Category Manager

Road Ranger, a multi-state Travel Center company, is seeking too add a dedicated and driven Category Manager to the Marketing Department at our Schaumburg headquarters!

Position Summary:
Category Managers are responsible for product selection, placement, and pricing in the assigned product categories. Duties include negotiating merchandise contracts with vendors, tracking sales performance, and developing incentive programs to ensure year-to-year sales growth while maintaining category margins.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Financial responsibility for assigned categories. Create budget projections. Develop and execute category plans to support the budget and long-range plan. Manage cost and retail pricing strategies. Closely monitor performance and adjust plans as needed. Formally communicate performance and reasons for variances. Negotiate, budget, and monitor discounts and allowances for applicable categories.
• Responsible for decision making for category contracts, programs, and new products selection.
• Lead the development process for product initiatives from test to commercialization, partnering with key cross functional stakeholders on process, pricing and promotion required to achieve P&L budget expectations as well as support the strategic long-range plan.
• Develop and maintain vendor relationships ensuring that vendors are providing maximum value to the category and the company. Leverage vendor partnerships to obtain critical category insights and research. Develop fact-based decisions targeted at driving category growth in partnership with vendors.
• Use data sources to develop regular and ad hoc reports to include out of stock, opportunity gap, SKU rationalization, plan-o-gram analysis, promotion analysis, item tracking, pricing studies, financial performance, sales and movement
• Leverage analytical insights to develop actionable items for improvement
• Maintain plan-o-grams according to supplier agreements
• Special projects and other departmental duties as assigned

• Minimum 3 years’ experience in product marketing or related field
• Preferred experience in category management and retail store-level merchandising
• Preferred Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, Business, or related field
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to work in a group environment

Benefits:
We offer our employees a wide variety of competitive benefits to support their health and wealth, such as:

• Health, Dental, & Vision Insurance
• Weekly Pay
• Bonus Compensation Potential
• 401(k) with up to 4% company match
• Paid Vacation, Sick, and Holidays
• Paid Parental Leave
• Employee Assistance Program
• Accident, Critical Illness, Short-Term & Long-Term Disability Insurances

Road Ranger is a proud equal opportunity employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunities, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status or civil partnership/union status, veteran status, citizenship, pregnancy, genetic information, physical or mental disability, or any other status or characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.