Senior Category Manager

Our client is one of the largest retailers in the United States. They are seeking a commercially-minded Senior Category Manager to act as a business owner for assigned product categories, driving revenue growth, margin expansion, and inventory productivity.

This is a highly collaborative individual contributor role that partners closely across Merchandising, Inventory Planning, and Store teams — succeeding through influence, data-driven recommendations, and structured strategic thinking.

You will own category P&L across sales, margin, and inventory productivity, with success measured by improvements in sales and margin per SKU and per square foot, inventory turns, reduction of aged inventory, and the development of focused assortments aligned to customer demand. Core responsibilities include:

• Defining and optimising assortment strategy across core, test, and seasonal products
• Leading SKU rationalisation and full lifecycle decisions from launch through to exit
• Establishing pricing architecture (good/better/best) and driving pricing actions based on elasticity, performance, and competition
• Partnering with leadership to deliver margin targets with an IMU focus
• Identifying assortment gaps and product opportunities through ongoing performance analysis
• Providing strategic direction on inventory investment (depth vs. breadth) in partnership with Planning
• Building reporting frameworks and translating category insights into actionable recommendations
• Ensuring alignment across category strategy, inventory flow, and store execution

• 5–8+ years of experience in category management, merchandising, buying, or retail strategy
• Proven track record owning or influencing category-level financial performance across sales, margin, and inventory
• Experience in SKU-intensive, multi-unit retail environments — furniture, big-box, home goods, or similar preferred
• Demonstrated success partnering cross-functionally with Planning, Allocation, and Supply Chain teams
• Experience with vendor and supplier relationships including product lifecycle and assortment decisions
• Exposure to long lead-time inventory environments and demand planning processes preferred
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Merchandising, Finance, or related field; MBA or advanced degree a plus

Full-time, minimum 40 hours per week. Hybrid schedule with Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday in-office required. Minimal travel expected.

If you're a strategic retail merchandising professional with a passion for category ownership and data-driven decision-making, we'd love to hear from you. Please apply through Zero Hiring — all applications are handled in strict confidence.