Role Mandate: The Category Director is responsible for meeting the financial targets of a category(s) across all formats and is responsible for working in partnership with the Category Teams to build category programs, understand and drive the business end-to-end from strategy to tactics. The Category Director will coach, mentor and develop their team and provide them direction in planning, vendor management, product assortment, space allocations, pricing and promotion in support of overall group objectives and all functions that impact financial objectives. The incumbent will liaise with various internal and external stakeholders and teams to achieve category objectives, including but not limited to Marketing, Finance, Promotions & Allocations, Brands, Operations, and Vendors.
Accountabilities:- Work closely with the Format Category Teams to build category programs and ensure that targets for sales, market share, shrink and EBIT of a category(s) are met.
- Responsible for weekly Category reports and LE's by category including Other Vendor Income.
- Implement product assortment, sales and buying plans, while advocating for their customers' needs, in order to achieve category targets and review implementation throughout the year, adjusting as required to meet targets.
- Collaborate with the control label brand team to develop innovative and differentiated products that enhance the brand, drive growth, and support the overall strategy, sales, and market share.
- Deliver against control label objectives in order to achieve annual sales, market share and profit objectives.
- Develop and communicate merchandising direction for each retail format for assigned category(es).
- Develop and implement promotions and programs for the assigned category(s).
- Lead weekly store tours
- Coach, develop and mentor direct reports. This includes explicit consideration of on-the-job training needs for each colleague, arranging appropriate training, providing timely feedback and overseeing colleague development.
- Collaboratively plan activities and develop strong relationships with the vendor community in order to maximize sales & profit.
- Build strong, collaborative relationships and leverage all key stakeholders to invest in their business for growth ahead of the market.
- Take complete ownership of all key decisions and results, has a passion for their business and a desire to develop their team to share a similar vision
- Attend and participate in other meetings as required (JBP, Merch Readiness, Vendor meetings, etc.) and other duties as assigned.
Role Requirements:- 6-10 years of business experience in marketing, merchandising or category management
- Excellent communicator up, down and across the enterprise
- Strong Financial Acumen and experience managing P&L statements
- A strong understanding of the market and competitive landscape to recognize and capitalize on opportunities
- Proven strength in having a 'customer lens' in all decision-making processes
- Proven ability to develop short and long-term plans in line with corporate strategies
- Progressive and innovative: aggressively seeks out opportunities to improve competitiveness and demonstrates an innovative spirit.
- Ability to gather and synthesize customer, competitor and market insight and information
- Strong data management and analytical skills with strict attention to detail and the ability to develop business insights and effectively communicate them to the business
- Creative problem solver and strategic thinker with a strong work ethic
- Proven ability to deliver results in a high-pressure environment with the ability to set priorities and meet challenging deadlines.
- An effective change agent who possesses the influencing skills needed to help the organization adopt new ways of thinking and to embrace more sophisticated business tools
- Ability to coach and mentor direct reports and team with a focus on Colleague Development
- Post-secondary education (university or professionally accredited college) or equivalent experience
