Sr Mgr, Category Merchant - Coffee, Candy, Breakfast, Whole Foods Market Grocery Team

Job :  |  Services LLC

Provides leadership and oversight to the Category Management / Merchandising function, including strategy development, innovation, definition and execution of marketplace differentiators, key supplier partnerships and team development. Responsible for the financial performance of the Category management / Merchandising function. Accountable for all Category Management / Merchandising strategic and operational decisions, including category management, purchasing, and procurement and retail operations. Oversees team efforts to develop category goals & strategies and product assortments through the lens of our core customer, ensuring a strong mix of national brand product relevance, best-in-class local product relevance, and best-in-class private label product relevance - distinguishing Whole Foods Market from our competition.

Responsible for business financial performance.

• Provides leadership and oversight to Category Management and Merchandising leaders and teams.
• Sets the strategic direction of a master category, serving as foundation for all work merchants perform.
• Contributes to the design of category layout, category adjacencies and space allocation for both ongoing and new retail operations.
• Contributes to financial performance forecasting and overall Category Management / Merchandising strategic planning and priority setting.
• Contributes to strategic alignment between category merchants and/or buyers across regions and retail operations.
• Owns relationship management and strategic alignment with key supplier partners.
• Serves as a driving force for Merchandising evolution, incorporating multiple and diverse stakeholder needs into plans for continued progress.
• Drives strategically-focused and data-driven process improvement recommendations to leadership.
• Engages with customers, partners and other key external stakeholders to ensure mutual understanding of WFM principles, values, strategies and priorities.
• Aligns resources according to strategic objectives.
• Actively monitors and manages Merchandising in-season performance, driving issue resolution through team and elevating performance issues as required.
• Engages with senior internal stakeholders, including Marketing, Finance and Procurement, to ensure an integrated approach to ongoing operations.
• Addresses and resolves critical and/or sensitive customer, operational and other issues.
• Ensures ongoing open and informative communication across all Merchandising stakeholders.
• Coaches and develops their team.
• Builds a pipeline of talent, hires for all roles, develops those in role, and supports Team Member career progression.

• Experience partnering with executive-level leaders to identifying and solving business issues
• Experience in building and developing a high performance team
• Experience developing strategies that influence leadership decisions at the organizational level
• Experience in project management including resource planning, managing schedules, reporting project status and prioritizing own tasks and those of other team members for multiple projects
• Experience analysing market opportunities, engaging and negotiating with customers, and defining new areas of innovation
• Experience in customer-facing leadership roles, or 5+ years of merchandising including executing all procedures related to the in-store display of products and services to drive the customer experience, generate product interest, and maximize sales experience
• Develops deep, credible relationships with senior-level executives, both inside and outside current areas of responsibility.
• Serves as trusted advisor internally and externally from a Category Management, Merchandising, Procurement, and Supply Chain perspective.
• Engages with internal and external stakeholders to define, clarify and resolve issues related to supply management and performance expectations.
• Collaborates / liaises with marketing on relevant program and product strategies to support team and company initiatives.
• Engages with other leaders to formulate the organization’s long-term strategic direction.
• Defines strategies and approaches to empower and equip leaders to be effective in their interactions with internal and external stakeholders.
• Identifies gaps in strategic understanding, formulates resolution recommendations and delivers clear and compelling communication.
• Shifts comfortably between big picture…