial teams to develop locally relevant, consumer- and operator-led propositions.

These propositions will align to both category and customer strategies, helping to deliver McCain’s growth ambitions across Retail and Food service.

As a key point of contact for assigned customers, you’ll build best-in‑class engagement, clearly articulate the value of McCain’s category propositions, and deliver data‑led recommendations that create shared value for both McCain and its customers.

• Proactively analyse, synthesise and communicate insights from a broad range of data sources, including market, shopper, loyalty, panel, customer and operator data.
• Combine global trade flow, share and capacity data with local quantitative and qualitative insight to deliver robust competitor monitoring and performance reporting.
• Translate insight into clear foresight on trends, opportunities and risks—informing recommendations that drive growth for both customers and McCain.

• Execute category growth strategies in partnership with the Senior Category Manager and the wider Category Growth team.
• Work closely with environment and channel specialists to tailor initiatives for maximum impact across both Retail and Food service.

• Support the development of new product, range and activation concepts that grow the Own Label portfolio, ensuring shared value for McCain, customers, consumers and operators.
• Contribute to the deployment and continual improvement of selling tools, using data and digital capability to increase customer engagement and effectiveness.

• Act as a trusted partner to key Retail and Food service customers, leveraging category expertise, the 3
  
  Cs framework and customer communication plans to build strong, value‑added relationships.
• Collaborate with UK and European commercial and innovation teams to develop compelling, insight‑led Own Label proposals for customer meetings, range reviews and new business development.
• Deliver clear, data‑driven recommendations through category reviews, assortment optimisation, new product proposals and thought leadership initiatives.
• Build and maintain strong relationships across internal teams and with external analytics and data partners.