Category Manager Details and Responsibilities:

• Negotiates product costs, volume, etc. with Brands/Vendors while developing partnerships with Mainstream Retailers.
  
• Ensures proper distribution and pricing across warehouses and distributors.
• Supports Head of Sales in developing a data-driven strategic business plan for a category with tangible execution steps
• Manages budgets sets priorities and implements savings opportunities
• Monitors product and category performance to identify improvement areas and develops plans to drive enhanced results.
• Collaborates with editors, writers and content sources
• Ensure the category has the appropriate content, reviews, and shop-ability features.

Category Manager Qualifications and Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree and 2+ years experience in the South Asian or Middle Eastern Food Industry, Brand Marketing, or a related field.
• Encourage and helps others to improve on current ways of working, promote new and innovative ideas and recognizes/rewards good ideas.
• Maintain deep expertise in Inventory Management, Planning, and Merchandising.
• Strong collaborator who demonstrates the ability to work across multiple teams and personalities to drive towards a common goal.
• A result-oriented leader with exceptional project management skills and a strong sense of urgency, attention to detail and ability to meet deadlines.
• Demonstrate a strong desire to promote and supports company policies, procedures, mission, values, and standards of ethics and integrity
• Ability to Plan Promotional Calendar and Product Launches.
• The job requires travel across the Nation for Market Research and Strategy Implementations.

Category Manager Roles and Functions:

• Management of multiple, complex acquisitions and relationships with minimum management assistance:
• Understand and apply complex innovative Contract Models
• Ensures Terms and Conditions compliance on assigned programs
• Independently define all risks, and create and implement solutions to problems and issues as they arise
• Liaison with internal organisations, customers and suppliers in support of above and provide guidance and advise relevant to assigned and Teams agreements
• Leads and organises complex source selection and strategy:
• Lead negotiator on non-standard complex agreements:
• Negotiations completed in a reasonable time with minimal management/team lead dependency
• Recognised as a facility resource representing the function at all levels within the organisation and external interfaces.
• Positively influences analysis, planning and negotiation strategy.

Category Manager Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Good knowledge and understanding of Software licensing terms.
• Strong interpersonal skills to build and maintain positive relationships across the various stakeholder groups.
• P2P, Exostar, & SAP Procurement experience
• Previous experience of working in a busy business environment with the ability to prioritise and calmly work under pressure
• Good attention to detail and diligence in ensuring accuracy
• Flexibility to work multiple tasks concurrently
• Able to demonstrate computer competency

Category Manager Tasks and Responsibilities:

• Generate transparency for all allocated categories through a Category Management process.
• Monitor and provide category information spend and savings opportunities.
• Identify specific market trends for categories, evaluate the impact on business and liaise with stakeholders.
• Manage the development of spend and supplier profiles for categories.
• Identify and drive category savings initiatives.
• Monitor risks and opportunities in the supplier market for the category and describe likely factors which may affect sourcing options.
• Collect, collate, analyze, and distribute marketplace research data to gain and sustain a competitive edge in the industry.
• Act as the main contact and escalation point with business stakeholders to understand requirements.
• Respond to questions from the business units and troubleshoot to resolve user issues/queries
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with internal customers.
• Encourage feedback from customers about contract and procurement performance within the category.
• Accurately explain procurement policies and processes to the business and suppliers to ensure compliance and governance.
• Own the overall Category plan ensuring business unit demand requirements and supply constraints are captured.
• Align the category sourcing strategy with technical, commercial, demand and supply requirements.
• Manage the provision of the commercial bridge between plans for satisfying customer demand and the external support required to deliver.
• Lead category opportunity assessments, value analysis/assessment, etc.
• Responsible for contracting strategy ensuring business requirements and best value.

Category Manager Qualifications and Requirements:

• Minimum A-Level standard education and MCIPS (or equivalent) qualified.
• The appropriate level of purchasing experience in a relevant category.
• A good understanding of Contract Law and terms and conditions of Contract is essential.
• Proven track record in negotiation and supply relationship management.
• Understanding of supply markets within the relevant categories.
• Knowledge of e-commerce tools is desirable.
• Highly results-orientated with demonstrable success, achieving and exceeding challenging targets both personally and through others.
• Experience in operating in a complex, commercial, multi-divisional organization.
• Engaging communicator demonstrating influencing skills and an ability to adapt approaches to differing audiences.
• Solutions-oriented, providing explanations and proposed resolutions to problems rather than purely identifying problems.
• Demonstrates a readiness to make decisions, take the initiative and originate action.

Category Manager Duties and Responsibilities:

• Develop national strategies for assigned sourcing categories
• Meet present and future supply requirements
• Applying advanced knowledge of purchasing principles, practices, tools and technology, and contract law.
• Continually search out new sourcing opportunities and implement
• Strengthen and ensure U.S. Concrete's competitive advantage in the marketplace.
• Assume an "expert" role for assigned categories/commodities on a national basis.
• Consult and collaborate with technical counterparts and cross-functional team members
• Field Procurement representatives and field operation
• Understanding of supply requirements that will meet/exceed customer requirements in a practical manner.
• Initiate and lead cross-functional team efforts to reduce total system costs through strategic sourcing, component standardization, and/or use of substitute materials;
• Seek out and adapt new supplier innovations and technologies
• Resulting in overall operational effectiveness, simplification and cost reduction.
• Work with legal team and other cross-functional resources to lead the negotiation process
• Ensure timely contract execution, and resolve all contract issues.
• Build strong value-adding relationships with suppliers, field and corporate personnel, and cross-functional organizations and teams.
• Contribute to creating "pull" from the organization for Procurement.
• Conduct periodic business reviews with key suppliers and internal business partners.
• Develop, implement and manage processes for supply-related problem resolution
• Opportunity identification between users and suppliers that results in high levels of customer satisfaction.

Category Manager Skills, Experience, Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree and 2+ years experience
• CPM, APICS certification preferred
• Knowledge of e-commerce tools is desirable.
• Excellent financial analysis and negotiating skills required
• Adopt new standards and best practices that elevate U.S.
• Concrete's procurement capabilities and effectiveness
• Meet or exceed cost reduction objectives for assigned categories, consistent with the overall Annual Operating Plan.
• Track and report regularly on cost reductions achieved relative to goals.

Category Manager Duties:

• Develop and Identify category insights and deliver solutions that drive sales growth.
• Develop solid relationships with key National Chains at the Headquarter level, while understanding key retailer selling strategies, business needs and goals
• Manage space planning process and develop space strategy with National Account leadership.
• Develop joint business plans with chains and develop strategies for new business by identifying opportunities for incremental sales.
• Take lead in development of new category management tools and services, to maintain leadership among industry suppliers.
• Identify and close gaps in distribution, shelf space, ad/features, etc.
• Identify opportunities through syndicated data reporting and panel data.

Category Manager Education and Experience:

• Minimum Education and/or Experience- Bachelor’s degree (B.A. or B.S.) from a four-year college or university in Business, Marketing, Communications or a similar field a plus
• Minimum of five (5) years of experience in a Category Management/Insights, Strategy, Brand, Marketing, Retail Analytics required.
• Experience facing key off-premise chain decision-makers.
• Experience utilizing POS, Syndicated and Panel data to derive insights and develop category strategies that deliver growth
• Working knowledge of space planning software (JDA), IRI, Market Track, and VIP preferred
• Experience with a DSD company a must-have.
• Advanced technical expertise; MS Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word)
• Space & assortment strategy experience
• Strong presentation/storytelling skills with excellent communication skills, both verbal and written

Responsibilities for Category Manager:

• Develop annual category plans and category financial projections and execute to meet goals.
• Owns and manages critical relationships with suppliers of strategic importance to category plans.
• Negotiates supplier contracts, obtains appropriate Legal review and approval.
• Provides product assortment and pricing recommendations based on triangulation of information to include: key guest insights, the competitive landscape, external syndicated data sources, internal data analysis, vendor data/insights for assigned categories.
• Spends time in our stores as well as shopping competitive options to better define and understand strengths as well as opportunities, routinely riding stores with our Field Operations Teams as well as with our Supplier Partners.
• Owns and optimizes cost of goods, terms, support funds, and other periodic issues through leveraging Lamwork's existing and future scale.
• Develop a monthly promotional sales plan for assigned categories.
• Effectively partners with other teams that play a key part in driving and executing on strategy.

Qualifications for Category Manager:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, or ten years of related field or work experience in a related field.
• A Master's degree is preferred.
• Comprehensive knowledge of convenience store and/or foodservice industry.
• Strong understanding of basic marketing and category management principles, merchandising methods and consumer psychology. 
• Strategic and operational planning skills and independent decision-making skills.
• Proven ability to manage a P&L, with the ability to analyze results, evaluate opportunities to course-correct and enact change.
• Proven ability ton/a provide guidance to stores and team members.
• Proven ability to communicate effectively with business partners and field operations, store support center team members, both verbally and with excellent business writing skills.
• Proven ability to maintain professional work relationships and professional communication skills on the telephone.
• Excellent attention to detail, organizational skills, ability to multitask and meet deadlines.
• Proficient with Microsoft Office programs, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Category Manager Accountabilities:

• Develop and increase direct supply source for all related materials
• Implement strategic multi-year category plans in consultation with the business
• Lead process improvement initiatives across the category
• Project management and implementation of new supply programs
• Manage the negotiations of contracts and ensure best practice methods
• Foster great relationships with our suppliers and internal team members
• Work closely with the VP & the category team in developing budget targets and plans
• Guide and review vendor spend in collaboration with the Procurement Analyst
• Review KPI’s, identify margin leakage where purchasing arrangements are not adhered to.
• Drive high performance and achieve both qualitative and quantitative targets
• Tertiary qualifications in Commerce/Business/Supply Chain/or similar discipline.

Category Manager Qualifications:

• Experience in high-value procurement, tendering and contracts management.
• Previous experience in contract negotiations and vendor assessment
• Demonstrates the ability to execute plans and deliver outcomes
• The ability to influence, negotiate and resolve issues positively
• Enjoy working in a dynamic, fast-paced environment in collaboration with others
• Procurement role ideally within a building products environment (highly desirable)