Category Manager, Body Jewelry

BODY ART ALLIANCE • Hanover, MD

5d • $110,000 - $120,000 • Onsite

About The Position

Body Art Alliance (BAA) is a leader in the professional body art industry, known for brands like Anatometal, NeoMetal, Tilum, and Painful Pleasures. They are seeking an experienced and strategic Category Manager to lead the growth and evolution of their Body Jewelry & Piercing portfolio. This role involves shaping brands, driving innovation, optimizing product assortments, and enhancing customer experiences. The ideal candidate is passionate about product development, consumer insights, and market trends, with a strong understanding of the professional piercing industry, body jewelry materials, product lifecycle management, and category management best practices. The Category Manager will be the category expert and strategic business leader, responsible for growth, innovation, profitability, and portfolio performance across BAA's body jewelry brands. Reporting to the Director of Product Development, this role will own the category roadmap, lead new product initiatives, optimize assortments, identify opportunities, and ensure the portfolio aligns with customer needs and industry trends. This position requires close collaboration with various departments including Product Development, Manufacturing, Operations, Supply Chain, Inventory Planning, Marketing, Ecommerce, Sales, Finance, and Executive Leadership.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Merchandising, Product Development, or a related field.
• 5 to 8+ years of experience in Category Management, Product Management, Merchandising, Product Development, Brand Management, or a related discipline.
• Proven experience developing and executing successful category growth strategies.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to translate data into actionable business decisions.
• Advanced analytical capabilities with proficiency in Microsoft Excel and business intelligence tools such as Power BI.
• Exceptional communication, presentation, and relationship-building skills.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Demonstrated success working cross-functionally in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience partnering with vendors, manufacturers, and external stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

• Experience within the professional body jewelry, piercing, jewelry, fashion accessories, or adjacent specialty consumer product industries.
• Knowledge of implant-grade materials, ASTM standards, ISO certifications, and APP guidelines.
• Experience managing large SKU portfolios and complex product assortments.
• Experience with product lifecycle management, NPDI processes, and commercialization strategies.
• Familiarity with ecommerce, wholesale distribution, and omnichannel retail environments.
• Experience working with ERP, PLM, or product management systems.
• MBA or advanced degree is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute comprehensive category strategies that drive revenue growth, increase market share, and improve profitability.
• Create and manage short and long-term category roadmaps aligned with company objectives, customer demand, and emerging industry trends.
• Define and execute brand-specific strategies for Anatometal, NeoMetal, Tilum, Painful Pleasures, and future portfolio brands.
• Identify opportunities for category expansion, assortment growth, new product development, and market differentiation.
• Serve as the internal subject matter expert on body jewelry, piercing trends, customer behavior, and competitive activity.
• Build business cases and strategic recommendations for new product launches, assortment expansion, and portfolio investments.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives that enhance category performance and operational effectiveness.
• Own and drive the end-to-end product development roadmap from concept through commercialization.
• Lead the development of new products, collections, materials, finishes, exclusive designs, and innovation initiatives.
• Partner with internal development teams and external vendors to identify opportunities that strengthen BAA's competitive position.
• Develop comprehensive product briefs outlining customer needs, market opportunity, pricing strategy, material requirements, design direction, technical specifications, and competitive positioning.
• Lead category participation in the New Product Development and Introduction (NPDI) process to ensure successful product launches.
• Evaluate product opportunities through customer insights, market research, financial analysis, and competitive benchmarking.
• Establish launch success metrics and monitor product performance post-launch.
• Drive improvements in speed-to-market and product commercialization processes.
• Conduct ongoing market research to identify customer needs, emerging trends, competitive threats, and growth opportunities.
• Monitor trends across piercing techniques, jewelry styles, materials, anatomy-specific jewelry, fashion influences, and professional studio preferences.
• Analyze competitor assortments, pricing strategies, product launches, and market positioning.
• Attend and represent BAA at industry events, trade shows, conferences, and professional association gatherings, including APP, JCK, and other global industry events.
• Build strong relationships with professional piercers, studio owners, distributors, and key industry influencers to gather actionable market intelligence.
• Translate market insights into strategic category recommendations and product development opportunities.
• Maintain expert knowledge of body jewelry materials including implant-grade titanium (ASTM F136), implant-grade steel, niobium, solid 14k and 18k gold, and other biocompatible materials.
• Ensure product offerings align with ASTM, ISO, APP, and other applicable industry standards and guidelines.
• Stay current on emerging materials, manufacturing techniques, jewelry technologies, and industry best practices.
• Develop expertise in jewelry sizing conventions, threading systems, anatomy-specific jewelry applications, and professional piercing requirements.
• Partner with quality and manufacturing teams to ensure products meet safety, performance, and compliance expectations.
• Manage the full product lifecycle from product introduction through end-of-life decisions.
• Curate and optimize category assortments to maximize sales, profitability, inventory productivity, and customer satisfaction.
• Identify assortment gaps, duplication, underperforming SKUs, and opportunities for portfolio expansion.
• Develop pricing strategies that balance market competitiveness, profitability, and customer value.
• Manage the complexity of large SKU portfolios across gauges, lengths, diameters, materials, finishes, threading systems, and jewelry styles.
• Partner with Supply Chain and Inventory Planning teams to maintain appropriate inventory levels and product availability.
• Drive SKU rationalization initiatives while preserving assortment depth in strategic product segments.
• Partner with Marketing, Ecommerce, Sales, Operations, Manufacturing, Finance, Inventory Planning, and Product Development teams to execute category strategies.
• Support product launches through merchandising, promotional planning, content creation, and go-to-market execution.
• Ensure product listings contain accurate specifications, technical information, attributes, imagery, and educational content.
• Collaborate with Marketing and Creative teams to develop product education materials, brand training resources, and customer-facing content.
• Support Sales teams with category insights, product knowledge, competitive positioning, and customer training.
• Act as a key liaison between internal teams and external manufacturing and vendor partners.
• Analyze customer purchasing behavior, sales trends, market feedback, and product performance data.
• Gather and synthesize feedback from professional piercers, studio owners, distributors, and end consumers.
• Identify opportunities to improve the customer experience through assortment improvements, product innovation, educational content, and service enhancements.
• Use customer insights to guide assortment planning, product development priorities, and category strategy.
• Establish and monitor category KPIs, performance metrics, and growth targets.
• Analyze sales, profitability, inventory productivity, new product performance, and customer adoption trends.
• Measure ROI on new product investments and category initiatives.
• Prepare and present category reviews, business updates, and strategic recommendations to leadership.
• Identify trends, risks, and opportunities through data analysis and translate findings into actionable plans.
• Drive accountability for category performance against sales, profitability, innovation, and operational objectives.

Benefits

• Opportunity to influence products used by professional artists and piercers worldwide.
• Work alongside passionate industry experts.
• Contribute to category-defining innovations.
• Help shape the future of respected brands in the industry.
• Collaborative environment where creativity, innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement are valued.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior