Category Manager, Food Packaging

Position Summary

The Category Manager, Food Packaging is responsible for the strategic direction, financial performance, sourcing, and lifecycle management of assigned food packaging categories. This role develops and executes category strategies, manages supplier relationships, optimizes product assortments, and drives pricing, margin, and market-share performance.

The Category Manager works cross-functionally with Sales, Purchasing, Supply Chain, Marketing, and Operations to support profitable growth, supply continuity, product innovation, and customer needs.

The successful candidate will have experience managing food packaging categories such as plastic containers and trays, bags, cups, plastic and wooden cutlery, paper bags, foodservice boxes, and paper cups.

Salary Range will be $70k-$80K per year

Key Responsibilities

Category Strategy and Financial Performance

• Develop and execute category strategies aligned with Food Packaging priorities and overall business objectives.
• Manage category PBIT performance by driving sales growth, gross profit dollars, and margin improvement.
• Analyze category spend, sales performance, market trends, and regional results to identify growth and cost-reduction opportunities.
• Lead category reviews and present performance updates and recommendations to senior leadership and commercial teams.

Strategic Sourcing and Supplier Management

• Lead domestic and global sourcing initiatives, including RFQs, RFPs, supplier evaluations, negotiations, and supplier onboarding.
• Develop and maintain supplier strategies that support cost competitiveness, product quality, service levels, compliance, and continuity of supply.
• Monitor supplier performance, cost drivers, lead times, and commercial programs.
• Identify alternative sources of supply and develop additional vendor capacity to mitigate risk.
• Maintain sourcing documentation, contracts, pricing records, and supplier compliance information.

Product Assortment and Lifecycle Management

• Manage the full product lifecycle, including new product introductions, line extensions, assortment optimization, SKU rationalization, and product discontinuations.
• Align product assortments with customer-segment and regional requirements.
• Lead SKU consolidation and rationalization initiatives to improve inventory productivity and operational efficiency.
• Ensure product specifications and supporting documentation are complete and accurate.

Own Brand Development

• Develop and execute Own Brand strategies that support growth, differentiation, and margin expansion.
• Lead product specification development, supplier selection, cost-reduction initiatives, and commercialization activities.
• Partner with suppliers on innovation, sustainable packaging solutions, and exclusive product programs.
• Evaluate Own Brand performance against national-brand and competitive alternatives.

Pricing, Costing, and Commercial Support

• Manage category pricing architecture, cost models, and margin targets.
• Provide Sales with pricing guidance, product expertise, and support for strategic customer opportunities.
• Collaborate with Purchasing on supplier cost changes, imports, tariffs, vendor programs, and inventory considerations.
• Support accurate item setup, category coding, costing, and master-data governance.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Serve as the subject-matter expert for assigned food packaging categories.
• Partner with Sales and Marketing on go-to-market plans, customer presentations, product launches, and strategic account reviews.
• Collaborate with Supply Chain and Purchasing to support inventory optimization and continuity of supply.
• Coordinate category initiatives across internal departments and external supplier partners.

Qualifications and Experience

• Five or more years of experience in category management, product management, procurement, or strategic sourcing, preferably within food packaging, foodservice disposables, distribution, or a related industry.
• Strong financial acumen, with experience managing category profitability.
• Experience with both national-brand and private-label or Own Brand programs.
• Demonstrated experience leading RFQs, RFPs, supplier negotiations, and sourcing initiatives.
• Working knowledge of supplier contracts, imports, tariffs, and product-costing principles.
• Strong communication, negotiation, presentation, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders and manage multiple priorities without direct authority.
• Strong analytical capabilities, including experience consolidating, validating, and interpreting large, multi-source data sets.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including data cleansing, validation, analysis, and reporting.
• Experience with ERP and business-intelligence tools (Power BI) is preferred.

Bunzl Canada Inc. (bunzlcanada.ca) provides the food and retail packaging, cleaning and hygiene products and equipment, safety and industrial supplies which keep over 58,000 Canadian businesses running optimally, every day. We bring our customers the advantage of global sourcing, product innovation and national scale combined with responsive local service and deep category expertise. Bunzl Canada is a certified Great Place to Work^®. We are committed to creating an inclusive, equitable and positive working environment for all employees so that they experience a strong sense of belonging, while developing individually and professionally. Bunzl Canada is an operating company of Bunzl plc (BNZL.L), a FTSE100 company listed on the London Stock Exchange. With 27,000 employees in over 30 countries, our global presence spans the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the UK and Ireland. At Bunzl, you’ll find Unlimited Potential… Your Career - - Our Future!

Bunzl Canada has a tradition of commitment to equal employment opportunity. It is our established policy to attract and retain the best qualified people without regard to race, colour, religion, national origin, sex/gender (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, age, disability or veteran status as provided by law.