Category Management

This role is for one of Weekday’s clients
Salary range: Rs 4000000 - Rs 6500000 (ie INR 40 - 65 LPA)

Min Experience: 10+ years
Location: Bengaluru
JobType: full-time

We are looking for an experienced Category Management professional with 10–15 years of experience to lead category strategy, drive business growth, and maximize profitability across assigned categories. The ideal candidate will have strong expertise in category planning, assortment strategy, pricing, promotions, consumer insights, and cross-functional stakeholder management.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute comprehensive category management strategies aligned with overall business objectives and growth plans.
• Own the end-to-end performance of assigned categories, including revenue, profitability, market share, assortment, pricing, and inventory.
• Analyze category trends, customer behavior, market dynamics, and competitor activity to identify growth opportunities.
• Build and optimize category assortment based on consumer demand, sales performance, margins, and market trends.
• Develop effective pricing and promotional strategies to improve sales, profitability, and category penetration.
• Monitor category-level KPIs and prepare regular performance reviews, identifying gaps and implementing corrective actions.
• Partner with sales, marketing, supply chain, finance, product, and merchandising teams to ensure seamless category execution.
• Use data and business insights to make informed decisions around product selection, assortment expansion, rationalization, and lifecycle management.
• Identify emerging trends and customer needs to introduce relevant products and strengthen the category proposition.
• Manage relationships with key vendors, suppliers, and external partners where required, including negotiations and commercial planning.
• Conduct regular competitor benchmarking and market analysis to maintain category competitiveness.
• Develop annual and quarterly category plans, budgets, forecasts, and business targets.
• Drive initiatives to improve category profitability, customer experience, conversion, and overall business performance.
• Present category performance, strategic recommendations, and business plans to senior leadership and key stakeholders.
• Lead and mentor category management teams, ensuring strong execution, ownership, and achievement of business objectives.

Must-Have Skills

• Category Management
• Strong understanding of category strategy, planning, and execution
• Expertise in assortment planning and optimization
• Strong analytical and data-driven decision-making skills
• Knowledge of pricing, promotions, margins, and profitability management
• Market and competitor analysis
• Consumer/customer insights
• Business planning and forecasting
• Strong cross-functional stakeholder management
• Vendor and commercial management skills
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Ability to translate business data into actionable category strategies
• Strong leadership and problem-solving capabilities

Experience & Qualifications

• 10–15 years of relevant professional experience in Category Management, Category Strategy, Merchandising, Retail, E-commerce, FMCG, Consumer Business, or a related domain.
• Proven experience in independently managing large or strategic categories and delivering measurable business outcomes.
• Experience working with cross-functional teams and senior stakeholders.
• Strong proficiency in Excel, analytics, dashboards, and business reporting tools is preferred.
• A bachelor's or master's degree in Business, Marketing, Management, Economics, or a related field is preferred.