Associate Category Manager

Excellent career opportunity to join one of the finest Fortune 200 companies in the United States! You will also enjoy a wide array of career development programs including the company supported Six Sigma Black Belt training in category management. NOTE: this person must live in Atlanta or be open to relocating on their own - No relocation assistance currently provided. POSITION TITLE: Associate Category Manager - Commodities REPORTING RELATIONSHIP: This role reports to the Category Manager – Commodities LOCATION: Atlanta, GA (Cumberland/Vinings area) Hybrid - 4 days in office/1 day remote

CLIENT OVERVIEW

NAPA is a leading automotive aftermarket distributor and a wholly owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Company (NYSE: GPC) , a $23.5B global distribution leader known for its financial strength, operational excellence, and long-term growth. GPC recently announced plans to separate its Automotive and Industrial businesses into two independent public companies by 2027, with NAPA becoming the standalone Automotive platform. This strategic separation will enable sharper focus, increased agility, and targeted investment within each business, positioning NAPA to accelerate growth and innovation across the automotive aftermarket. NAPA’s culture is strengthened by a commitment to diversity and inclusion. The goal is to create a culture where they value, respect, and provide fair treatment and equal opportunities for all employees.

POSITION IMPACT

This is an exciting opportunity to join a 100-year-old, Fortune 200 global leader at a pivotal time in its transformation, helping shape the future of merchandising and category management within one of the automotive aftermarket's most respected organizations. You will work alongside a collaborative leadership team committed to operational excellence, data-driven decision making, and developing future merchandising leaders while enjoying exceptional career growth opportunities within NAPA Auto Parts. Supporting one of NAPA's largest, most strategically important, and highly visible commodities categories, the Associate Category Manager serves as the operational and analytical partner to the Category Manager, helping drive profitable growth across a portfolio that includes Motor Oil, Grease, Gear Oil, Transmission Fluid, Paper Products, Shop Towels, Absorbents, and other commodity maintenance products. This highly visible role offers broad exposure to pricing strategy, supplier partnerships, category analytics, and cross-functional project leadership while providing visibility to executive-level merchandising initiatives and positioning the successful candidate for continued career advancement within NAPA.

FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Associate Category Manager serves as the operational and analytical partner to the Category Manager, supporting the profitable growth and execution of one of NAPA's largest and most strategically important merchandising categories. This role helps drive sales, profitability, pricing strategy, supplier performance, and operational excellence while balancing financial, customer, and business objectives. Working cross-functionally with Merchandising, Pricing, Marketing, Supply Chain, Inventory Planning, Finance, Digital Commerce, and supplier partners, this individual plays a critical role in executing category initiatives, leading projects, and ensuring seamless day-to-day category operations. Specific functions and responsibilities include: Support the execution of category strategies that drive sales growth, profitability, inventory productivity, and overall category performance Partner with the Category Manager to manage a complex commodities portfolio, balancing pricing, promotional execution, supplier performance, and category analytics Analyze sales, gross margin, inventory, promotional, and pricing data to identify trends, opportunities, and actionable business insights Coordinate cross-functional initiatives involving Merchandising, Pricing, Marketing, Supply Chain, Inventory Planning, Digital Commerce, Finance, and Operations to ensure timely execution of key business priorities Build and maintain strong supplier relationships while supporting promotional planning, supplier programs, new item introductions, and sourcing initiatives Manage multiple concurrent projects and competing priorities while proactively identifying issues and driving timely resolutions Develop reporting, financial analyses, and executive presentations that support strategic category decisions and business performance Serve as the operational \"right hand\" to the Category Manager by anticipating challenges, removing obstacles, and ensuring exceptional execution across the business

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

The ideal candidate will have 2–4 years of Category Management, Merchandising, Assortment Planning, or Retail experience within a fast-paced retail, distribution, or consumer products environment. We seek candidates with strong commercial acumen, exceptional analytical capability, and the ability to quickly become the operational and analytical partner to the Category Manager. Success in this role requires someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment, independently manages projects, prioritizes competing initiatives, and consistently delivers exceptional execution. Key Qualifications include: Demonstrated success in an Associate Category Manager, Merchandising, Category Analyst, Assortment Planning, Buyer, or similar commercial role supporting complex product categories Strong financial acumen with a solid understanding of retail math , pricing, gross margin, profitability, inventory metrics, promotional performance, and category analytics Advanced Microsoft Excel proficiency, including Pivot Tables, XLOOKUP/VLOOKUP, large datasets, financial reporting, and analytical modeling Proven ability to analyze complex business data, identify trends, and translate insights into sound commercial recommendationsTotal? Actually here we left incomplete. Final part will be added. ``` analysis We accidentally truncated final listing. We need to ensure final JSON string includes entire content, from start until closing tags. My output currently incomplete. I need to finish it properly including rest of list items and closing etc. Let's revise entire JSON string properly. I should regenerate the entire string completely, ensuring all elements including closing tags for etc. In prior plan, I had the list items, but truncated due to missing closing tags. Let's reconstruct fully and produce final JSON. Let's write full string again, ensuring all blocks: Paragraphs 1 through 6 as above. Then heading CLIENT OVERVIEW, etc. Goal: Ensure we maintain all lists with . For each I need to close it. I earlier included closing for functions list, but didn't close the list of key qualifications properly. I wrote closing but maybe missing anchor. We need to re-assemble. Also I inadvertently closed the Laravel 'Proven ability to analyze complex business data...' line but missing closing . Let's produce final JSON string in one piece, ensuring all tags closed. Let's do step by step. String content block: 1. #J-18808-Ljbffr NAPA Auto Parts