What are the responsibilities and job description for the Associate Consumer Products Manager position at Columbia Safety and Supply?
Department: Product Management
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
At the Columbia Safety, part of the GMES family of brands, we supply the equipment that protects the people who keep the world moving. As a global industrial distribution powerhouse, we specialize in safety solutions for our at-height customers by providing everything they need.
Our customers rely on us for our Gear Expertise, quality service and products, support with compliance, and consistency of service — and we deliver. Our products include top brands related to fall protection, personal protective equipment (PPE), jobsite safety and efficiency tools, and our product portfolio offers thousands of SKUs to best serve our clients.
We're looking for a results-driven Associate Consumer Products Manager to join the team and help drive growth across our consumer product categories. This role is critical in ensuring that our offerings meet customer needs, stay competitive in the marketplace, and align with our commitment to safety and service excellence.
(This role is not related to our IT infrastructure, if you are a developer and work on IT products, this role is not for you!)
The ideal candidate will be a teammate who comes in with an understanding of consumer products and how to think about taking them to market. They will be able to immediately contribute to our product management team as they undertake the task of collaborating to learn our business, then working together with our VP of Product Management and sales leaders to create the perfect product assortment.
This person will spend their time focusing on understanding consumer products that are industry relevant, optimize inventory and collaborate across departments to craft go-to-market strategies. The PM will collaborate heavily with the sales and marketing teams, become an expert in various end markets, and have a genuine responsibility for client industry understanding and engagement in this role.
This is an exciting opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to the long-term vision of delivering best-in-class customer experiences, and your performance will be measured by your impact on sales growth, profitability, inventory efficiency, vendor relationships, and the success of new product launches.
If you love being critical to a team and its success, if you enjoy anticipating and solving client dilemmas, and you are empowered and motivated by providing curated product solutions that are strategy based - our dynamic environment could be a great fit for you and we’d love to hear from you!
Key Responsibilities
Product & Category Management
- Manage assigned product categories—including fall protection, PPE, and safety equipment—to ensure relevance, competitiveness, and profitability.
- Operate within a structured product lifecycle process to refresh, retire, and introduce products in a way that supports GME’s strategic goals.
- Analyze product performance using sales trends, inventory turnover, and customer feedback to recommend portfolio actions.
- Partner with Sales, Marketing, and Supply Chain to ensure products are positioned correctly and customer-facing teams are well-informed.
- Support key commercial initiatives including market planning, trade shows, and buying group events.
- Provide timely, accurate product data and content updates to support digital and print marketing channels.
- Act as a subject matter expert on assigned products—both internally and externally—serving as the go-to resource for technical details, compliance standards (OSHA, ANSI), and usage scenarios.
- Coordinate supplier training sessions in partnership with Sales Training to ensure Commercial teams understand core and new product lines.
- Leverage supplier co-op and marketing funds to create programs that drive customer value and align with company goals.
- Operate within the company’s Product Development process, coordinating with vendors and internal teams from concept through launch.
- Support go-to-market strategies by providing competitive analysis, product positioning, and launch materials.
- Ensure new product setups are accurate, complete, and aligned with internal systems and requirements (ERP, PIM, etc.).
- 1–3 years of experience in product management, category management, or industrial distribution—ideally with a consumables, safety or PPE focus
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Industrial Distribution, or a related field
- Strong analytical, organizational, and project management skills
- Knowledge of safety standards (OSHA, ANSI, CSA) and industrial supply chain is a plus
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills with a collaborative mindset
- Proficiency in Excel and experience with ERP/PIM systems preferred
- Excellent communication & organizational skills
- Exceptional decision-making & problem resolution capacity
We are a tight-knit group, and we understand the needs of our teammates. This personal connection allows us to strategically design competitive benefits packages that enhance the employee experience and support overall well-being.
Some of our benefits:
- Health, Vision & Dental Insurance with company contributions
- Free Employee Assistance Program: 24/7 access
- Generous paid time off (PTO) that increases with tenure
- Paid holidays
- Volunteer Paid Time Off: Give back to our community & get paid!
- 401k Matching Options with no Vesting Requirements
This job description is not intended to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.
The GMES family of companies provides to individuals of all races, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital, and veteran status, equal employment opportunities within our dynamic growth plans.
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