Senior Category Manager

Overview Who we are Imagine working in a place where continuous improvement and innovation is celebrated and rewarded; where fast-paced, high-impact teams come together to positively drive results for one of the largest & most iconic brands in the world. As the only rapidly growing retailer, you may know us as your friendly neighborhood store. You probably know our familiar name, have seen our pervasive logo, and have tried our highly sought-after products, such as Slurpee® and Big Bite®. “Brain Freeze” is a 7-Eleven registered trademark for our 53-year old Slurpee® and with over 67,000 stores globally (more than any other retailer or food service provider), we sell over 14 million a month. But there’s a lot more to our story and much more left to be written. We are transforming our business, ensuring we are customer obsessed and digitally enabled to seamlessly link our brick and mortar stores with digital products and services. At 7-Eleven the entrepreneurial spirit is in our DNA and has been ever since our inception 90+ years ago. It’s what drove us to invent the convenience industry in 1927 by envisioning how a simple ice dock could provide household staples such as milk and eggs to better serve the needs of our customers. Today we are redefining convenience and the customer experience in big wayswe are fundamentally changing our culture and we want talented, innovative, customer obsessed, and entrepreneurial people like you to come make history with us. How we lead At 7-Eleven we are guided by our Leadership Principles. Be Customer Obsessed Be Courageous with Your Point of View Challenge the Status Quo Act Like an Entrepreneur Have an “It Can Be Done” Attitude Do the Right Thing Be Accountable Each principle has a defined set of behaviors which help guide the 7-Eleven team to Serve Customers and Support Stores. About This Opportunity Responsibilities Sales & Planning. Manages, improves and recommends the product assortment for the stores on a national basis for assigned category. Develops annual category plans which include current situation analysis, vision/strategy, and specific category plans. Plans include assortment and positioning, product improvements and development plans, projected revenues and gross profit, display, price, promotion and communication to stores. Drill plans down into seasonal calendars, monthly implementation plans and recurring assortment change calendars. Performs monthly analysis and verification of plans. Provides explanations for variances in budgeted sales and gross profit and provides projection for upcoming months. Develops an in-depth understanding of the key strategic initiatives and policies of merchandising and ensures assigned category strategies are within Merchandising and Corporate strategy and policy. Develops pricing strategy for assigned categories. Develops recommended retail pricing guidelines (which are subject to executive committee approval) for the stores to optimize category profitability and establishes suggested retail prices within these guidelines. Reviews competitor pricing information gathered by Zone Merchandising Leaders, Merchandisers and pricing group and recommends pricing. Approves pricing recommendations made by Associate Category Manager. Works with Marketing Department on advertising/promotions for assigned category. Works on POP, co-op agreements and promotion timetables and strategies. Develops cost/benefit analysis to determine return on advertising and promotional dollars. Vendor or Supplier Relationships / Supply Chain Management. Identifies leverage opportunities with vendors and negotiates contracts (working with Procurement), supply agreements and/or programs to achieve the lowest possible acquisition costs (cost of goods) for products selected for the categories on an ongoing basis. Identifies new suppliers to distribute products through CDC and works with Logistics and Procurement in negotiating quality expectations, reduced product costs, etc with supplier at the senior management level. Works with suppliers and/or other SEI managers to stabilize product supply through forecasting of key products and working with Logistics to solve issues. Reviews and works with Logistics group and manufacturers to resolve out-of-stock issues. Develops and maintains effective working relationships with representatives and senior management of national suppliers. Meets with national vendors on a regular basis to discuss new product development and ways to lower costs. Works with Logistics and Senior Management of key suppliers to ensure that we are meeting our goals with regard to Business Transformation and other Logistics model priorities for 7-Eleven (this includes strategic initiatives based on the product(s)' current method of distribution and potential recommended changes.) Assortment / Display management (including POP / Customer messaging). Owns the strategic Product Assortment direction and guidelines for assigned categories. Guides Category Manager, Associate Category Managers and Merchandisers in the development of the schematics. Gathers input from the Merchandisers into regional assortment needs. Performs narrowing (SKU rationalization) of assigned categories and works with suppliers to narrow products supplied to stores. Manages the product develop process for assigned categories (including Team Merchandising) Manages the implementation of field tests for new products and categories. Oversees verification of tests performed by Merchandisers and determines next course of action based upon verification results. Reviews solicitations from potential suppliers to determine if potential product is viable for 7-Eleven. Conduit for communication. As lead for the assigned categories, owns communication of key strategic initiatives across Merchandising Senior leadership Zone Leaders and other key leadership positions. Manages day to day communication of key messaging to assigned categories across Merchandising, Marketing, Operations, Logistics and other related groups. Qualifications Bachelors/4 year degree. 5+ years experience. Strong analytical skills. Effective communication. Negotiating experience. Understanding of financial methodology to determine costs and to develop annual business plan.