Senior Category Manger - Fruits & Vegetables

KEY RESPONSIBILITIESCategory Ownership & Scope: Responsible for planning, assortment, buying and pricing of 2–5 categories within Fruits & Vegetables, with a total sales participation of 10–20% of the business.Team Leadership: Lead and develop a team of Senior Buyers - setting direction, building capability and driving accountability across the category team.Category P&L Ownership: Own the full Fruits & Vegetables category P&L — sales, margin and known loss — delivering against budget and taking corrective action where performance deviates.Category Growth: Drive category growth through assortment development, new product introductions, space optimization and private label / local-sourcing expansion.Competition Gap Analysis: Continuously benchmark the category against competition — assortment, pricing and promotion — identifying gaps and converting them into concrete category actions.Supplier Negotiations: Lead day-to-day commercial negotiations and annual agreements with suppliers and growers, securing best-in-market costs, terms and supplier income.New Supplier & Farm Sourcing: Proactively search for and onboard new suppliers, growers and farms — local and international — to strengthen freshness, assortment and cost, and de-risk supply.Freshness & Availability Management: Manage on-shelf availability and freshness in close cooperation with supply chain and the DC, protecting quality and sales through fast, daily replenishment.Pricing Execution: Execute category pricing in line with the pricing strategy, aligned with the Commercial Lead, ensuring price-position competitiveness is maintained at all times.Promotions & Leaflet Decisions: Own promotion and leaflet decisions for the category — line selection, pricing, volumes and supplier funding — maximising traffic and margin impact.Forecast & Planning Alignment: Align sales and promotional forecasts with supply chain and the Demand planning team to secure availability while controlling stock and waste.Shrinkage, Waste & Aging Management: Manage category stock health end-to-end — with particular attention to the short shelf life, freshness and cold-chain needs of fresh produce — minimising shrinkage, waste and known loss and initiating timely markdowns.Quality & Food Safety: Ensure produce quality and food-safety standards at receipt and on shelf, working with Quality and supply chain on grading, cold chain and supplier quality performance — owning commercial actions on quality issues including claims, returns and delistings.KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIS)Category P&L Delivery: Sales, margin and known loss versus budget across the 2–5 categories; overall category profitability.Category Growth & Market Position: Like-for-like growth; sales participation maintained/grown; closure of assortment and price gaps versus competition.Freshness & Availability: On-shelf availability and freshness to target; fast daily replenishment.Shrinkage & Waste: Shrinkage, waste and markdown levels within target for fresh produce.Negotiation Outcomes: Annual agreement terms, cost-price improvements and supplier income versus targets.Promotion & Leaflet Performance: Sales uplift and margin impact of promoted lines; leaflet line performance versus plan.Team Performance: Development, output and delivery of the Sr buyers.