Product Category Manager

Serving the needs of all families with young children, Carter’s Inc. is the largest North American apparel retailer exclusively for babies and young children, encompassing Carter’s, OshKosh B’gosh, Skip*Hop and Little Planet brands. Meaningful work, constant learning, genuine people, and a community guided by core values that promote inclusion and innovation is in everything we do. There are many reasons to build your career at Carter's.

HOW YOU’LL MAKE AN IMPACT:
As a Product Category Manager, you will play a pivotal role in driving business growth by developing and executing effective strategies. You will be responsible for managing a portfolio of brands under The Genuine Canadian Corp. (Carter’s|OshKosh), analyzing market trends, and collaborating with cross functional teams to optimize the performance of your assigned category. This dynamic and strategic-minded role, typically reports into either a Sr. Merchant or Sr. Director of Merchandising, has 1-2 direct reports, and is based in our Canada (Mississauga) office in our hybrid work environment.

50%: CATEGORY MANAGEMENT

• Plans basic and seasonal product assortment by leveraging a "lift & land" business model as a Canadian subsidiary of the Carters|OshKosh Brand.
• Partners with the Planning Manager on building seasonal and annual plans by business unit/category/sub dept.
• Strategize on achieving all key metrics - ensuring selection, quantity, delivery, price & promotion meets the Canadian consumers demands & is in line with the competitive landscape.
• Align to & support all corporate initiatives (Maximizing sales and margin dollars)
• Effectively manages in-season sales and inventory, such as monthly open to buy (OTB) meetings, monthly allocation reviews & managing Markdown.
• Maintain awareness of competition; understanding flow cadence, product assortment, and make / value equation for the Canadian consumer.
• In season management - Daily analysis of category sales, trends and metric targets (React to change in season to drive sales ).
• Conducts competitive shops on a monthly basis to review competitor pricing and key item strategies.

20%: CROSS FUNCTIONAL COLLABORATION

• Build strong cross functional relationships (merchant teams, Operations, DC, Visual, Wholesale, Marketing, Ecommerce, Allocation) to meet all key milestone deliverables & deliver to corporate initiatives.
• Maintain effective relationships with US partners ensuring strategies are supported & executed to for the Canadian market.
• Partner with the Marketing teams on building Canadian marketing cadence.

20%: SYSTEM MANAGEMENT

• Daily utilization of corporate systems to analyze sales, promotional activity, access & follow through of styles in development cycle etc. (Flex PLM, Tableau, Forecast Horizon).
• Utilize reports and systems to create hindsight decks and specialized business reports.
• Analyze product costing decisions/tools product margin - ensuring data analysis is up to date.

10% LEAD & COACH TEAM

• Lead, coach and develop direct reports.
• Provide clear expectations and any areas of opportunity on an ongoing basis to prioritize deliverables.
• Develop career growth opportunities, providing guidance and advice.

WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU IF:
Must have:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Retail, Merchandising, Planning or related field.
• 5-7 Years of experience in retail buying or merchandising position; experience developing a line structure is critical.
• Strong financial acumen and high analytical skills.
• Extremely collaborative - ability to effectively work with many cross-functional partners and some vendors.
• Flexible, detailed and professional in all situations (respecting corporate values and mission).

Preferred skills and experience:

• Ability to balance the science and art of retail merchandising (no product development in this role).
• Ability to operate in a dynamic, team - oriented environment with a strong ability to multitask and make decisions.

OUR TEAM MEMBERS:

• Lead Courageously: Have a strong sense of personal values that align with our Company values
• Collaborates Broadly: Build cooperation, trust, and thrive in a consensus driven environment
• Customer Focus: Proactively seek opportunities to leverage data and fact-based insights to serve customers and/or internal clients
• Drive Growth: Set aggressive goals and implement plans precisely
• Cultivates Innovation: Respectfully challenge the "we’ve always done it this way" mentality and explore new ways to achieve desired outcomes

MAKE A CAREER AT CARTER’S:

Career Development: Success starts from within, and we have several paths from which you can choose to enhance your career evolution. From Carter’s University to Toastmasters to mentorship programs and more, we encourage you to utilize these tools to elevate your professional prowess.
NOTE: This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. The duties described may be changed or reassigned at the discretion of management, and the employee may be required to perform duties that are not listed in the job description.

Carter’s | OshKosh is an equal opportunity employer and encourages all interested and qualified candidates to apply. Should you require any type of accommodation, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Carter’s | OshKosh est un employeur souscrivant au principe de l'égalité d'accès à l'emploi et encourage tous les candidats intéressés et qualifiés à postuler. Si vous avez besoin de certaines mesures d'adaptation, n'hésitez pas à communiquer avec nous. .