Assistant Category Manager - Apparel

Assistant Category Manager of Apparel

We're building a world of health around every individual

shaping a more connected, convenient and compassionate health experience. At CVS Health, you'll be surrounded by passionate colleagues who care deeply, innovate with purpose, hold ourselves accountable and prioritize safety and quality in everything we do. Join us and be part of something bigger

helping to simplify health care one person, one family and one community at a time.
Are you passionate about driving innovation with compelling assortments and experiences? If so, there is a great opportunity to join CVS as an Assistant Category Manager of Apparel. In this role, you will partner with your leadership to execute the strategy to drive these categories while amplifying the priorities for CVS Retail.
You will participate in shaping the category strategy, at the direction of your leader, to drive the P&L to achieve sales, profitability and margin growth, along with training and development of future leaders. In this role you will have ownership of the P&L driving optimal and intentional business towards your category in a creative way. You will use your negotiating skills to immerse yourself in your category, readily sharing best practices with your peers, Senior Category Manager Leader and your Division Market Manager. You will use all available tactics including Assortment, Promotions, ExtraCare, Digital, Social, Marketing, Store Brand and Supplier Capabilities to reach or exceed goals.
Our experience leading and influencing others (both directly and indirectly), and ability to clearly present to your Senior Category Manager and Division Market Manager leadership using your top-notch presentation skills will be paramount to your success. You must leverage your prior experience to build influential presentations about your categories with a clear narrative leaving everyone in the meeting clearly aligned to the path forwards. You will leverage your clearly defined prioritization skills to proactively anticipate the market and take calculated risks to grow your market share without risking profit on the P&L.
Additional responsibilities include:
Achieve revenue and margin goals by accomplishing market share growth. Manage all profit and loss targets to include sales, contribution of margin, inventory turns, GMROI and DOS
Leverage data, insights, and analytics to influence stakeholders and make recommendations as appropriate
Vendor management, collaborates and negotiates with manufacturers and vendors ensuring strategies achieve in-year sales and margin goals to promote long-term success and partnership
P&L management
At the direction of the Senior Category Manager or DMM, fully embraces organizational improvement initiatives, acting as a change agent with one's own team and peers and partners
Establish and enforce policies and procedures that promote ethical behavior, compliance, and best practices
Foster and shape innovation by bringing ideas to market in an agile way, while balancing growth potential against financial risk for the broader team
Drive the team to deliver best-in-class merchandising experiences across in-store channel for Seasonal Gifting and lead strategy for Seasonal Gifting catalog, including leading negotiations with all suppliers
Develop growth and oversee category strategies rooted in an understanding of the customer and trends
Assign appropriate timelines and accountabilities for items, empowering the team to drive action steps to completion
Leverage thought partners (Senior leaders, corporate partners, peers, team, etc.) as needed to create and revisit the strategy
Navigate ambiguity and change to achieve goals despite potential obstacles
Follow up on strategic initiatives and KPI performance
Drive assortment decisions through planograms and features, along with promotional activity strategy, slotting, forecasting and negotiations
Required qualifications:
5+ years of merchandising experience negotiating contracts with vendors in similar business models
Previous experience leading cross-functional teams and initiatives with a high degree of complexity
Previous experience developing strategies to mobilize the business to achieve goals and outcomes using innovative solutions.
Previous experience leveraging data to support strategic plans and return on investment
Previous experience engaging and inspiring a cross-functional team to reach optimal business outcomes together
Expertise leveraging MS Office Suite, including advanced Excel and PowerPoint capabilities
Extensive knowledge of retail business operations, including front store merchandising
Proven track record of the ability to work collaboratively with internal and external business partners to deliver ROI from effective targeting and communication strategies
Travel requirements

up to 25% travel expected
Preferred qualifications:
Experience having total P&L accountability a plus
Education:
Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience
Anticipated weekly hours: 40
Time type: Full time
Pay range: $66,330.00 - $145,860.00
Great benefits for great people
We take pride in offering a comprehensive and competitive mix of pay and benefits that reflects our commitment to our colleagues and their families.
This full-time position is eligible for a comprehensive benefits package designed to support the physical, emotional, and financial well-being of colleagues and their families. The benefits for this position include medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, retirement savings options, wellness programs, and other resources, based on eligibility.