{"id":3869749,"url":"https://alion.io/job/ag-barr-category-manager","title":"Category Manager","company":{"id":5563,"name":"AG Barr","domain":"agbarr.co.uk","url":"https://alion.io/company/ag-barr","size_band":"501-1000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Workable","truth_index":null},"role":"Operations","role_family":"Operations","seniority":null,"employment_type":"contractor","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Cumbernauld, United Kingdom"],"countries":["GB"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-06T13:53:53Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-06","last_verified_at":"2026-11-07T19:47:49Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":1,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":1},"description":"Job Title: Category Manager FTC\nLocation: Cumbernauld\nContract and working pattern: Hybrid, permanent\nAre you ready to Be Your Best Barr None?\nLets Grow!!!\nWe are all about Being Your Best Barr None and having a career with real Moments that Matter!\nEmploying around 950 people across the UK, we are proud to be a responsible business that takes care of our people, values diversity, gives something back to our communities and works to minimise our environmental impact.\nFor 150 years AG Barr has been building great brands and is home to some of the nations favourite flavours.\nAt our core is IRN-BRU, launched in 1901 and still going strong today, the vibrant RUBICON fruit based brand, Boost making every moment better with a caffeine kick, hydration hit or tasty treat, and FUNKIN where real fruit means authentic taste.\nWe also have a number of exciting owned brands within our portfolio including MOMA, which crafts quality oats into great tasting oat drinks and porridges.\nThere's never been a better time to join us!\nWhat we’re looking for…\nAs a Category Manager (Maternity Cover), you will step into a high-visibility, strategic procurement role, taking full ownership of our 3-year category roadmap while leading an established team through key negotiations, ESG initiatives, and high-value sourcing strategies. In this role, you will take full ownership of raw material procurement, focusing on the day-to-day management and strategic execution of key juice contracts. You will directly lead and mentor the procurement team responsible for sourcing flavours, colours, and functional ingredients, ensuring seamless supply chain continuity, cost efficiency, and strict quality compliance across all product lines.\nYour responsibilities will include…\nStrategic Execution: Drive and refine our existing 3-year category roadmap to align spend with annual financial, ESG, and business targets.\n Commercial Negotiations: Lead high-stakes negotiations for Master Service Agreements (MSAs) and key contracts, managing indexation, liability caps, and performance rebates.\nTeam Leadership: Line manage, mentor, and support Category Specialists and Assistants to ensure project continuity and robust RFP outputs.\nStakeholder Engagement: Act as a trusted commercial partner to Department Heads and Directors, influencing budget allocations and decision-making.\n Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Apply full life-cycle TCO principles across all active sourcing projects, balancing risk, cost, and innovation.\nMarket Intelligence & Risk Management: Monitor global supply market shifts and macroeconomic factors to proactively adjust category tactics and protect business continuity.\nWhat you’ll bring...\nThe successful candidate will have;\nProgressive experience in Strategic Sourcing or Procurement, with proven category leadership skills.\nDemonstrated experience in direct line management and developing junior team members.\nA proven track record of negotiating complex, high-value commercial contracts and MSAs.\nStrong executive-level stakeholder management skills with the ability to constructively challenge and influence senior leaders.\nHands-on experience driving Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) evaluation and embedding ESG/sustainability criteria into sourcing.\nAnd it would also be great if you can demonstrate:\nMCIPS accreditation (Member of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply).\nAdvanced proficiency in using AI tools and software for market research, process optimisation, and strategic presentations.\nAgility in stepping into a fixed-term contract role and building fast credibility across a matrixed organization.\nWhat we offer…\nWe believe in creating a diverse and inclusive culture where your voice can be heard. Our skilled, loyal and committed people are critical to the future success of AG Barr which is why we are continually investing in our employees to develop their talent.\nWe look after our employees by offering a competitive salary and benefits package which includes;\nCompetitive salary, benchmarked to market\nAnnual bonus linked to business and individual performance\nDefined contribution Pension with employer contribution\nUp to 34 days holiday (depending on shift pattern)\nFlexible holiday trading\nFlexible cash pot to spend on benefits\nHealthcare Cash Plan\nFlexible benefits e.g. discounts & cashbacks, gym memberships, technology purchases etc\nLife assurance\nSave as you earn scheme\nStaff sales discount\nFree AG Barr products throughout your working day and staff sales\nOngoing professional development and access to Learning and Development programmes and content\nAnd much more!\nTo find out more about what it is like to work for AG Barr, please visit our careers platform here.\nWe are an equal opportunities employer and happy to discuss any reasonable adjustments that may be needed for successful candidates with a disability, health or mental health condition.\nWhile we have highlighted our ideal requirements for this role, we are realistic that the successful candidate probably won't meet every single requirement in this advert, but we are big advocates of people growing in role. So even if you don’t meet every single requirement, we encourage you to submit an application - you may be just what we are looking for! Apply now!\nSpeculative CVs from agencies will not be accepted.\nPlease note, we may close vacancies early where we receive significant numbers of applications, so apply now!","description_format":"text","description_chars":5438,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Gym membership","Professional development"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Food & Beverages","Soft Drinks"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-06T13:53:53Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"GB","licensed_sponsor":true,"adverts_offering_sponsorship_24m":0,"sanctioned_now":false,"evidence":"Licensed UK visa sponsor (Skilled Worker)","filings_12m":null,"filings_prev_12m":null,"green_card_filings_12m":null,"median_offered_wage_usd":null,"route":"Skilled Worker","cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-11-07T07:57:00+00:00","sources":["UK Home Office: register of licensed sponsors (workers)"],"filings_for_role_12m":0}],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":0,"expected_fill_days":17,"reasons":["conf:2","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-11-07T05:47:08Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/ag-barr-category-manager","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/ag-barr-category-manager.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-07T22:36:44Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":37264,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-08T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":5563},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=5563"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fag-barr-category-manager"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fag-barr-category-manager"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fag-barr-category-manager"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/ag-barr-category-manager\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fag-barr-category-manager"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3869749}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"agbarr.co.uk","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3869749},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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