Category Growth Manager, HBW Massage and Maintenance

Groupon•Chicago, IL

4d•$75,000 - $100,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Groupon is a marketplace where customers discover new experiences and services everyday and local businesses thrive. To date we have worked with over a million merchant partners worldwide, connecting over 16 million customers with deals across various categories. In a world often dominated by e-commerce giants, we stand out as one of the few platforms uniquely committed to helping local businesses succeed on a performance basis. Groupon is on a radical journey to transform our business with relentless pursuit of results. Even with thousands of employees spread across multiple continents, we still maintain a culture that inspires innovation, rewards risk-taking and celebrates success. The impact here can be immediate due to our scale and the speed of our transformation. We're a "best of both worlds" kind of company. We're big enough to have the resources and scale, but small enough that a single person has a surprising amount of autonomy and can make a meaningful impact. About the role : Groupon is seeking a Category Growth Manager who will own the category strategy and revenue enablement for Massage and Maintenance L3s. Define what “good” looks like through category playbooks, control shopping list execution and deal productivity, drive go-to-market initiatives for high-AOV and emerging services, and ensure cross-functional alignment between planned inventory, merchandising, campaigns, and actual performance. This is a senior, hands-on role requiring flexibility between strategic category development and tactical execution, with deep category expertise and curiosity to identify what drives performance. North Star : Own and scale the Massage & Maintenance categories by defining clear success standards, ensuring disciplined production and deal quality, and driving revenue growth through portfolio expansion, GTM excellence, and cross-functional execution alignment.

Requirements

5+ years in category management, commercial strategy, or marketplace operations within e-commerce, services marketplaces, or consulting.
Advanced Excel proficiency (financial modeling, complex analysis).
Comfortable with deal structuring, pricing strategy, and margin analysis.

Nice To Haves

Experience in beauty, wellness, spa, or similar service verticals strongly preferred.
Proven ability to flex between strategic planning and hands-on tactical execution.
Experience with Tableau or Salesforce preferred.
Comfort leveraging AI tools (e.g., generative AI, data analysis assistants) to accelerate research, pattern detection, and decision-making.
Ability to translate AI insights into concrete commercial or operational actions.

Responsibilities

Category Intelligence & Standards What you own: Develop cross-functional category playbooks defining success standards from target group upwards for Massage & Maintenance. Set minimum inventory requirements per metropolitan area: which services must be live, merchant counts, and quality benchmarks. Monitor competitor positioning and adjust category frameworks quarterly. How you collaborate: Consult with Sales, Product, Ops, and Finance on category-specific strategic decisions. Inform day-to-day execution teams on category standards, requirements, and performance expectations. Serve as subject matter expert and advocate for Massage & Maintenance categories.
Revenue Enablement Portfolio Expansion (Locations & Services): Support Local and Mid-Market teams with portfolio expansion initiatives. Provide category expertise on location and service expansion opportunities during QBRs with clients. When called upon, define criteria for which services to add. High-AOV Service Expansion & GTM: Drive go-to-market strategy for high-AOV services: pricing, approvals, target lists, account approval, and opportunity pre-qualification. Define what qualifies as high-AOV for categories (e.g., couples massage $180–300, balayage $200–375, premium facials $150–350). Emerging Services GTM: Drive go-to-market strategy for emerging services (e.g., sports massage, men’s grooming, specialty wellness). Own pricing, approvals, target lists, account approval criteria, and opportunity pre-qualification frameworks. Coordinate with Legal on vetting of merchants and new service due diligence before rollout. Analyze emerging service performance and identify growth opportunities.
Shopping List & Production Control What you own: Own shopping list requirements for Massage & Maintenance categories. Define which services must be live per market and category. Control productivity output: monitor what sales teams are closing versus shopping list requirements. Monitor deal structures to ensure compliance with category deal charters. Performance Alignment: Ensure shopping lists, actual production, merchandising, and marketing campaigns are aligned. Identify deviations between planned inventory and actual execution. Propose corrective measures and own cross-functional implementation of fixes. Track conversion, deal rating, and refund performance by service type.
Merchandising & Campaign Coordination What you own: Define quarterly campaign requirements with Market Managers and Marketing for Massage & Maintenance. Ensure adequate inventory availability for seasonal campaigns (Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, holiday gifting, etc.). Coordinate campaign timing with deal launches and merchant availability. Monitor campaign performance and recommend adjustments.
Customer Experience & Deal Quality Collaborate with Product & Global Ops: Improve deal presentation to customers: imagery, descriptions, service clarity. Index on customer experience enhancements to improve conversion rates. Work on initiatives to improve deal ratings and reduce refunds. Test and implement improvements to customer journey for Massage & Maintenance. Collaborate with Market Managers: Manage inventory quality: monitor deal ratings and customer feedback. Review and restructure deals with low ratings or high refund rates. Recommend deal take-downs when quality cannot be improved. Work on merchant improvement programs for underperforming deals.