Country Category Lead

Business Area: Nestlé Ireland

Job Title: Country Category Lead - Nestlé Professional Ireland

Location: Dublin: Hybrid working

Salary from €53k - €85k depending on experience 

Some of our other fantastic benefits

• Car Allowance
• Potential, discretionary annual bonus
• Generous pension scheme
• 12 flexible days on top of 25 days annual holiday entitlement
• 2 paid volunteering days
• A focus on personal development and growth

Although this is a full-time permanent opportunity, please speak to us about what flexibility means to you. We are always open to discussing individual flexible working needs, so please don’t let this stop you from applying.

Position Summary

We have an exciting opportunity to join our Nestlé Ireland Team as the Country Category Lead for Nestlé Professional (NP) Ireland where you will lead and develop a talented team with responsibility for the leadership and delivery of overall Nestlé Professional category strategy and plan execution in the Market.

This is an exciting time to join the Nestlé Ireland Leadership Team in this high profile and strategically important role as Country Category Lead where you will report directly to the NP UK & Ireland Head of Sales with a dotted line into the Nestlé Ireland Country Manager.

A little bit about us

Nestlé UK & Ireland is a subsidiary of Nestlé SA, the world’s largest food and beverage company. Nestlé's purpose is enhancing quality of life and contributing to a healthier future. We want to help shape a better and healthier world. We also want to inspire people to live healthier lives. This is how we contribute to society while ensuring the long-term success of our company.

Nestlé Professional (“NP”) is our Business-to-Business foodservice arm, which specialises in the Out of Home solutions market. The unrivalled portfolio of NP includes food brands such as MAGGI and renowned Coffee brands including ‘We Proudly Serve’ STARBUCKS and NESCAFE. NP operates successfully in an enormous marketplace and is an ambitious growth driver for Nestlé. The team’s aim is to unlock category growth for NP and its partners, through its range of branded, creative food and beverage solutions. 

Your impact

You will build and execute the strategy for Nestlé Professional in the market to transform the business scale and deliver the targeted levels of profitability.                                                                                    

Ultimately, you will be building and developing a high performing team culture to deliver the achievement of the business objectives. Your key responsibilities will include:

• Develop and execute Market Business Strategy / Category plans in line with UKI/Zone strategy
• Strategic planning & Operational Management
• Customer Management based on the needs of the business & customer portfolio responsibility allocation across the team
• Manage business efficiency, excellence and continuous improvement whilst driving growth and increasing market share.
• Work with NiM structure to ensure effective cooperation, shared services and people development (build a strong and resilient organization) in line with Nestlé Ways of Working and Corporate Business Principles
• Lead Generating Demand effectively reaching targets in all channels with a focus also on new and emerging opportunities, in particular Out-of-Home Coffee, Iced Coffee, Food innovations
• Drive efficiency through mix & portfolio optimisation, promotion planning and strategic revenue management.
• Develop and coach direct reports, ensuring Performance Evaluation discussions are conducted on time. Make recommendations for inclusion in talent programmes and succession plans as appropriate

Your ingredients for success

A strategic thinker with strong commercial awareness and experience in Sales, you’ll be able to communicate persuasively and credibly to multiple stakeholders internally as well to customers externally. Ideally,you will have displayed great leadership of diverse teams, and will be well versed in building and executing commercial strategy.

You will bring broad commercial judgement, a clear understanding of customer and category growth, and the ability to lead through a matrix organisation.

You will also have:

Essential skills:

• Experiences in Customer Management at Senior National Account Level with a history of strong results delivery  
• Experience in Category and General Management
• Experience in Generating demand with a history of delivering high performance individually and within teams
• The ability to work collaboratively through impact and influence across a wide variety of teams, functions, and cultures
• Demonstrate agile thinking and inspirational leadership as we shape our plans to win in this dynamic marketplace

Desirable skills:

• Exposure to out-of-home coffee, iced coffee, foodservice or related emerging channels
• Understanding of Nestlé Professional, and the drivers of the Out-of-Home food and beverage market
• Demonstrated capability in building teams, coaching others and creating an inclusive environment focused on performance and development

What you need to know

Advert posting date: 12/11/2026
Advert closing date: 26/11/2026

We will be considering candidates as they apply and may close the advert early should sufficient applications be received. We encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

Our Commitment to Inclusive Hiring

At Nestlé, our values are rooted in respect. We believe that embracing diversity and creating an inclusive environment enables everyone to reach their full potential and drives innovation. We’re immensely proud  that Nestlé Ireland is one of only a few companies in Ireland to qualify for and hold Gold Accreditation from the Irish Centre for Diversity.  We welcome applicants from all backgrounds. 

We know that not everyone will meet every requirement listed in this advert. If you're excited about the opportunity and can demonstrate relevant skills, experience or potential, we'd encourage you to apply.

Accessibility & Adjustments

At Nestlé, we're committed to creating an inclusive and supportive recruitment experience where everyone can perform at their best.

If you require any adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process, please let us know. We'll work with you to understand your needs and make appropriate arrangements. Any information you share with us will be treated in the strictest confidence and used only to support you throughout the recruitment process.

To find out more about Nestlé’s commitment to DEI: Nestlé's Commitment to a Diverse and Inclusive Workplace

To find out more about your recruitment journey with Nestlé:Recruitment journey | Nestlé UK & Ireland