Following the Company guidelines, the Category Manager will coordinate and support the buyer team in ensuring the best combinations of quality, price and delivery ratio. - Comprehensive understanding of food purchase process developed through previous 3 or 5-years’ experience in a similar purchasing role; - Good knowledge of Food & Beverage products, HACCP along with Food & Beverage market trends; - Strong ability to analyze data with strategic vision; - Knowledge of business operating systems\/platforms; - Good communication and negotiation skills; - Ability to coordinate a team; - Availability to travel; The Category Manager supports the buyer team to: - Identify and evaluate suppliers; - Analyze suppliers’ quotations and contract bids, verifying and negotiating contract terms, such as price, quality and delivery conditions; - Negotiate a wide range of Food & Beverage product worldwide, verifying delivery conditions with Logistics departments; - Pro-actively keep up to date with all market trends and actively use market research to strategically plan future purchases; - Verify that standard documents and suppliers’ profiles are up to date ensuring they are consistent with the latest Company guidelines; - Manage products quality discrepancies, verifying them and soliciting feedback from suppliers; - Source Food & Beverage products, according to Corporates Chefs instructions and supports them during products tests and suppliers’ visits; - Communicate with the Accounting department for the resolution of invoice queries\/anomalies, by confirming contract prices and ensuring suppliers are charging correctly; - Support Ship Customer Service Team in solving sourcing issues; The job holder will also carry out the following activities: - Liaising with other area of the business, as Product & Project department to align common actions and goals in order to provide an excellence of service and to achieve procurement targets; - Pro-actively managing and building appropriate relationships with suppliers; - Preparing reports and maintaining accurate records; - Pro-actively working with logistics and Warehouse, coordinating, when necessary, delivery operations to the vessels;VISA REQUIREMENTS (if any) - EU Passport; Part of the MSC Group, MSC Cruises is the market leader in the Mediterranean, South Africa and South America, and sails year-round in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. Its seasonal itineraries cover northern Europe, the Atlantic Ocean, South America, southern Africa, and the Persian/Arabian Gulf. MSC Cruises was born in the Mediterranean, and draws inspiration from this heritage to create a unique experience for holidaymakers worldwide. As a result of a euro 6.5 billions investment programme launched in 2003, MSC Cruises' fleet comprises 13 state-of-the-art cruise ships belonging to four different classes: Lirica, Musica, Fantasia and Meraviglia. The fleet's average age is 7 years, the youngest in the industry. In 2014, MSC Cruises launched a euro 9 billion, 10 year investment plan to support the second phase of its growth through the order of up to 11 next generation mega cruise ships. As a result, MSC Cruises' fleet will double by 2026, while the passenger capacity will triple to reach five million passengers per year. MSC Cruises is the first cruise company to develop an investment plan of this length and magnitude. MSC Cruises feels a deep responsibility for the environments in which it operates, and was the first company ever to earn the Bureau Veritas "7 Golden Pearls" for superior management and environmental stewardship. In 2009, MSC Cruises began an enduring partnership with UNICEF to support various programmes assisting children worldwide.