The purpose of this role is to support the Head of Buying in the day today management of the Fresh / Ambient teams this role has been developed primarily for the management of the and development of the team, to drive the delivery of the key departmental KPI’s. The manager will drive the use of analytics to help the team make informed decisions working with the relevant departmental analyst; they will also be responsible for representation of trading when it comes to the development of time saving systems.

They will have input into key departmental strategies and attend all Senior Meetings if the Head of buying is unavailable. Part of their role will be the project management of business critical strategies. Key customers will be the buying team, Ocado Head of buying, the finance team and audit team. This will also include the Ocado customer who will benefit from the improvements that will be made. The Category Manager will be required to support the Head of Buying to achieve the key KPI targets as agreed by the Retail Director; they will be required to roll out new ways of working which will be the result of improved day to day management.

Role and Responsibilities:

• The overall responsibility is to improve the performance of the Buying team by the management and development of the team 
• With training and support to include the better use of time, systems and data available.
• To enhance the cash sales by project managing certain ranges, suppliers, or events.
• Develop a stronger use of analytics using both internal and supplier funded analysts.
• To be aware of Sales & Margin daily performance and take corrective action on a daily basis
• To manage and improve working conditions of team based on the results of the staff survey. 
• Support Head of Buying with the top 100 supplier Top to Top meetings by co-ordinating and identifying cash opportunities which could support other functions such as marketing. 
• Liaise with OB and manage product development based on commercial needs. 
• Work with the Promotional Function to identify opportunities for trading.

 The Category Manager will also work with the departmental data analyst’s within the team to identify supplier and range opportunities.

This will include:

• Range management by profitability
• Margin mix
• The top 100 suppliers to Ocado. 
• The range review process.

Knowledge, skills & experience:

The successful candidate for the role would ideally be able to demonstrate:
• Senior commercial management experience 
• Highly developed negotiation skills with exposure to complex supplier relationships
• Results driven & ambitious with strong commercial acumen-accountability for achieving company targets. 
• Commercially astute 
• Experience in team management.
• Educated to degree level