Category Director, Multicultural Fresh, Frozen & Kosher

Loblaw Companies Limited•Brampton, ON

About The Position

Category Director, Multicultural Fresh, Frozen, and Kosher Join us at Loblaw Companies Limited as a Category Director where we bring innovative products and programs to our stores. Reporting to the Sr. Category Director, your responsibilities will include leading every aspect of the Multicultural category, including vision, strategy, financial performance, competitive benchmarking, and program execution. You will be accountable for leading a team of Merchants and Associate Merchants. Are you data-driven and customer centric with a drive for food? If you would like to belong to a complementary team of critical business leaders, apply today!

Requirements

Post-secondary education or equivalent experience.
Shown experience of 5 years in retail merchandising, strategy, marketing, business development and/or business management – specifically, with responsibilities over P&L required
A self-motivated leader with a high-reaching approach and a passion for category management
Sophisticated knowledge of financial forecasting, modelling and analytics required
Analytical approach to decision making – using data to derive business insights that lead to practical strategies and favorable financial outcomes.
Ability to engage, collaborate with and influence complementary teams.
Ability to think critically, innovate and overcome obstacles with a sense of importance.
Ability to coach, mentor and lead a team that supports and accelerates talent-cultivation

Nice To Haves

Post-graduate education and/or authoritatively accredited designation(s) an asset.

Responsibilities

Work with various colleagues in Merchandising, Operations, Pricing and Promotions, Control Brands, Supply Chain, Loyalty, e-Commerce, Marketing, Media, Sourcing, and other divisions.
Build positive relationships with category vendors and external partners.
Own financial forecasting, modelling, and end-to-end category performance, with full accountability for P&L outcomes including sales, margins, shrink, and EBIT.
Provide strategic influence and recommendations to drive performance in Multicultural Fresh, while directly responsible for the Multicultural Frozen and Kosher categories.
Use data and analytics to build short and long-term strategic plans; and identify critical merchandising priorities, risks, and opportunities.
Be solely accountable for delivering category budget goals and achieving non-financial departmental goals as assigned, with weekly, periodic, and quarterly reporting obligations.
Build and maintain a deep understanding of the competitive landscape and handle performance outcomes – including market share growth and development, shelf pricing, assortment and promotional strategy efficiency, and global merchandising best-practices.
Coordinate with vendors to achieve best-in-market product costing and program investments.
Drive innovation by staying on top of emerging consumer trends by leveraging insights from sources such as Nielsen data, social platforms (e.g., TikTok), and industry news to identify new item opportunities and fill assortment gaps.
Work with your team to implement assortment management (including optimization analysis, new product and costing evaluation, planogram design and in-store merchandising strategies).
Lead and develop your team in program management (including promotional product selection and forecasting, financial modelling with P&L impact analysis, pricing decisions, flyer and digital content decisions) and vendor relationship management.
Work closely with Pricing & Promotions and Operations to align on multicultural holiday plans, lead holiday kickoffs meetings instore to review prior performance and define improvements, finalize plans for approval, and conduct post-mortem reviews to evaluate results.
Collaborate with private label Product Managers and Product Developers to identify and reach all strategic and financial goals for the private label portfolio within the category.