What are the responsibilities and job description for the Associate Category Manager position at Civilized People?
Seeking a full-time, on-site Category Manager for a food retailer in the Bronx, NY to work with 3rd party vendors. The Category Manager is a strategic leader responsible for driving growth, profitability, and innovation. This role is pivotal in the development and execution of comprehensive Category Business Plans (CBP), leveraging data analytics, consumer insights, and market trends to achieve and exceed sales, margin, and market share targets. Work closely with cross-functional teams and oversees vendor relationships, ensuring alignment with overall business goals. This role demands a strategic thinker with robust analytical abilities, negotiation skills, and an ability to work independently in a dynamic, fast-paced environment. You will play a vital role in achieving business growth and competitive advantage by driving best-in-class category management practices and fostering innovation.
Responsibilities
- Developing category in product assortment, vendor capabilities and category trends and work to curate a diverse range of products that meet the changing needs of customers.
- Assisting with Subcategory Reviews and makes recommendations for improvement based on category and sales performance.
- Partnering with departments such as Marketing, Operations, and Finance to ensure seamless execution of category plans and assists with planning and executing marketing features for all products including New and Limited items.
- Management of objectives and deliverables in accordance with company policy and budgets
- Provide support for strategic objectives and overall priorities
- Ability to hold 3rd party vendors accountable for commercial and contractual compliance
- Integrity and confidentiality of information
- Highly developed sense of ownership and responsibility
- Ability to assimilate a diverse set of data points into a cohesive picture
Qualifications
- Proficiency in Category Management and Procurement to effectively manage and optimize product categories.
- Strong Analytical Skills to evaluate metrics and trends, and derive actionable insights for business decisions.
- Experience in Contract Negotiation with suppliers to secure favorable terms and build long-term partnerships.
- Knowledge of Sales strategies to collaborate effectively with sales teams and achieve category goals.
- Strong organizational and problem-solving skills to manage multiple categories and tasks simultaneously.
- Effective communication and collaboration abilities to work across teams and with stakeholders.
- Experience in category management in the food world.
- Successful 3rd party vendor management experience
- Strong business / commercial and financial acumen
- Excellent written, verbal communication
- Good presentation skills
- Excellent negotiation skills
- Effective organization, planning, problem solving, and analytical skills
- Prior success in achieving sales, margin, SKU count and sales dollar/unit minimum targets
- Three plus years experience working as a Buyer, Category Manager, or Merchandising within a Retail organization with a background in 3rd party.
- Experience buying and sourcing new products while building relationships with new and existing vendors.
- Strong negotiation skills.
- Experience with perishables is preferred
- Excellent communication skills and demonstrates excellent time management skills.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office is required as well as comfort with retail-based mathematics.