The Category Manager will develop and execute category strategies, optimize assortment and pricing, and build relationships with retailers to enhance sales performance.
Position Title: Category Manager
Position Type: Regular - Full-Time
Position Location: Melbourne
Requisition ID: 38905
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 .
We have an outstanding opportunity for an experienced & motivated Category Manager to join our Retail category team, located in Melbourne. In this role, y ou will take full ownership of your assigned category across ANZ, leading its strategic direction and ensuring alignment with both internal business objectives and retailer goals. You will be responsible for developing and executing a compelling 3-year category vision, grounded in macro trends, shopper behaviour, and consumption occasions, to identify growth drivers and optimize the profitability mix.
Lead category strategy for the relevant portfolios across ANZ: Leveraging scan and shopper data (e.g., Circana, Household Panel, Quantium), you'll identify opportunities, risks, and emerging trends. You'll lead range reviews, optimize assortment, and influence McCain's shelf presence to drive category performance. Working cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Insights, R&D, and Finance, you'll build and implememt strategic / category plans that align with business goals and retailer needs.
Retailer Engagement & Planning: You'll represent the voice of the shopper and consumer in all retailer interactions, using data and insights to lead elevated category conversations. By building strong, collaborative relationships with key retail partners, you'll influence range, space and promotional strategies of core offerings and innovation.
Internal Planning: You will be the category champion throughout the S&OP process. Through regular performance reviews and deep dives, you'll deliver actionable insights that feed into integrated business cycles, portfolio reviews, and pipeline development. Your ability to translate data into strategy will be critical in shaping the future of the category.
About You .
Experience:
Skills:
About the team .
Reporting into the Senior Category Manager, this role will see you own two categories, develop and drive elevated business growth conversations, fuelled by highly specialised category capabilities. You will lead the strategy & execution with our customers and across the broader McCain business.
Why Join McCain?
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.
The McCain experience .
We are McCain: this statement is about our power collectively and our importance individually-your impact is a significant part of the business. Our winning culture focuses on authenticity and trust so we can always bring out the best in our people. Here, you have the opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive while being yourself. Join our team to see why we're better together.
*We've got this covered! No external agency support is required at this time and unsolicited CVs will not be considered.
#LI-AK1
McCain Foods is an equal opportunity employer. As a global family-owned company, we strive to be the employer of choice in the diverse communities around the world in which we live and work. We recognize that inclusion drives our creativity, resilience, and success and makes our business stronger. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.
McCain is an accessible employer. If you require an accommodation throughout the recruitment process (including alternate formats of materials or accessible meeting rooms), please let us know and we will work with you to find appropriate solutions.
Your privacy is important to us. By submitting personal data or information to us, you agree this will be handled in accordance with McCain's Global Privacy Policy and Global Employee Privacy Policy , as applicable. You can understand how your personal information is being handled here .
Job Family: Sales
Division: ANZ
Department: ANZ Category Management Retail
Location(s): AU - Australia : Victoria : Melbourne
Company: McCain Foods (Aust) Pty.
Position Type: Regular - Full-Time
Position Location: Melbourne
Requisition ID: 38905
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 .
We have an outstanding opportunity for an experienced & motivated Category Manager to join our Retail category team, located in Melbourne. In this role, y ou will take full ownership of your assigned category across ANZ, leading its strategic direction and ensuring alignment with both internal business objectives and retailer goals. You will be responsible for developing and executing a compelling 3-year category vision, grounded in macro trends, shopper behaviour, and consumption occasions, to identify growth drivers and optimize the profitability mix.
Lead category strategy for the relevant portfolios across ANZ: Leveraging scan and shopper data (e.g., Circana, Household Panel, Quantium), you'll identify opportunities, risks, and emerging trends. You'll lead range reviews, optimize assortment, and influence McCain's shelf presence to drive category performance. Working cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Insights, R&D, and Finance, you'll build and implememt strategic / category plans that align with business goals and retailer needs.
Retailer Engagement & Planning: You'll represent the voice of the shopper and consumer in all retailer interactions, using data and insights to lead elevated category conversations. By building strong, collaborative relationships with key retail partners, you'll influence range, space and promotional strategies of core offerings and innovation.
Internal Planning: You will be the category champion throughout the S&OP process. Through regular performance reviews and deep dives, you'll deliver actionable insights that feed into integrated business cycles, portfolio reviews, and pipeline development. Your ability to translate data into strategy will be critical in shaping the future of the category.
About You .
Experience:
- 3+ years in category management, trade marketing, or a similar role within a supplier or FMCG environment.
- Proven experience working with major retailers and influencing category decisions.
- Tertiary qualifications in Business, Marketing, Commerce, or a related field are preferred.
Skills:
- Strong analytical skills with proficiency in data tools such as Circana Temple, Unify+, Quantium or similar.
- Deep understanding of category management principles, shopper behaviour and ANZ retail dynamics.
- Ability to translate insights into actionable strategies that drive commercial outcomes.
- Highly skilled in influencing without authority & building collaborative partnerships across internal & external stakeholders
- Ability & proven experience in acting as a thought leader; strategic thinker to partner with stakeholders across a range of levels and organisations
- Demonstrated success in growing the size of categories, improving profitability & unlocking three way wins with retailers
About the team .
Reporting into the Senior Category Manager, this role will see you own two categories, develop and drive elevated business growth conversations, fuelled by highly specialised category capabilities. You will lead the strategy & execution with our customers and across the broader McCain business.
Why Join McCain?
- Work with leading brands and retailers
- Be part of a collaborative, high-performing team
- Opportunities for career growth and development
- Hybrid working arrangement and a supportive, inclusive culture.
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.
The McCain experience .
We are McCain: this statement is about our power collectively and our importance individually-your impact is a significant part of the business. Our winning culture focuses on authenticity and trust so we can always bring out the best in our people. Here, you have the opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive while being yourself. Join our team to see why we're better together.
*We've got this covered! No external agency support is required at this time and unsolicited CVs will not be considered.
#LI-AK1
McCain Foods is an equal opportunity employer. As a global family-owned company, we strive to be the employer of choice in the diverse communities around the world in which we live and work. We recognize that inclusion drives our creativity, resilience, and success and makes our business stronger. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.
McCain is an accessible employer. If you require an accommodation throughout the recruitment process (including alternate formats of materials or accessible meeting rooms), please let us know and we will work with you to find appropriate solutions.
Your privacy is important to us. By submitting personal data or information to us, you agree this will be handled in accordance with McCain's Global Privacy Policy and Global Employee Privacy Policy , as applicable. You can understand how your personal information is being handled here .
Job Family: Sales
Division: ANZ
Department: ANZ Category Management Retail
Location(s): AU - Australia : Victoria : Melbourne
Company: McCain Foods (Aust) Pty.
Top Skills
Circana
Household Panel
Quantium
Unify+
Similar Jobs at McCain Foods
Food • Retail • Agriculture • Manufacturing
The R&D Manager will lead product development initiatives, manage a team, solve technical challenges, and drive innovation within McCain's food manufacturing framework.
Top Skills:
EngineeringFood ScienceFood TechnologyHaccpNpd Compliance
What you need to know about the Melbourne Tech Scene
Home to 650 biotech companies, 10 major research institutes and nine universities, Melbourne is among one of the top cities for biotech. In fact, some of the greatest medical advancements were conceptualized and developed here, including Symex Lab's "lab-on-a-chip" solution that monitors hormones to predict ovulation for conception, and Denteric's vaccine for periodontal gum disease. Yet, the thousands of people working in the city's healthtech sector are just getting started, to say nothing of the tech advancements across all other sectors.
