Category Manager in Lakeland, Florida at TREATT USA INC

JOB SUMMARY

The Category Manager owns the strategy, performance, and lifecycle management of Treatt’s non-Citrus categories, with primary focus on Extracts & Essences, Tea and Sugar Reduction. Based in North America to support the regional sales, manufacturing and innovation teams, the role acts as the bridge between commercial, innovation, production, and sales, and serves as the category expert both internally and in customer-facing activity.

The Category Manager works as part of Treatt’s global category structure, partnering closely with the UK-based Category Manager and wider category management colleagues, acting as lead or secondary support across categories as required, and serving as the primary category management resource in North America. While the role does not carry direct account ownership, it is central to customer engagement, opportunity development, and profitable growth through partnership with the North American Sales team.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Own and develop category strategies across assigned non-Citrus categories, with primary focus on Extracts & Essences, Tea, and Sugar Reduction.
• Manage the full product portfolio, evaluating products for introduction, expansion, rationalization, or removal.
• Lead category decisions from concept through commercialization and ongoing portfolio management, monitoring performance, and recommending action throughout the lifecycle.
• Own category positioning and value propositions.
• Use market insight, customer trends, and competitive intelligence to guide category decisions and identify growth opportunities and emerging market needs.
• Monitor sales, margin and contribution across the portfolio, and support delivery of agreed category targets.
• Support pricing strategy and market positioning in collaboration with Sales, Finance, and the Head of Category.
• Prepare regular category performance updates and recommendations.
• Serve as the category and product expert for the North American Sales team, participating in customer meetings, presentations, and business reviews alongside Sales.
• Translate technical product information, including how products are used in customer formulations, into practical commercial solutions.
• Support opportunity development with category expertise and commercial recommendations.
• Work closely with Innovation/R&D, Production, Procurement/Supply Chain and Commercial teams to progress category priorities.
• Partner with the UK-based Category Manager and the global category team to align regional and global category strategy.
• Ensure product, pricing and portfolio data are accurate and maintained within relevant business systems, including JDE.
• Share customer, market, and category insight with internal stakeholders, and escalate significant commercial, operational or supply risks to the Head of Category.
• Undertake any other duties that are reasonable and customary for the role.

EDUCATION & TRAINING

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Marketing, Commercial Management, a science discipline or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred

• Professional qualification in category management, commercial management, marketing or a related field.

KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE

Required

• Strong commercial and business background, with experience in category management, product management, marketing, technical sales, business development, or a related commercial role.
• Working understanding of category strategy, portfolio management, and market analysis.
• Experience supporting customer-facing commercial activity, including analyzing sales, financial and market data to inform decisions.
• Technical aptitude with the ability to understand product applications and translate complex information into practical customer solutions.

Preferred

• Experience within ingredients, flavors, food, beverage, specialty chemicals, or related sectors.
• Experience working in a global organization and with global customers and suppliers.
• Experience using JDE or a similar ERP system.

SKILLS & ABILITIES

• Strong commercial mindset and business acumen.
• Self-starter who works autonomously and takes ownership of outcomes.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence without direct authority.
• Collaborative, with a track record of working effectively cross-functionally and across regions.
• Comfortable operating within a global, matrixed organization.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and critical thinking skills.
• Curious and willing to build deep technical, category, and market knowledge.

Environment: Office and customer-facing environment with regular interaction across functions and locations.

Physical Factors: Sitting, walking, standing and travel-related activities.

Travel: Up to approximately 40% travel, primarily customer-facing activity with the North American sales teams, together with regular interaction with the Florida-based manufacturing, innovation, and production teams, other Treatt locations and industry events. Occasional international travel.