Global Category Leader (Potatoes)

KFC

About The Position

The Global Category Leader (Potatoes) will own Yum! Restaurant Services Group’s $1.2 billion global potatoes spend and shape a three- to five-year roadmap balancing aggregation, standardization, and local differentiation. The role aligns brands, regional supply chains, finance, FSQA, FIT, sustainability, and strategic suppliers to create resilient, responsible sourcing and deliver measurable economic advantage across the Yum! system. The leader will develop global category and supplier strategies, manage supply assurance and capacity planning, guide commercial value creation, and integrate market intelligence into strategy and negotiations. They will lead the Global Potatoes Community of Practice, support regional category leaders, and coordinate implementation while respecting regional sourcing rights. The role also embeds responsible sourcing, origin, and traceability requirements and establishes data standards, analytics, and digital workflows, including the use of AI-enabled tools.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Business, Agriculture, or a related field.
10+ years of supply chain, category management, or procurement experience, with proven strategic leadership across multiple markets.
Deep expertise in food ingredients or commodity categories, preferably potatoes, with management of $1B+ spend.
Demonstrated ability to create multi-year category strategies and translate them into executable programs and measurable results.
Strong commercial, financial, and analytical acumen, including experience with cost modeling, should-cost analysis, and pricing mechanisms.
Proven track record in strategic supplier relationship management, joint business planning, and long-term agreement negotiations.
Exceptional influencing skills in a complex global matrix organization, including the ability to align senior stakeholders without direct authority.
Experience anticipating supply risks, conducting scenario planning, and balancing resilience, responsible sourcing, and brand requirements.
Leadership capability to coach and develop regional teams, foster a community of practice, and drive digital adoption.
Proficiency with data analytics, digital sourcing platforms, and AI-enabled tools to enhance decision quality.

Nice To Haves

MBA or advanced degree.
Experience with potato categories.

Responsibilities

Own the global Potatoes category thesis and three- to five-year roadmap, using brand, regional, and market insights to guide aggregation, standardization, and local differentiation decisions.
Align brands, regional supply chain, finance, FSQA, FIT, sustainability, and suppliers on specifications, investments, and implementation; optimize product specifications for consistency, resilience, and scale.
Develop and execute the global supplier strategy, including segmentation, joint business planning, performance agendas, long-term agreements, and cross-regional sourcing opportunities.
Design and manage the global supply-assurance and capacity plan, identifying multi-tier risks and setting mitigation priorities and escalation triggers with regions and strategic suppliers.
Lead the global Potatoes Community of Practice, coach regional category leaders, share best practices, and build a pipeline of talent.
Define the commercial and value-creation agenda using category economics, cost drivers, commodity exposure, and pricing mechanisms; partner with finance to realize measurable outcomes.
Build forward-looking market intelligence by integrating supply-and-demand dynamics, capacity, and cost scenarios into strategy and negotiations.
Coordinate global-to-regional implementation of category priorities and track adoption, benefits, and barriers while respecting regional sourcing rights.
Embed responsible sourcing, origin, and traceability requirements into roadmaps, supplier selection, and strategic partnerships.
Establish data standards, analytics, and digital workflows, leveraging AI and other tools to improve market intelligence, sourcing decisions, and execution.