Category Manager

About the Role

Step into a pivotal leadership role where strategy meets execution as a Category Manager. This is an opportunity to drive one of the world’s largest B2B diamond marketplaces, with full ownership of the P&L for your category, spanning supplier acquisition, merchandising, and growth.

You’ll shape and execute the vision for your category, guiding a team dedicated to building relationships, optimising selection, and ensuring exceptional quality and value for our customers. This role is both strategic and hands-on, designed for someone ready to own outcomes, transform challenges into opportunities, and deliver impactful results.

What You’ll Do

As the Category Manager, you will champion and grow a category that is integral to our business. You will be accountable for delivering outstanding customer experiences by securing best-in-class suppliers, ensuring optimal pricing, and elevating quality standards.

This role is about vision and grit: you’ll make strategic decisions, work closely with cross-functional teams, and influence stakeholders to enhance the category’s performance. With a team of Supplier Business Development Managers, you’ll be the driving force behind the category’s success, navigating the complexities of tech-driven marketplaces and luxury retail to create lasting value for customers and suppliers alike.

Responsibilities

• Full P&L Accountability: Own the P&L down to the cost of sales for your category, driving growth while balancing profitability and customer satisfaction.
• Supplier Partnerships & Engagement: Lead supplier acquisition, engagement, and retention, setting high standards for quality and service. Ensure 95% active suppliers and 98% active products, creating a dynamic and reliable selection for customers.
• Product Marketing & Merchandising Excellence: Shape merchandising strategies that resonate with customer needs and preferences, optimizing for buyer growth, conversion, and seasonal trends.
• Selection, Price & Quality Management: Curate assortments to meet exacting standards in selection, pricing, and quality, ensuring every product fulfills its promise to the customer.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Collaborate closely with marketplace operations, central teams, and product and engineering partners to turn vision into reality. You’ll drive initiatives in buyer acquisition, inventory management, and supplier performance to amplify the category’s impact.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Track and analyze category KPIs—orders, express stock, quality, returns, and more—to drive data-informed decisions that improve buyer experience and category performance.
• Influence & Advocate for Resources: Partner with senior leaders and marketing teams to secure above-the-line spend, events, and support for category campaigns, ensuring your category has the visibility and investment it needs to thrive.

Key Objectives (OKRs)

1. Buyer Conversion
   • Achieve 95% media coverage for core items (currently trending 77-80%)
   • Drive a competitive and value-aligned pricing strategy in collaboration with market analysis
2. Selection and Orders
   • Exceed a monthly increase in orders in Q4, capturing seasonal demand
   • Maintain 95% active suppliers and 98% active product listings to provide optimal customer choice
3. Supplier Retention & Growth
   • Onboard five new suppliers weekly per rep, building the breadth and depth of offerings
   • Increase Share of Wallet (SOW) incrementally, month over month, effective supplier partnerships and engagement
4. Product Availability & Express Revenue
   • Sustain a sold-out rate below 0.50% to ensure consistent availability for buyers
   • Achieve a >75% sell-through rate on express offerings, expanding express product availability

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Supply Chain, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• 7+ years of experience in category management, merchandising, or supply chain within technology, luxury retail, or related marketplaces.
• Analytical Strength & Market Insight: Strong analytical capabilities and proficiency with data tools (e.g., Tableau, Excel), combined with a strategic understanding of market dynamics.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Demonstrated ability to influence and manage cross-functional relationships across marketing, operations, product, and engineering teams.
• Vision & Execution: A mix of strategic vision and hands-on execution, with a focus on delivering value through supplier relationships and category initiatives.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in high-growth or high-volume B2B environments, particularly in tech or luxury retail.
• Demonstrated success in supplier acquisition and engagement.
• Strong entrepreneurial mindset and a drive for continuous improvement and growth.

This is more than a job—it’s a leadership role where you’ll shape the future of your category and have an outsized impact on the business. If you’re ready to challenge yourself and make a difference, we’re excited to see what you can bring to our team.