Ireland Country Manager – Business Unit Controller

Role Overview

• Strategic Leadership: Developing the "All-Ireland" growth plan, balancing the unique commercial landscapes of NI and ROI.
• Partnership Management: Managing NI distributor relationships and supporting their sales teams, while overseeing ROI key accounts (including Tesco) at the Head Office level.
• Team Coaching: Directly managing our ROI Manager and indirectly leading a team of Brand Development Representatives (BDRs).
• Market Presence: You’ll be "in-market" at least 2 days a week (NI/ROI) and visiting our UK hubs roughly once a month for collaboration and conferences.
• P&L Stewardship: You aren’t just hitting sales targets; you own the full P&L. This means monitoring currency fluctuations (GBP/EUR), managing trade spend efficiency, and ensuring commercial contribution targets are met across both territories.
• The "Commercial Overlay": While some marketing plans are created at the UK group level, you are the local expert. You will adapt these campaigns to ensure they resonate in a Dublin suburb just as well as they do in Belfast city centre.
• High-Stakes Networking: You will represent AG Barr at major industry events and trade bodies, acting as the "face of the brand" in Ireland. This requires the ability to pivot from a high-level distributor negotiation in the morning to a "on-the-ground" coaching session with a BDR in the afternoon.
• Operational Excellence: You’ll collaborate closely with supply chain and finance partners to optimise stock levels and cost-to-serve, ensuring our "iconic brands" are always available and perfectly chilled for the consumer.

Requirements

• FMCG Leadership: Significant experience leading teams within the Irish FMCG sector, ideally involving distributor models.
• Commercial Sharpness: Comfort managing a full P&L, creating pricing/promotional strategies, and using data to spot the next big opportunity.
• Relationship Building: A natural ability to build authentic trust with everyone from independent retailers to major corporate buying offices.
• Adaptive Communication: The "gravitas" to influence at a high level, paired with the empathy to coach a field-based sales team.
• Agility: A valid driving license and the flexibility to travel across the island and to the UK.

Benefits

• Uncapped bonus linked to business performance
• Defined contribution Pension
• Up to 34 days holiday (depending on shift pattern)
• Flexible holiday trading
• Flexible cash pot to spend on benefits
• Healthcare Cash Plan
• Flexible benefits e.g. discounts & cashbacks, gym memberships, technology purchases etc
• Life assurance
• Save as you earn scheme
• Staff sales discount
• Free AG Barr products throughout your working day and staff sales
• Annual salary review
• Ongoing professional development and access to Learning and Development programmes and content
• And much more!