Vice President – Merchandising, Category Management

• Develop and lead the enterprise merchandising strategy across vending, markets, office coffee, and adjacent Refreshment Services Group channels
• Create consistent approaches to assortment, menu architecture, product placement, planograms, resets, seasonal programs, and local market relevance
• Build annual merchandising and promotional calendars supporting traffic, basket growth, product discovery, loyalty engagement, and same-store sales
• Own category strategy, architecture, performance standards, product mix, SKU productivity, space allocation, and lifecycle decisions
• Lead category managers in item-level and category-level planning based on sales velocity, margin, cost trends, waste, stockouts, customer preferences, and market dynamics
• Partner with Procurement on vendor selection, costs, terms, rebates, growth programs, and innovation
• Own enterprise pricing strategy, governance, price architecture, price tiers, market basket alignment, and promotional pricing
• Establish gross margin targets and lead decisions on price gaps, margin erosion, mix shifts, cost changes, and exceptions
• Influence waste and spoilage through assortment, shelf-life strategy, forecasting, replenishment settings, order guides, and lifecycle decisions
• Establish weekly, period, and quarterly category and gross-margin performance rhythms
• Define and monitor scorecards covering sales, same-store sales, margins, price and cost movement, mix, productivity, waste, shrink, rebates, stockouts, fill rate, and merchandising compliance
• Create executive-ready reporting on performance, risks, opportunities, financial impact, and required decisions
• Lead cross-functional operating models across Merchandising, Category Management, Procurement, Finance, Operations, Sales, Marketing, and technology partners
• Partner with Operations to implement pricing, resets, planograms, ordering parameters, and assortment changes
• Lead change management for new standards, systems, reporting, and ways of working
• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing merchandising and category management organization
• Develop succession plans and capabilities in category strategy, pricing, assortment planning, merchandising execution, and performance management

• Progressive executive leadership experience in merchandising, category management, pricing, retail, food service, convenience, consumer products, or a related multi-site operating environment
• Demonstrated success building category strategies and converting them into measurable sales, margin, mix, and customer outcomes
• Deep understanding of pricing architecture, category economics, cost and margin drivers, assortment optimization, vendor programs, and promotional effectiveness
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives across Operations, Finance, Procurement, Sales, Marketing, and technology or analytics teams
• Ability to lead a distributed team and influence field execution across multiple regions, business units, or channels
• Strong financial and analytical acumen, including the ability to interpret item, category, regional, and enterprise performance and make sound commercial decisions
• Experience establishing governance, operating rhythms, scorecards, and accountability for complex enterprise initiatives
• Bachelor’s degree in business, merchandising, marketing, finance, supply chain, analytics, or a related discipline
• Advanced degree is a plus

Demonstrates expertise in developing and leading enterprise merchandising strategies, with a strong focus on pricing architecture, category management, and performance metrics. Proven ability to drive measurable sales and margin outcomes through effective assortment planning and cross-functional collaboration.

• Merchandising Strategy Development
• Category Management Leadership
• Pricing Architecture Expertise
• Financial and Analytical Acumen
• Cross-Functional Initiative Leadership

• Category Strategy
• Assortment Optimization
• SKU Productivity
• Gross Margin Management
• Promotional Effectiveness
• Performance Scorecard Development
• Market Basket Alignment
• Lifecycle Management
• Vendor Program Management
• Sales and Margin Analysis

• Leadership
• Influencing
• Change Management
• Collaboration
• Communication

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business
• Advanced Degree (Preferred)

• Retail
• Food service
• Consumer Products
• Multi-Site Operations
• Merchandising Compliance