Director of Category Management & Merchandising

Compensation: $133,000 - $155,000 / year + bonus eligible

Location: Remote (preference for candidates within commuting distance of our Ashburn, VA office)

Shape the Future of Retail at SSP America

At SSP America, retail is how we serve travelers beyond the meal, with snacks, beverages, fresh grab-and-go food, and travel essentials across the airports we operate in.

We are seeking a strategic, commercially minded Director of Category Management & Merchandising to define and scale our retail and category strategy across snack/impulse, non-alcoholic beverage, and an expanded portfolio of retail and travel essentials. Reporting to the Vice President, Commercial, this leader will build a best-in-class, multi-category retail program that drives revenue growth, margin expansion, and a better customer experience alongside our core food and beverage operations.

This is an ideal opportunity for a leader who enjoys building category strategy, shaping the physical retail experience, using data to grow sales and margin, and developing a team that executes consistently in the field.

In this role, you will serve as SSP America's subject matter expert and strategic advisor for category management, merchandising, planograms, space allocation, and pricing and promotional strategy.

Key responsibilities include:

• Defining and executing a holistic retail and category strategy that integrates snack/impulse, non-alcoholic beverage, and expanded retail categories into one cohesive commercial approach.
• Establishing SSP America as a competitor in travel retail and convenience formats, and identifying new revenue streams through fresh food, travel essentials, and emerging consumer trends.
• Leading the creation and optimization of planograms, merchandising frameworks, and space allocation strategies across all formats, including fresh and prepared food categories such as pastry cases and sandwich programs.
• Partnering with Design & Construction to set retail design standards for new builds, renovations, and conversions, including grab-and-go environments, to-go formats, fixtures, equipment, and flow, and ensuring retail is built into new concept development and capital planning.
• Delivering against key commercial KPIs, including average transaction value, capture rate, margin, and incremental sales, and using data and analytics to understand customer behavior, product performance, and market trends.
• Developing pricing and promotion strategies with Commercial and Finance, and partnering with Operations and Marketing to execute promotions, limited-time offers, and seasonal programs.
• Leading end-to-end execution of new program rollouts, including product selection and testing, POS setup and data integrity, operational readiness, marketing alignment, and post-launch performance analysis.
• Building strategic relationships with key suppliers and distributors, managing and growing the supplier income program, and partnering with Procurement and Marketing on marketing funds and an integrated marketing calendar.
• Leading and mentoring a team of category managers, retail buyers, and merchandisers, and partnering with Operations leadership, including GMs, DOs, and RVPs, to ensure programs are practical, scalable, and consistently executed at the unit level.
• Building a high-performance culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement aligned with SSP America's Core Values of Ownership, Teamwork, Curiosity, and Passion.

We're looking for a leader who pairs deep category management and merchandising expertise with strong commercial acumen and an operations-first mindset.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree (or international equivalent) in Marketing, Business Management, Finance, or a related field.
• Minimum of 8 to 10 years of experience in the hospitality, retail, or food service industry.
• Proven experience in multi-unit restaurant, retail, or food service operations.
• Deep understanding of category management principles for food and beverage products, including market research, program development, planogramming, merchandising strategy and tactics, product demonstrations, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• Experience leading, developing, and mentoring teams of category managers, retail buyers, or merchandisers.
• Strong understanding of P&L, sales, and profitability, with experience analyzing sales and margin metrics to evaluate the impact of marketing and…