Job Description

Category Manager – Seasonal & Confectionary

Ko wai mātou – About us

Kia ora.  We’re Foodies.  You know New World, PAK’nSAVE and Four Square right? That’s us!  With 300+ stores and over 27,000 Foodies across Te Ika-a-Maui, our North Island Co-op has the privilege of helping New Zealanders get more out of life.  Locally owned, we reflect the communities we serve, and we celebrate our people - our taonga, every day for being uniquely them.   

Our Merchandise team works with supplier partners and store teams on category ranging, buying, pricing and promotions so we can get the right products on the right shelves at the right time for our customers.

Te Tūranga – About the role

We’re looking for a Category Manager – Seasonal & Confectionery to help deliver one of our most exciting, fast-moving, and highly seasonal portfolios across New World, PAK’nSAVE and Four Square.

This category is all about big moments and big execution - from Easter and Christmas planning a year out, to managing major multinational suppliers, to keeping everyday trading humming.

You’ll also:

• Owning the end-to-end Seasonal & Confectionery category plan, aligned to Co-op and banner strategies

• Leading category planning, execution and performance across multiple banners

• Building and maintaining strong relationships with major suppliers, stores and senior internal stakeholders

• Developing, negotiating and managing joint business plans with key supplier partners

• Reviewing and optimising pricing, promotions and ranging to maximise customer value and commercial outcomes

• Confidently navigating complex and challenging stakeholder conversations

• Managing high volumes of work through strong prioritisation, time management and resilience

• Leading, coaching and developing a team to foster a high‑ performance, inclusive and engaged culture

Ngā painga – What we offer

We’re committed to providing awesome experiences for our people, including offering a range of benefits 

• Free carparking - we’ve got over 1,000 carparks including free EV plugs 

• Southern cross health insurance

• Onsite café with subsidised meals, mini mart, 5% discount at our retail stores 

• Flexible working options, a day off on your birthday, long service leave  

• Inhouse learning and development programmes and courses, flu vaccinations, and social network groups (we call them Tribes). 

He kōrero mōu – About you

This role will suit someone who’s commercially curious, high on initiative, and loves working at pace - especially when the workload spikes around seasonal moments.

Experience is less important than attitude. If you’re keen to learn, ready to roll your sleeves up, and you thrive in a busy trading rhythm, we’d love to hear from you.

Ideally, you’ll have:

• Experience in grocery retail, FMCG and/or B2B environments is advantageous

• Proven experience managing large, complex or high-value categories (or equivalent commercial leadership experience)

• A track record of influencing multiple stakeholders and navigating challenging conversations

• Strong commercial capability across pricing, promotions, supplier negotiations and performance management

• Demonstrated leadership experience, including coaching and developing others

• Excellent planning, communication and problem-solving skills

Experience awesome. Achieve awesome. Be awesomely you. 

We’re proud to have a focus on Diversity & Inclusion here at Foodies and welcome courageous behaviour, encourage togetherness, inspire our people to be their best selves in our Foodies whānau. 

If you require accessibility support to ensure you can fairly access our recruitment process, please reach out to  Recruitment.Foodstuffs@foodstuffs.co.nz  Accessibility support could include, interview location, sign language interpreter, assistive technology. 

Don’t ‘cart’ around – apply now!