Ireland Country Manager ( Business Unit Controller)

Ireland Country Manager (Business Unit Controller)

Location: Northern Ireland (Home-based with ROI & UK Travel)

Contract: Permanent, 37.5 hours

Are you ready to Be Your Best Barr None? 

Lets Grow!!!

Are you ready to Be Your Best, Barr None? At AG Barr, we’re about more than just drinks; we’re about "Moments that Matter." With a 150-year legacy, we build brands people love—from the iconic IRN-BRU and Rubicon to the energising Boost, Funkin cocktails, and MOMA oat drinks.

We are a responsible business that values diversity, supports our communities, and works hard to reduce our environmental footprint. There’s never been a better time to join the family.

The Opportunity

As our Ireland Country Manager, you will be the commercial heartbeat of our brands across the North and South of Ireland. Reporting to the International Business Unit Director, you will lead a multi-skilled team to execute a high-growth strategy, managing the full P&L and building deep-rooted relationships with distributors and customers.

How you’ll spend your time:

• 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.

Key Strategic Responsibilities

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.

What you’ll bring to the team

We know that talent comes in many forms. While the following experiences are our "ideal," we encourage you to apply even if you don't check every single box.

• 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.

What we offer…

We believe in creating a diverse and inclusive culture where your voice can be heard.  Our skilled, loyal and committed people are critical to the future success of AG Barr which is why we are continually investing in our employees to develop their talent.

We look after our employees by offering a competitive salary and benefits package which includes;

• 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! 

To find out more about what it is like to work for AG Barr, please visit our careers platform here.

We are an equal opportunities employer and happy to discuss any reasonable adjustments that may be needed for successful candidates with a disability, health or mental health condition.

While we have highlighted our ideal requirements for this role, we are realistic that the successful candidate probably won't meet every single requirement in this advert, but we are big advocates of people growing in role. So even if you don’t meet every single requirement, we encourage you to submit an application - you may be just what we are looking for! Apply now!

Speculative CVs from agencies will not be accepted.

We expect to close this advert on 17th March 2026. We may close vacancies early where we receive significant numbers of applications, so apply now!