Category Manager

About us

Bunzl is a market leading distribution company in the area's of healthcare, safety, cleaning, retail, grocery and food service. We operate in a decentralized structure to adapt ourselves fully to local market needs and to safeguard local entrepreneurship.

Our purpose is to deliver essential business solutions around the world and create long-term sustainable value for the benefit of all our stakeholders through our core values: humility, responsiveness, reliability and transparency.

In the Continental Europe we are present in 17 countries, operating in +65 companies.

Job Information

• Department: Own Brands
• Reporting to: Purchasing Director
• Europe Employment: Full-time contract (40h)
• Job Location: Amsterdam - Netherlands

About the Mission:

You will be joining the newly created Own Brands team, an exciting opportunity to drive the growth of Own Brands
across Continental Europe in BtoB on mainly following segments: Cleaning and Hygiene, Protection Personal Equipment, Retail & Food service. This is a unique moment to be part of building processes, frameworks, and ways of working from the ground up, helping to define how Own Brands are managed, expanded, and optimized across markets.

On a day-to-day basis, you will work closely within a small, agile team, contributing directly to category strategy, consolidation projects, product innovation, and supplier management. At the same time, you will collaborate and communicate with a wide range of stakeholders across the Bunzl organization, including local operating companies, ensuring alignment and successful execution of initiatives.

This is an ideal role for someone who enjoys working in a decentralized and dynamic environment, thrives in ambiguous situations, and wants to have a tangible impact on the development of a team and its processes. You will have the chance to support Own Brands growth and contribute to a cross-functional, collaborative culture.

Job Responsibilities

Category Management

• Responsible for the management of all Own Brands consolidation projects, ensuring alignment with the overall Own Brands strategy and cross-market objectives.
• Managing Own Brands product categories, identifying optimization opportunities and supporting Own Brands sales growth across markets.
• Managing supplier certifications and product specifications.
• Launching new SKUs, coordinating their creation and maintenance in collaboration with operating companies, ensuring data accuracy and timely updates.
• Monitoring the implementation and correct usage of standardized packaging and carton designs, ensuring consistency across regions.
• Supporting the development and execution of central and localized category strategies, incorporating market insights and local operating company needs.
• Driving Own Brands category expansion initiatives, supporting discovery, feasibility, and launch activities across the region.
• Supporting the Branding team with campaign development and social media input.
• Supporting monitoring of legislative and market developments in collaboration with the Sustainability Team, enabling proactive adjustments to product offerings and messaging.

Stakeholder Management

• Managing stakeholder communication and providing support to local operating companies through leading regular community sessions, fostering collaboration and information flow between operating companies and the Own Brands Team.
• Acting as a key liaison between local operating companies and the Own Brands team.
• Ensuring category priorities and initiatives are clearly communicated and understood across all relevant stakeholders.

Sourcing

• Leading tendering processes for assigned categories together with local operating companies, securing competitive pricing and ensuring compliance with sourcing and sustainability commitments.
• Responsible for the management of European and Far East suppliers in collaboration with local operating companies and the Far East Sourcing Specialist.

Location & Mobility

• Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Flexibility and mobility to travel as required.

Experience & Expertise

• 1- 4 years of experience in purchasing, category management, or product development.
• Proven experience managing relationships with multiple stakeholders across different markets and cultures, understanding different market needs, and aligning priorities across regions.
• Project management skills, with experience managing multiple projects simultaneously from conception to execution.
• Ability to work effectively in an ambiguous and decentralized organizational environment.

Skills & Competencies

• Fluency in English; additional languages are a plus.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• A hands-on, proactive, and can-do approach to driving organizational development.
• Data-driven mindset, able to analyze sales, market, and product data to support category strategies and decision-making.
• Digital fluency, comfortable using data dashboards and collaboration tools (e.g., Monday, SharePoint, Miro) to streamline processes and reporting.

What Do We Offer?

· An attractive compensation package

· Full-time job (40 hs)

· Hybrid work

· Excellent fringe benefits : 27 vacation days, pension scheme, lunch for free at the office (vegan options), Fitness program etc

· Good work/life balance

Application Procedure

After you apply to this position , your profile will be reviewed internally and if we see a possible match, one of our recruiters will call you to get acquainted by telephone and ask additional questions. We will then discuss your application with the Director of the area and an invitation will follow for a first interview. Sometimes one of other area colleagues or director also joins us. In this interview we will discuss your position and fire all our questions at you. Of course you will also receive plenty of questions. Are we both excited? Sometimes a second interview follows and behaviour test are requested and if you are approved you will receive an offer overwhelming contract proposal from us.

In the case your profile doesn't match this job, you'll receive an automatically email from us.

Good luck and hope see you soon