Category Manager

Pacific Smoke International Inc • Markham, ON

27d • CA$80,000 - CA$105,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

PSI is seeking a Category Manager to join its scaling organization. The company's mission is to help people quit smoking by providing safer alternatives to traditional cigarettes. As the leading distributor of electronic vaporizers and award-winning vaping products in Canada, PSI has made significant progress since its founding in 2013. The Category Manager will oversee the performance of all external brands or new brands, including hardware, e-liquids, and other products that fit the company’s business strategy. This role involves leadership in planning and executing go-to-market strategies and managing each brand’s financial performance. The Category Manager will work with external product brands to organize and direct activities to achieve business development objectives. This position offers empowerment to impact change and contribute to the vision of eliminating combustible cigarettes. Success in this role requires strong business acumen, curiosity, people skills, savvy communications, and an analytical, solution-oriented mindset. Managers at PSI are hands-on and dive into solving problems and seizing opportunities with the team. This is an ideal role for an innovative thinker fulfilled by driving brand/product performance, overcoming challenges, and launching/building high-performance external brands/products with financial sustainability in a dynamic environment.

Requirements

• Mandarin speaking is strongly preferred.
• Vape (cannabis or tobacco) industry product, supplier & sales knowledge is required.
• Proven advanced negotiation and contract management skills.
• Ability to identify, quantify and effectively mitigate procurement risks.
• Ability to develop actionable strategies and oversee their execution.
• Ability to adapt to changing requirements and provide the necessary support.
• Strong cost-benefit and business analysis abilities.
• 2-3 years of working experience in product/category management or related experience.
• Strong communication, presentation, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Strong cost-benefit and business analysis abilities and proven project management skills.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with the Senior Marketing team and other department managers to develop and execute external brand/portfolio strategies and plans to achieve company and department objectives.
• Oversee the external brand/portfolio development process from research, ideation, planning, development, marketing, and sales strategies for entire external brands.
• Deal with external brand owners and manufacturers to continuously optimize product selection, portfolio strategy, and relationship management.
• Work with relevant cross-functional teams (i.e., marketing intelligence, product development, digital marketing, sales teams) to build external brands and products that are set up for success and built to sustainably perform.
• Continuously assess the competitive landscape and consumer insights to identify trends, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
• Assess brand/product performance and effectiveness; strategically add new products, evolve promotional strategies, and minimize slow-moving SKUs.
• Strategize and oversee go-to-market launch strategies and conduct post-mortem analyses to measure effectiveness and refine tactics.
• Manage and be accountable for brand financial performance and the brand marketing budget.
• Generate and analyze reports from various data sources such as regional/national sales, digital marketing analytics, and more to improve brand/product strategies and performance.
• Assist line manager to define, measure, and report on major KPIs relating to business performance to senior management.
• Collaborate on merchandising and guide the creation of point-of-sale materials to increase brand awareness and exposure.
• Create engaging presentations and present new products and promotions to cross-functional departments and key stakeholders.
• Be the main contact point and informed decision-maker for brand-related topics through collaborations with sales, product development, supply chain, demand planning, project management, order desk, and so on.
• Manage the brand planning calendar; coordinate cross-functional activities and plan processes, manage timelines, and ensure timely completion of all deliverables.
• Other related duties as assigned from time to time.

Benefits

• A total compensation package that includes group benefits program starting from day 1 of joining
• Year-end performance bonus
• Ongoing learning and development opportunities
• Three weeks of Vacation
• Hybrid work (four days in office)
• Product at distributor pricing to all employees
• Company events

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed