Senior Manager, Category Management

JOB SUMMARY :

The Senior Category Manager of Cigarettes is accountable for leading the strategic direction of, and advancing all aspects of cigarette related sales at 7-Eleven. Sr. CM will develop and lead a team of category managers with geographic responsibility, to ensure that category sales plans are consistent with the overall Enterprise merchandising strategy, and promote and verify execution of category strategy at the state and DMA level. Sr. CM will also assist as needed the Product Director of Cigarettes/Tobacco/Services on ad hoc projects related to the Business Unit needs.

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITES :

Drive Sales/Traffic through Effective Planning and Decision Making:

- Leverage manufacturer and internal resources and analytics to develop deep expertise in understanding and anticipating Cigarette category dynamics to determine intelligent, granular pricing decisions.

- Develop, manage and communicate sales plans and activations that spans the category discipline and support cross-functional collaboration with multiple departments.

- Maintain high discipline and accuracy in following and completing key milestones for the national sales planning tool and process. Including de-averaging to account for regionalization.

- Own manufacturer relationships and facilitate vendor meetings to negotiate for best/favorable terms for 7-Eleven stores. Support Product Director on day-to-day and ad hoc projects and activities.

- Develop and execute strategic category plan, refining tactics/actioning against the roles and intents of categories, segmentation, and vendor & product specific strategies.

Develop and Support High Functioning Team:

- Train, lead, and coach Cigarette category managers through individual and team performance, career development, and mentorship and experiential learning opportunities.

- Foster culture of customer/people first, and winning together. Support the team with prioritization of key tasks, and developing and owning by State CSAs and local plans.

- Optimize resources by challenging the status quo and exploring process improvements to enhance team effectivness and efficiency. Set clear, achievable, and measurable stretch goals for the team - and drive synergy with the OTP team in activation of total backbar strategy.

Operations Support:

- Educate, support, and troubleshoot with Operations based on cigarette contracts, programs, and activations that are store and customer facing. Communicate w/ Operational leadership based on CSA/marketplace understanding and opportunities

- Develop and oversee in-store testing of potential new products, concepts and promotional activity within cigarettes. Seek opportunities to develop/refine regional plans to meet customer needs.

- Support testing activity including preparation/delivering communication materials, tracking of results/feedback to Test areas/stores, verification and feedback.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

EDUCATION: Bachelor’s Degree/4 Year Degree

YEARS OF RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE: 5+ years

YEARS OF MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE: 3+

SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS :

* Cigarette Industry knowledge and experience strongly preferred.

* Strong strategic, financial merchandise planning & analytical skills.

* Strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills. People Management experience required.

* Experience managing cross-functional teams and driving collaboration across departments.

* Demonstrated progressive experience in roles requiring influence and negotiation with internal and external stakeholders

* Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and manage multiple priorities effectively

* Thorough working knowledge of MS Office to include: Word, Power Point, Share Point, and PowerBI.