Category Manager

About Bunzl Canada

We are a leading Distribution Company operating in Canada for over 25 years. Headquartered in Burlington, Ontario the company has over 1,100 employees and 45 warehouses providing an exceptional local and national service experience to more than 45,000 customers.

We provide a number of business models including last mile, cross-dock, marketplace, blind fulfillment, mobile and vending to name a few. Our business provides our customers a number of tools, services, and capabilities with our product category strengths in food and retail packaging, cleaning supplies and equipment, safety products and industrial packaging that help our customers operate their businesses every day.

Bunzl Canada is part of Bunzl North America headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, North America represents approximately 60 percent of global revenue. It is the single largest business of Bunzl plc, a UK headquartered, publicly traded distribution and outsourcing company with revenue of approximately $15 billion CAD. Bunzl is active in more than 30 countries and organized into four business areas: North America, Continental Europe, UK & Ireland and Rest of the World.

Throughout its history, the company has maintained a strong commitment to its customers and employees. Our Canadian business is focused on providing our customers with the strong category expertise and an exceptional service experience that help solve problems and build business. The expertise and exceptional service comes from the strong local relationships that our employees have with our customers and the local markets.

About Bunzl Globally

Supporting businesses globally with a variety of essential products and services. Our purpose is to deliver essential business solutions around the world and create long term sustainable value for all of our stakeholders.

Through our core values of humility, responsiveness, reliability, and transparency, we source consolidate and deliver. We ensure, a customer centric service model, simplification, efficiency, and reliability. We provide local agility and knowledge, value added services and expertise, sustainable and responsible solutions, tailored service suited to each customer.

The Role:

We are looking for a Category Manager with a proven track record of delivering product category profitability growth. The successful candidate has delivered category sales and margin growth by partnering with the business to develop and implement subcategory assortments using their strong product development and sourcing skills.

Key criteria for category assortments will require good analytical skills with strong market, product, knowledge along with a strong understanding of legislative, raw material and manufacturing capacity availability. The category assortments should be a well-developed combination of own brands, innovation, national brands, and sustainability addressing customer and market emerging needs.

This is a remote opportunity reporting to the Director, Category Management, Jan San. This position has the full sales and margin responsibility for the subcategory management, sourcing, and product development functions. Our data tells us that the Canadian Market opportunity for Jan San is $2,0 billion

Major Responsibilities:

• The Category Manager, is responsible for building and delivering category assortments, plans and financial targets for their subcategory responsibility with the business segments. Key success measures are sales and gross margin year on year growth.
• In this role, the successful candidate will:
  • work closely with the Category VP & Director to build, the necessary skills and requirements to deliver annual categories sales and margin growth.
  • use their previous experience and leadership skills to build product specifications, differentiated product features and costing targets when developing and delivering Company Own and Sustainability Brands in select categories.
  • use their previous experience to use the stage gate process for new product development when collaborating with the segment VP’s, Sales Leaders, and Marketing.
  • use their previous experience to effectively source categories for sales and margin growth.
  • use their previous experience to manage and optimize back side margin programs (profit).
  • use their previous experience to build and use data for tracking and insights of key category inputs of cost and capacity for competitive advantage.
  • use their previous experience to build and use vendor performance scorecards for select category vendors.
  • work closely with peers and team in the United States to collaborate and build “win win” category opportunities where they exist.
  • build the resource to integrate with the BNA sustainability Director and maintain key liaisons with our partner CIAL and the various legislative, trade and special interest groups affecting their subcategory responsibility.

Critical Competencies for Success:

Business Skills: A businessperson with strong category management and sourcing skills who understands how to build category growth through the development of category assortments as a proactive business partner in the organization. Applies business acumen with developed skills to dig deeper and identify the true category challenges to the business. Interprets the category challenges of the business and then translates them to solutions.

Strong Desire & Attitude for Success: A team player who can operate effectively as a member of the team; operate with a hands-on approach and get into the detail as appropriate. Has strong consultative and influencing skills; capable of persuading others, and able to quickly earn the respect of others. Passionate, positive, personable and straightforward with a good sense of humor. Acts as a role model, projecting a highly visible, energetic, motivated and ethical style dedicated to the success of the business. An excellent team player demonstrated by a track record of achieving results through the collaboration and motivation of teams.

High Level of Compete: A competitive person who consistently measures themselves and their team performance against external competition in Category Management. Consistently investing in their team and themselves to deliver results that consistently put them at the top of their competition. Takes tremendous pride in the team accomplishments.

Drive for Results: Recognizes that the role is an important and significant contributor to the business driving sales and gross margin growth. Embraces the importance of the contribution required and sets high expectations that results will be the key measure of success.

Expects Accountability: Understands the importance of the role and the expectations that come with it. Embraces the accountability for themselves and the team knowing that the success delivered against expectations is a positive and prideful reflection of their team.

Additional Requirements:

• Excellent communicator up, down and across the enterprise
• Strong Souring & Purchasing Acumen
• A strong understanding of the market and competitive landscape in order to recognize and capitalize on opportunities.
• Successful working experience in a NPD stage gate process.
• Proven strength in having a ‘customer lens’ in all decision-making process.
• Proven ability to develop plans in line with corporate strategies.
• Progressive and innovative: aggressively seeks out opportunities to improve competitiveness and demonstrates an innovative spirit.
• Ability to gather and synthesize customer, competitor and market insight and information.
• Strong data management and analytical skills with strict attention to detail and the ability to develop business insights and effectively communicate them to the business.
• Creative problem solver and strategic thinker with a strong work ethic
• Proven ability to deliver results in a high-pressure environment with the ability to set priorities and meet challenging deadlines.
• An effective change agent who possesses the influencing skills needed to help the organization adopt new ways of thinking and to embrace more sophisticated business tools.
• Past experience in a similar role within a distribution or wholesale environment.
• Proven ability to build relationships with vendor partners.

What We Believe

Bunzl believes in the Power of People. We put our people first.

• We believe through diversity we build strength.
• We believe that an entrepreneurial spirit provides endless possibilities.
• We believe that together we can achieve anything.
• We believe through innovation we can find dynamic solutions.
• We believe that motivated people create happy customers.
• We believe everyone counts at Bunzl.
• We believe that when you join our team, your potential is unlimited.

At Bunzl, we believe in you!

What’s in it for you?

Come showcase what you can do in a fast-moving, evolving company that provides competitive compensation, benefits, RRSP Match, Share Save (Stock) opportunities, performance incentives and career development opportunities. You’ll find the support, leadership, and workplace culture you need to achieve your full potential. When you are successful, we are successful! At Bunzl, we don’t just say our people are our greatest asset, we really mean it. Let’s talk about your future.

Interview guidance

Bunzl is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible environment reflecting the diversity of the communities in which we operate. If requested, we will provide reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process for persons with disabilities.

Only applicants moving forward in the process will be contacted