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Director, Agriculture - Seed
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Director, Agriculture - Seed
Position Type
Regular - Full-Time
Requisition ID
44872
Location
Montrose
About the Role
This is a rare opportunity to lead McCain Potatoes’ GB seed potato business from our Montrose Pugeston site in Scotland. Reporting to the VP of Agriculture, you’ll run a unique, vertically integrated in-house seed operation and be McCain’s visible champion to industry, regulators and customers. You’ll own the end-to-end seed supply chain, from seven-year supply planning and production through to seed operations, storage, grading and commercial delivery. Plus, responsibility for the seed budget, capital programme and site health & safety.
You will inspire, lead and develop the seed management team, drive performance and succession, and build a high-performing, commercially focused culture. Lead and develop the seed management team, while contributing to the overall GB agriculture leadership team and strategy development. A focus will be defining and embedding regenerative agriculture within our seed supply: working with growers and GB Agriculture to create a sustainable, future-fit seed programme that secures supply, boosts resilience and leaves a lasting positive legacy for McCain.
What You’ll Be Doing
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Own the Safety of Everyone on Site This role carries overarching accountability for the health and safety of every McCain Potatoes employee, visitor, contractor and associated venture at Montrose. You'll set the tone from the top, building a culture where safety isn't just a priority, it's a non-negotiable way of working every single day.
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Set the Strategic Direction for Seed You'll be the author of McCain's Seven-Year Plan for Seed, the roadmap that ensures our supply chain is always ahead of demand. From factory requirements and processing needs through to customer commitments, you'll make sure the right seed is in the right place, at the right time, every time.
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Lead a Team That Takes Pride in What They Grow You'll lead, develop and inspire the McCain Potatoes seed team, managing performance, running meaningful 1:1s, building development plans for salaried staff, and putting genuine succession thinking in place. You'll lead in full alignment with McCain's Leadership Principles, creating a team that holds itself accountable and takes genuine pride in delivery.
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Build and Protect Our Grower Relationships Growers are at the heart of this operation, and you'll own those relationships completely. Working around the grower partnership charter, you'll define contract content and structure, shape the cost of production indexation model, and ensure that every grower feels like a genuine partner in what we're building together.
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Be the Voice of Seed at the Leadership Table You'll represent the seed business within the GB Agriculture Leadership Team, bringing the seed perspective into strategic conversations and helping shape the direction of the overall agriculture function. Your insight and challenge will matter.
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Own the Numbers — All of Them Full financial accountability comes with this role. You'll set, control and monitor the seed sales budget, office overheads and own-grading budgets, and you'll be the driving force behind capital programme delivery, including CapEx requests, SCA and RCO delivery. You'll build the business cases, make the recommendations, and own the outcomes.
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Be the Commercial Authority on Seed You'll act as the consulted authority across the retained seed plan, seed sales plan, stock reconciliation, grower contract payments and operating system development. You'll set seed selling prices alongside the Agriculture Leadership Team, manage royalty licences for controlled varieties, and negotiate third-party traded seed purchases and sales, bringing commercial sharpness to every decision.
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Keep the Business Informed and Connected Every month, you'll deliver a seed business report to the VP of Agriculture, and beyond that, you'll represent McCain Potatoes externally and internally, ensuring the seed operation is visible, valued and well understood across the business and the wider industry.
What You’ll Need to Be Successful
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Proven Senior Leader in Agriculture — Significant senior leadership experience in agriculture, seed potatoes or fresh produce supply chains, with deep sector understanding.
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Financially Sharp and Commercially Driven — Experience owning a P&L, managing budgets and CapEx, and making commercially sound decisions.
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Strategic Thinker — Skilled in long-range supply and demand planning and translating strategy into operational delivery.
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Industry Knowledge — Strong knowledge of the GB potato industry (and ideally wider Europe), its players, commercial dynamics and regulatory requirements.
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Health & Safety Champion — Familiar with health and safety management systems (e.g. ISO 45001/50001) and committed to building a strong safety culture.
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Influencer and Relationship Builder — Able to build trust with growers, regulators and stakeholders, negotiate confidently and influence at senior levels.
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People Developer — Proven at building high-performing teams, coaching talent, and holding others accountable with care.
Benefits
- Private healthcare [family cover]
- Annual bonus scheme based on both company and individual performance with the ability to salary sacrifice into your pension
- Annual car allowance
- An excellent salary sacrifice pension scheme where we'll contribute double what you do, up to a maximum of 12% of your salary
- 25 days' annual leave from day one plus bank holidays (increasing with service), giving you plenty of time to recharge with the opportunity to buy and sell up to 5 days holiday per year
- Life insurance cover providing peace of mind for you and your family
- Enhanced maternity and paternity pay, because the moments that matter outside of work matter to us too
- Medicash health cash plan, helping you claim money back on everyday healthcare costs, with access to a virtual GP and wellbeing support
- TELUS Health employee and family assistance programme offering full wellbeing support - including a 24/7 confidential counselling line, legal and financial guidance, and a range of employee discounts.
- Salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme
- A paid 'Chips In' Volunteering Day, giving you the opportunity to support projects that make a positive impact in our communities
- Flexible/hybrid working arrangements where the role allows
About the Team
You'll lead a specialist seed team based in Montrose — a tight-knit group with deep expertise. Your four direct reports (Operations, Production, Seed Crop, and Storage & Grading Managers) cover the full seed lifecycle and will rely on you for clear direction and accountable leadership. You'll also manage a flexible seasonal labour pool that scales with the growing calendar, ensuring operational resilience year-round. As a recently formed team with strong potential, you'll shape culture, drive performance and build a high-performing, cohesive unit.
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About McCain
Click Here to learn more about McCain and how we provide you with opportunities to make an impact that matters.
Leadership Principles
At McCain, our leadership principles guide how we engage with customers, collaborate as a team, and achieve success. We focus on understanding customer needs, driving innovation, empowering people, and taking ownership to clear obstacles and deliver results.
AI & Digital Capabilities
At McCain, AI and digital capabilities are part of how we work and innovate. We value curiosity toward emerging technologies and the thoughtful, responsible use of AI-enabled tools to improve outcomes as part of our future-ready culture.
The McCain Experience
We are McCain. This statement is a testament to our collective strength and our individual value. Your contributions play a vital role in our success. Our winning culture is rooted in authenticity and trust, empowering us to bring out the best in one another. Here, you’ll find opportunities to learn, grow, and thrive. Join us and experience why we’re better together.
Our purpose is grounded in building meaningful relationships. We’re big believers in the power of working together in person—it helps us stay connected, collaborate more effectively, and grow as a team. At the same time, we recognize the importance of flexibility. Most office-based roles follow a hybrid model, with the option to work remotely two days a week. There may be exceptions depending on the role and location, so we encourage you to speak with your recruiter for more details.
Job Family
Agriculture
Location(s)
GB - United Kingdom : Scotland : Montrose
Company
McCain Foods (G.B.) Ltd
McCain Foods is an equal opportunity employer. As a global family-owned company, we strive to be the employer of choice in the diverse communities around the world in which we live and work. We recognize that inclusion drives our creativity, resilience, and success and makes our business stronger. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.
McCain is an accessible employer. If you require an accommodation throughout the recruitment process (including alternate formats of materials or accessible meeting rooms), please let us know and we will work with you to find appropriate solutions.
Your privacy is important to us. By submitting personal data or information to us, you agree this will be handled in accordance with McCain’s Global Privacy Policy and Global Employee Privacy Policy, as applicable. McCain leverages AI in the hiring process, though all final decisions are made by humans. You can understand our approach to AI and how your personal information is being handled here.
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