Category Manager, Merchandising

Bed Bath & Beyond Canada is entering a bold new chapter and we’re building the founding team that will define what this iconic brand becomes next. This is a rare, career-defining opportunity to help create, launch, and scale a national retail platform from the ground up, with the backing of one of Canada’s most respected retail companies.

We are seeking a results-driven and strategic Category Manager, Merchandising to develop, manage and optimize specific product categories within our retail operations. The ideal candidate will have a deep understanding of the retail landscape and consumer behavior, retail buying experience, specifically in housewares, and a proven track record of driving sales growth and improving profitability. You will be responsible for developing and executing category strategies, managing vendor relationships, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to optimize product mix and deliver results for the business.

• Develop and execute multiyear category portfolio strategies that align with enterprise objectives, customer insights, and financial targets, with clear accountability for sales, gross margin, contribution margin, inventory productivity, and overall category profitability and P&L outcomes.
• Own the financial management of assigned categories, including annual budget development, sales forecasting, margin planning, open-to-buy inputs, KPI tracking, and in-year course correction to deliver the approved financial plan.
• Manage assortment architecture and product lifecycle planning, including new item selection, SKU productivity, rationalization, discontinuations, and mix optimization to maximize return on inventory investment.
• Lead regular assortment and financial performance reviews to evaluate sales trends, margin performance, inventory turns, sell-through, markdown exposure, and profitability opportunities across the category portfolio.
• Evaluate new products, vendors, sourcing opportunities, market trends, trade show insights, and competitive activity through a commercial and financial lens, ensuring all recommendations support category growth, margin expansion, and portfolio health.
• Source, negotiate, and manage vendor relationships to secure favorable pricing, terms, rebates, allowances, cooperative marketing funds, service levels, and quality standards that strengthen category economics and improve total value.
• Research the competitive landscape and benchmark pricing, assortment, merchandising, promotional activity, and category performance to identify risks, growth opportunities, and profitability levers.
• Lead pricing strategy development and execution, using competitive analysis, elasticity, margin targets, and market positioning to optimize revenue, profitability, and customer value.
• Develop planograms and in-store and online merchandising strategies that support category financial goals, inventory productivity, and customer conversion in collaboration with Visual Merchandising.
• Build promotional plans that drive traffic, product velocity, margin performance, and profitable category growth across channels in partnership with Marketing.
• Monitor inventory levels, replenishment, sell-through, stockouts, overstocks, and markdown risk, recommending actions that protect sales and improve inventory efficiency working closely with Planning and Supply Chain.
• Provide regular reporting to senior management on category portfolio performance, including sales, margin, inventory, forecast accuracy, promotional effectiveness, vendor performance, and strategic recommendations.

• University or College degree in Business-related discipline.
• Minimum of 5-7 years of experience in category…