Global Category Leader – Potatoes

Yum!•Plano, TX

8d•$142,500 - $167,600

About The Position

Lead Yum!'s global Potatoes category across KFC, Taco Bell and Habit Burger & Grill to create sustainable value, strengthen supply resilience, enable brand growth and deliver competitive advantage through the scale of the Yum! system. The role uses category expertise, market insight and strategic supplier partnerships to accelerate restaurant unit economics, embed responsible sourcing, build resilience and support brand growth. The position owns the global category strategy and multi-year roadmap, supplier strategy and supply-assurance approach. It aligns global brands, regional supply chain teams, finance, food safety and quality assurance, FIT, sustainability and suppliers on category choices, specifications, investments and implementation. It also leads cross-market collaboration and capability building, shapes commercial and value-creation agendas, and coordinates implementation while respecting regional contracting and sourcing decision rights. The role builds a forward-looking view of the potatoes market and incorporates responsible sourcing, origin and traceability into category roadmaps and supplier partnerships. It also develops category data standards, analytics and digital workflows, pragmatically using trusted data, AI and relevant tools to improve intelligence, decisions and execution.

Requirements

Significant Supply Chain, category management or procurement experience, with demonstrated depth in strategic category leadership across multiple markets or regions.
Ability to develop multi-year category strategies, make clear strategic choices, and translate them into executable programs and measurable business outcomes.
Strong commercial, financial and analytical acumen, including experience using category economics, cost drivers, supplier economics, market and commodity intelligence, and pricing mechanisms to shape decisions and create value.
Demonstrated strategic supplier relationship management, including senior supplier leadership engagement and use of supplier capability, investment, innovation and Joint Business Planning to create value and strengthen resilience.
Ability to lead through a complex global matrix, influence senior stakeholders across brands, regions and functions, resolve competing priorities and create alignment without relying on direct authority.
Ability to anticipate category and supply risks, use external insight and scenario thinking, and balance commercial value, resilience, responsible sourcing and brand requirements.
Strong people and digital leadership, including building capability through coaching and cross-market learning and using data, analytics, digital sourcing and AI-enabled tools to improve decisions and execution.

Nice To Haves

Relevant food, ingredient or commodity experience.

Responsibilities

Own the global Potatoes category thesis and 3–5 year roadmap across KFC, Taco Bell and Habit Burger & Grill, translating brand and regional priorities, market intelligence and supplier capability into strategic choices and executable global and cross-regional programs.
Align Global Brands, Regional Supply Chain, Finance, FSQA, FIT, Sustainability and suppliers on category choices, specifications, investments and implementation.
Lead product specification optimization to improve consumer consistency, supplier capability, resilience and leverage of Yum!'s scale while preserving legitimate brand or market differentiation.
Lead the global Potatoes supplier strategy through segmentation, strategic relationships, Joint Business Planning and performance agendas that strengthen supplier capability, capacity, yield, innovation, resilience and value.
Establish commercial models and, where appropriate to the category structure, long-term agreements and cross-regional sourcing opportunities that regions can leverage.
Own and manage the global Potatoes supply-assurance and capacity strategy, identifying multi-tier and emerging category risks and establishing mitigation priorities, continuity expectations and escalation triggers with regions and strategic suppliers.
Lead the global Potatoes Community of Practice across regional teams by sharing insight and best practice, coaching category leaders, creating cross-market learning and strengthening category capability and succession pipelines.
Define the global commercial and value-creation agenda using category economics, cost drivers, should-cost insight, supplier economics, commodity exposure, indices, pricing mechanisms and negotiation strategy.
Partner with Finance and regions to translate agreed opportunities into measurable, realized business outcomes while protecting supply and brand standards.
Build a forward-looking view of the Potatoes market, integrating supply and demand dynamics, commodity exposure, capacity, cost drivers and market scenarios into category strategy, supplier negotiations, pricing mechanisms and category actions.
Orchestrate global-to-regional implementation of agreed category priorities, including demand aggregation, supplier transitions and benefits tracking; provide visibility of adoption and escalate barriers while respecting regional contracting and sourcing decision rights.
Build responsible sourcing, origin and traceability requirements into category roadmaps, supplier selection and strategic partnerships, balancing enterprise commitments with commercial, availability and market considerations.
Build category data standards, analytics and digital workflows, using trusted data, AI and relevant tools to strengthen market intelligence, sourcing, supplier management, decision quality and execution.