Job Description

Location: Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane

Salary: $190k - $250k base + Super + STI + Car/Car Allowance

Role Benefit: Strategic leadership of a high-potential industrial category; Drive commercial and supplier strategies to unlock growth; Play a key role in an ambitious business expansion journey across ANZ.

Role Overview / Description

Reporting into senior leadership, the Industrial & Engineering Supplies Category Lead is a pivotal role driving growth and transformation across ANZ. This is a high-visibility position at the heart of the business, where strategic decisions around category management, supplier partnerships, and product innovation will directly shape commercial outcomes.

Following a strategic shift from transactional to strategic category management, the business is focused on building processes, capabilities, and a high-performing team to capitalise on untapped growth opportunities. This role translates category strategy into actionable initiatives, optimising supplier value, product performance, and customer experience across a diverse, complex portfolio.

You will be the key leader influencing cross-functional decisions, working closely with sales, supply chain, marketing, and operations teams. Success means being recognised as the go-to expert for category strategy, supplier partnerships, and commercial decision-making, balancing revenue growth with operational excellence.

Beyond strategy execution, you will lead, develop, and inspire a dispersed team of Category and Product Managers. The role requires transforming team culture from transactional execution to strategic thinking, embedding best-in-class category management practices, and building capability that drives measurable business impact.

This is a rare opportunity to take full ownership of a strategically critical category, delivering innovation, growth, and commercial performance while gaining exposure to senior leadership and shaping the future of a core business segment.

Responsibilities

• Category Strategy & Growth: Develop and implement strategic category plans, prioritising high-potential customer segments and product ranges to drive profitable growth.
• Supplier & Commercial Management: Build and strengthen supplier partnerships, negotiate commercial terms, and ensure mutually beneficial outcomes that enhance performance and margins.
• Product & Innovation Leadership: Introduce new products and proprietary ranges, optimise the portfolio, and ensure internal technical knowledge and training are delivered effectively.
• Cross-Functional Influence: Collaborate with sales, marketing, supply chain, and operations teams to align category strategy with business objectives and drive measurable impact.
• Team Leadership & Development: Lead, coach, and inspire a high-performing category and product management team, embedding accountability, strategic thinking, and high-performance culture.
• Financial Accountability: Own category P&L, monitor performance metrics, and deliver growth, margin, and stock turn targets.
• Operational Excellence: Improve systems, processes, and workflows to ensure consistent, efficient, and high-quality customer experiences across the ANZ network.
• Stakeholder Influence: Operate in a matrix environment with autonomy, building credibility and influence across senior leaders and the broader business.

Candidate Profile

We are seeking a strategic and commercially astute Strategic Leader with proven experience ideally in industrial or engineering product environments but also open to other sectors. You have a track record of leading category and product management functions, driving commercial growth, and transforming teams from transactional to strategically focused.

Critical to success is your ability to influence and build credibility across senior leaders, suppliers, and cross-functional teams in a complex matrix environment. You bring commercial acumen, strategic thinking, and the confidence to make high-impact decisions while remaining collaborative and approachable.

You have demonstrated leadership capability in developing high-performing teams, embedding accountability, and elevating category management practices. You thrive in dynamic, fast-growing businesses, capable of navigating ambiguity while creating structure, process, and measurable commercial outcomes.

You are passionate about category growth, supplier partnerships, and product innovation, with the emotional intelligence to influence across sales, marketing, supply chain, and operations teams. You understand what “good looks like” in strategic category management and are motivated by delivering tangible business impact.

Culture & Benefits

This organisation is ambitious, collaborative, and customer-focused, committed to driving innovation and growth across the industrial and engineering supplies sector. The culture values strategic thinking, commercial excellence, and genuine partnership across teams, creating an environment where high-performing leaders can thrive.

This role offers rare strategic influence as the owner of a critical category, with the autonomy to shape strategy, drive supplier partnerships, and transform the team’s approach to category management. You will work closely with senior leadership and cross-functional stakeholders, delivering measurable business impact while building a high-performing, accountable team.

For the right candidate, this is a career-defining opportunity to take full ownership of a key growth engine, working in a dynamic, fast-moving business that rewards initiative, innovation, and results. You will operate at the intersection of strategy, commercial performance, and operational excellence, making a tangible difference in the success of the ANZ business.

Apply

If this sounds like you, please send your resume by clicking the "apply" link below. The reference number for this role is NGGM70831.