Senior Category Manager - Beauty

Job Summary

The Senior Category Manager is a merchandising leader responsible for the vision, strategy, and performance of one of our largest and most complex Beauty categories, such as Skincare or Cosmetics.

You'll own the category P&L and drive profitable growth through customer‑led strategies that come to life through compelling assortments, great in‑store and digital merchandising, and productive vendor partnerships. You'll bring sharp instincts and a deep understanding of the customer, using data and insights to identify opportunities and build plans to capture them.

You’ll work across the business with commercial focus, leading cross‑functional teams to deliver results, while directly managing and developing a team of associate managers and merchandising assistants. This role is based in our Deerfield, IL office and is on‑site four days a week.

• Oversees development and determines merchandising, display, advertising, distribution, packaging and sales plans and programs for highly complex items and multiple merchandise departments.
• Negotiates buying contracts and obtains most advantageous pricing. Manages day‑to‑day vendor relationships and growth opportunities.
• Uses market, competitive, and customer perceptions analyses to set and adjust item price levels.
• Aggressively manages category performance by establishing category goals and building financial models to predict ROIC. Utilizes innovative methods to predict performance of more complex merchandise.
• Demonstrates category ownership by creating and defending all planogram category strategies and decisions with sound analytics. Delegates analytic tasks to key support functions and synthesizes results.
• Provides division leadership with business case for promotions/ROTO spots, including promotional productivity forecast and product performance sensitivity analyses.
• Manages the translation of marketing and consumer insights into innovative assortment merchandising decisions to drive return on most complex categories. Champions the weekly category meetings with merchant support to manage category performance.
• Maintains an understanding of Walgreens and WBA private brands, including assortment and projected sales forecasts, gross profit level, and merchandising and promotional programs. Works with the DMM to project sales forecasts and gross profit levels within the assigned categories.
• Cultivates team moral, motivation, and loyalty through continuous training and mentorship, setting obtainable performance goals, providing clear communication and constructive feedback.

• Bachelor’s degree and at least 6 years’ experience in two or more of the following: retail, procurement/purchasing, merchandising, vendor relations, pharmacy operations, or retail marketing OR a high school diploma/GED and at least 9 years of experience in two or more of the following: retail, procurement/purchasing, merchandising, vendor relations, pharmacy operations, or retail marketing.
• At least 2 years’ experience working with P&L concepts – revenue, COGS, gross profit margin, operating expenses and income.
• Knowledge of customer‑centric retailing principles and the analytics of customer purchase behavior.
• At least 4 years of experience developing strategic programs in merchandising, vendor relations, and marketing in the retail business.
• Knowledge of retail business financial concepts, to include penny profit market, mark‑up percentages, turns and ROI.
• Experience collaborating on analysis for market potential evaluation, pricing, and promotions.
• Knowledge of marketing and promotional strategies and methods.
• Intermediate level skill in Microsoft Excel.
• Basic skill level in Microsoft PowerPoint.
• Basic level skill in Microsoft Word.
• At least 2 years of experience contributing to financial decisions in the workplace.
• At least 3 years of direct leadership, indirect leadership and/or cross‑functional team leadership.
• Willing to travel up to 10% of the time for business purposes (within state and out of state).

• Experience managing people, projects and/or cross‑functional teams.
• At least 2 years of experience in negotiating deals.

We will consider employment of qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

$136000 - $231300 / Salaried