Senior Category/Merchandise Manager

Job Description

Job Classification: Exempt, Full-Time

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Reports To: Chief Commercial Officer

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Role Summary

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The Senior Category Manager is the strategic owner of their business unit and respective product categories. This role is responsible for shielding and growing market share against major competitors by curating a high-performance product mix, driving private label expansion, and leveraging data to optimize pricing and inventory.

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Primary Accountabilities

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• P&L Ownership: diverse responsibility for sales revenue, gross margin dollars, and inventory turn targets.
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• Competitive Strategy: Develop defensive and offensive strategies to compete with major e-commerce and retail players while maintaining the specialized trust and authority of the Valley Vet brand.
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• Digital Merchandising: Effectively collaborate with the e-commerce team to continuously improve the online presentation, searchability, and conversion optimization of your categories.
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Major Duties

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Strategic Assortment & Product Mix

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• Portfolio Management: Curate a balanced assortment of national brands and high-margin private label products.
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• Private Label Development: Aggressively identify gaps in the market to launch Owned Brand products that protect margins and build customer loyalty.
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• Trend Forecasting: Utilize external market data and internal analytics to predict shifts in the space (e.g., telemedicine integration, holistic care) before they become mainstream.
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• Lifecycle Management: Manage the entire product lifecycle from sourcing and onboarding to maturity and eventual liquidation/discontinuation.
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Pricing, Profitability & Intelligence

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• Dynamic Pricing Strategy: Move beyond monthly updates. Utilize automated pricing intelligence tools to monitor competitor movements in real-time, executing dynamic pricing strategies that balance Top-Line Sales with Margin protection.
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• MAP Governance: Strictly enforce Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policies to protect brand integrity.
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• Subscription Focus: Collaborate with marketing to identify, enroll and retain Auto-ship candidates to increase Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).
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Strategic Sourcing & Vendor Partnerships

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• Joint Business Planning: Move vendors from transactional relationships to strategic partners. Negotiate comprehensive agreements that include JBP (Joint Business Planning), exclusivity periods, and first-to-market opportunities.
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• Supply Chain Resilience: Work with vendors and the internal purchasing team to ensure supply chain diversity, mitigating out-of-stocks on critical supplies.
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• Financial Negotiation: Improve backend profitability through negotiation of rebates, MDF/co-op (Market Development Funds), short-dated opportunities, and volume incentives, partnering with senior leadership on complex or high-impact negotiations.
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E-Commerce & Digital Marketing

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• UX & Discovery: Collaborate with the e-commerce/marketing team to optimize site taxonomy, internal search ranking, and cross-selling (product recommendations) algorithms.
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• Content Excellence: Collaborate with the e-commerce/marketing team to ensure all PDPs (Product Detail Pages) are optimized for SEO/GEO and conversion, utilizing video content, enhanced imagery, and soliciting User Generated Content (reviews/photos).
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• Performance Marketing Support: Provide high-intent product information to the Marketing team for Paid Media Shopping, Social Ads, and Email flows.
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Catalog & Omnichannel (Retention)

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• Catalog Evolution: Curate the Equine, Farm, and Pet catalogs/print pieces not just as sales vehicles, but as brand-building retention tools. Select high-ROI items that drive customers to the web.
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• Unified Pricing: Ensure seamless pricing and promotional alignment across online and offline/print channels.
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Inventory & Operations

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• Demand Forecasting: Utilize modern demand planning tools to forecast seasonality, specifically accounting for disease outbreaks (e.g., Equine Flu) or seasonal shifts.
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• Aged Inventory Control: Proactively partner with Purchasing to manage inventory levels and execute exit strategies for slow-moving SKUs with a strategic mark-down approach.
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Leadership & Community Engagement

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• Team Development: Mentor and train Category Management team members, fostering a culture of data literacy and agility.
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• Industry Presence: Represent the brand at major industry trade shows and sponsorship events as requested.
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• Note: This role involves "hands-on" leadership, including booth design, set up, and direct selling at select premier events to maintain connection with the core customer.
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• Cross-Functional Agility: Collaborate closely across Category Management, Marketing, Warehouse Operations, and Customer Service (Call Center) to execute category priorities and resolve issues.
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Required Qualifications

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• Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Marketing, Animal Science, or related field.
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• Experience:
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• 5+ years in Category Management, Merchandising, or Buying.
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• Deep experience in DTC E-commerce is mandatory.
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• Knowledge of the Animal Health, Equine, or Farm industry is highly preferred.
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• Technical Proficiency:
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• Advanced Excel skills (Pivot tables, lookups, modeling and analysis).
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• Experience with BI visualization tools (Tableau, PowerBI, Looker, Sigma).
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• Familiarity with modern ERPs and Pricing Intelligence software.
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• Soft Skills: Strong negotiation tactics, analytical mindset, and the ability to pivot strategies quickly based on market data.
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Physical Demands (Trade Show & Operational)

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• This role requires active participation in industry events.
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• Must be able to lift up to 75 pounds (trade show setup/tear down).
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• Ability to travel up to 15% (Trade shows, vendor summits), including weekends on occasion.
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• Mobility to navigate large warehouse environments and expansive trade show floors.
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Work Environment

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• Hybrid professional office setting with periods of warehouse interaction.
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• Dynamic trade show environments (indoor/outdoor arenas).
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• Professional and deadline-oriented environment in an office setting
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• Interaction with staff, customers and vendors
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• The employee occasionally works near a warehouse environment and must be cautious of moving forklifts, WAVES and other mechanical equipment
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Additional Duties:

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Additional duties and responsibilities may be added to this job description at any time.