Senior Category Manager

Salary: £42,000 – £48,000 per year

If you’ve not already heard, City Plumbing is growing… and growing fast!

Next up on the City Plumbing Rocketship is for a Senior Category Manager or a Senior Buyer to join our Category team, creating and delivering winning Category plans that will help improve profit and sales across our increasingly growing business.

Why should you be excited about this Senior Category opportunity?

2022 has turned out to be a huge year for our Digital & Online transformation. We’ve recently become a stand alone business with private-equity backing so as our new Senior Category Manager your expertise will be vital in improving our Multichannel trading both online and in branch!

Want to join us on this journey? Read on to find out more!

The Role:

It is an exciting time here at City Plumbing. We’ve recently become a stand alone business with private-equity backing, commiting to change the way we think about our Online, Category, & Multichannel platforms.
As our new Senior Category Manager (Senior Buyer) you will lead a small Category team and work collaboratively with all key stakeholders to create and deliver winning category plans (aligned to the corporate strategy). You’ll influence and negotiate to ensure we are getting the best deals for our customers and drive the engagement of the branch network and sales teams to deliver the category plan.

You’ll enjoy a diverse role developing, researching, creating and deploying the category strategy and you’ll be responsible for creating a Trading Plan that will result in exceeding your targets and winning market share!

Areas of focus include:

• Supply base strategy and management of supplier relationships, to maximise return.
• Reviewing and reporting on category performance alongside identification of areas of concern/opportunities to take appropriate action.
• Development of the factbase on the customer, competitors & market to support development of the category strategy.
• Successful development and delivery of range reviews & category pricing strategy.
• Product lifecycle management plans from start to end.
• Management of accurate product data.
• Negotiation of supplier trading agreements.
• Negotiation of cost prices and trading terms.
• Development of a trading plan to deliver the category financials i.e. budgets /forecasting/COGs/trading accounts.
• Representation of the category both cross-functionally and within Highbourne group collaborative relationships.

This is primarily a hybrid-based role with visits to our office & suppliers on a weekly basis.

You should be based in the UK and our Head Office is based in Crick, Northamptonshire.

This means you could be based in Banbury, Bedford, Birmingham, Cambridge, Corby, Coventry, Hinckley, Hitchin, Huntingdon, Kettering, Leamington Spa, Leicester, Leamington Spa, Loughborough, Lutterworth, Luton, Market Harborough, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Northampton, Nuneaton, Oundle, Oxford, Peterborough, Rugby, Rushden, Stevenage, Tamworth, Welwyn Garden City, Worcester, as well as Crick itself.

You:
‘ll live and breathe our customer-first ethos, with a strategic and proactive approach to Category, Buying, and Trading. You’ll enjoy working collaboratively with the wider Multichannel team and you’ll be committed to acting with integrity and honesty in everything you do.
Required skills and competencies:

• Previous experience of successfully delivering in a rounded category management / senior buyer role driving sales, trading profit (including rebates and TAs), margin rate, return on stock and product availability.
• Highly numerate, with an ability to utilise research and insight to understand both customers and the market.
• Demonstrable experience in category/account growth through critical analysis and opportunity development that incorporates innovation and legislative changes.
• Able to build effective relationships with both internal and external stakeholders using influencing, collaboration and negotiation skills.
• Able to demonstrate your drive, enthusiasm and continuous improvement outlook in order to maximise our commercial success.

It is highly likely you will have worked in any of the following roles and/or markets, and worked with the following products and/or services: Builders Merchants, Building Products, Buying Manager, Category Manager, Category Transformation, Change Management, Construction, Digital Transformation, FMCG, Manufacturing, Procurement Manager, Retail, Senior Buyer, Senior Category Manager, Trading Manager.

Us:

From boilers to bathroom suites, tubing to towel rails and everything in between, City Plumbing has all the products our customers need to complete the job. And we have all you need to build a successful career!

We’re proud of our reputation for selling quality plumbing and heating products to both trade and retail customers and we’re super excited about our future. We put our colleagues at the heart of all we do, giving them all the tools they need to be successful, happy and feel rewarded in their career with us.

Benefits Package and Cultural Environment:

• Discounts, savings and cash back at numerous retailers
• Savings on driving lessons, phone bills, gym memberships as well as further benefits
• Life assurance
• Bonus
• Extended family policy including maternity, paternity, additional annual leave and more
• Mental Health First Aiders and Employee Assistance Programme, let’s be there for each other
• Complete induction and a company that lets you grow and encourages development
• Financial education and loans
• Flexible working options
• Striving to create an environment of inclusion so everyone can be their true self
• And more!

We’re passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that celebrates and values diversity. Bring your whole self to work regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. We don’t want you to ‘fit’ our culture, we want you to enrich it. #BelongWithUs
#TJ #LI-JB1 #CVL