Category Manager, Branded Merchandise

Job Description

Job Description

MOO brings brands to life in a sustainable way, with a range of remarkable print and merchandise products. We combine design, technology, manufacturing and service, so that people can connect in memorable ways. Not online but out there, in real life.

We started in 2004. Since then we’ve built an award-winning and much-loved brand, with customer satisfaction and Trustpilot ratings that make most businesses want to give up and hire an army of review bots. We’ve got half a million customers, mostly small and medium businesses in North America, the UK, and Europe – businesses that, like us, get all excited about putting something real and beautiful into people’s hands. Does that make us nerds? Probably, and we’re ok with that. 

We’ve been given the highest business award in Britain, ‘The Queen’s Award for Enterprise’. Backed by venture capital, we’re part of Tech Nation’s ‘Future Fifty’, recently passing $1bn in lifetime revenue, and featuring in the Guardian’s top 10 UK start-ups list. Ok, we’ll stop bragging now.

Today, we’re more than 400 people with our global HQ in London, UK, while we also have premises in Dagenham. In the US, you’ll find us in Boston, MA, as well as East Providence, RI and Denver, CO and with our most recent office expansion in Cape Town South Africa.

The Role

• We’re looking for a commercially minded Category Manager to own and grow MOO’s branded merchandise assortment across premium brands, promotional products and third-party suppliers.
  
• You’ll define what products and brands MOO should offer, build a compelling and differentiated assortment, identify emerging trends and category opportunities, and develop strong supplier and brand relationships.
  
• Alongside our online assortment, you’ll partner closely with Sales to develop a broader promotional product offering for business customers across gifting, events and branded merchandise programs.

The person we want

• You are a commercially minded category manager who loves products and has a strong instinct for what B2B customers will want next.
• You can turn a huge universe of products, brands and suppliers into a considered assortment that feels distinctly MOO.
• You are equally comfortable reviewing category performance, spotting a trend at a trade show, building supplier relationships, evaluating a new decoration technique, and turning those insights into clear commercial recommendations.
• You don’t need to come from one specific industry. Experience in promotional products or branded merchandise would be valuable, but we’re equally interested in strong merchandising, buying or category management backgrounds where you’ve owned assortments, worked closely with suppliers and helped grow a category.

Responsibilities

Category & Assortment Management

• Own the strategy, performance and ongoing development of MOO’s third-party branded merchandise assortment.
• Define category architecture and identify opportunities across areas such as drinkware, notebooks, pens, bags, apparel and gifting.
• Use customer insight, sales performance, market trends and competitive activity to identify assortment gaps, additions and exits.
• Build and maintain a category roadmap covering existing assortment optimization and future growth opportunities.
• Stay close to emerging brands, products, materials and decoration techniques, translating trends into commercially relevant opportunities.
• Identify opportunities where customer demand, category performance or market trends could inform when MOO should develop its own proprietary products.

Sales & Promotional Products

• Partner with Sales to build and evolve a compelling promotional product assortment for business customers.
• Provide product and category expertise across gifting, events, employee programs and other customer needs.
• Partner with our promotional products lead and suppliers to continually improve the breadth, quality and competitiveness of the assortment.
• Help develop scalable ways of working across product selection, sourcing, decoration, ordering and fulfillment.

Supplier & Brand Management

• Build strong relationships with third-party suppliers and premium brand partners.
• Identify and evaluate new suppliers, brands and product opportunities.
• Partner with Supply Chain and Commercial teams on pricing, MOQs, lead times, availability and commercial terms.
• Understand supplier and MOO decoration capabilities and help determine the right model for each product.
• Monitor supplier and product performance and identify opportunities for continuous improvement.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Act as the category expert for branded merchandise across MOO.
• Partner closely with Sales, Ecommerce, Product Marketing, Brand, Creative, Operations, Supply Chain and Planning.
• Use category performance and commercial insight to make clear recommendations and influence future investment.
• Partner with the wider Category team to ensure MOO’s overall product portfolio is cohesive and customer-led.

About you

• Experience in category management, merchandising, buying, branded merchandise, promotional products or a related commercial product role.
• Experience owning and developing product assortments, including identifying new products and category growth opportunities.
• Strong experience working with external suppliers and/or brand partners, including evaluating products, capabilities and commercial considerations.
• Strong commercial and analytical skills, with experience using sales, margin and customer insights to inform category decisions.
• Experience working cross-functionally to bring new products or assortments to market.
• Strong understanding of product trends and the ability to translate them into relevant commercial opportunities.
• Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in branded merchandise or promotional products.
• Experience working with premium consumer brands.
• Knowledge of decoration methods and promotional product supply chains.
• Familiarity with the promotional-products supplier/distributor ecosystem.
• Experience across both ecommerce and sales-led assortments.

What’s it like to work at MOO? 

MOO’s the kind of workplace where you can really be yourself. Dye your hair purple. Hit the sofa with your laptop. Whatever helps you feel comfortable and happy at work. We want to help you grow in your career and set you up for success – while also recognising the importance of a healthy work/life balance.

That’s why we offer 34 days of combined vacation and holidays, comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus life and AD&D insurance. We also offer a 401(k) with company match and no vesting schedule, a dog-friendly and casual office environment, and free lunches every other week. Because when you feel good, your work does too.

Diversity Statement

We are working hard to create a representative, inclusive and super-friendly team, because we know that different experiences, perspectives and backgrounds make for a better workplace. And that creates a better experience for our customers. MOO doesn’t discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion or belief, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, veteran status or any other protected class

As a design and technology company we have a desire and a responsibility to build a business that represents the world around us. So we strive to create a values-driven, purposeful and highly empowered organisation that we are all proud to work for. And we are committed to continuous investment in building an open and inclusive environment, welcoming a diverse audience of candidates who see themselves working and thriving at MOO. Therefore, we’d like to invite you to complete this optional survey to help us evaluate our inclusion and diversity efforts. Completing this form is entirely voluntary and if you decide not to it won’t in any way affect your job application. We keep the information separate from your application and it is kept secure and confidential, it is only used to better our inclusion and diversity efforts. By submitting this information, you consent to MOO's processing of it for these purposes.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.