Strategic Category Manager — Purchasing & Merchandising

Swish Maintenance Limited; Peterborough; On-site; CAD 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Extended Health & Dental Care

RRSP contributions

EFAP

Employee discounts

Job summary

Swish Maintenance Limited in Peterborough, Ontario is seeking a Category Manager to lead assigned product categories from purchasing through merchandising. You will balance product availability, supplier performance, cost, margin, assortment, and working capital while supporting Sales, Marketing, e-Commerce, Operations, and growth.

You will leverage data, supplier relationships, and market knowledge to improve category performance, strengthen the product portfolio, and drive profitable growth.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of experience in purchasing, procurement, merchandising, category management, or a related role.
• Demonstrated ERP experience; Epicor P21 experience is an asset.
• Strong analytical and commercial skills, with understanding of costing, margin, inventory, and product performance.
• Strong Microsoft Excel and/or Google Sheets skills, including PivotTables and lookup functions.
• Strong communication, interpersonal, negotiation, and supplier-management skills.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple priorities.
• Customer-focused with strong problem-solving and continuous improvement skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute strategies for assigned product categories.
• Review product performance and make recommendations on SKU additions, rationalization, substitutions, and product alignment.
• Analyze sales, margin, inventory, supplier, and product data to identify growth and improvement opportunities.
• Manage purchasing activities to support product availability and inventory objectives.
• Build strong supplier relationships and negotiate competitive pricing, terms, rebates, and programs.
• Monitor supplier performance, lead times, backorders, pricing, and product availability.
• Identify alternative products and suppliers to improve competitiveness and reduce supply risk.
• Maintain accurate product, supplier, costing, and purchasing data within the ERP system.
• Support new product setup, SKU management, system coding, and PIM enrichment.
• Partner with Sales, Marketing, e-Commerce, Operations, Finance, and Branch teams on category initiatives.
• Develop and maintain category and purchasing metrics, reports, and KPIs.
• Identify opportunities to improve margin, inventory productivity, data quality, processes, and customer service.

Skills

ERP systems

Excel / Google Sheets

Negotiation

Supplier management

Analytical skills

Communication

Organization

Education

Post-secondary education in Business / Supply Chain / Merchandising

Tools

Epicor P21

Excel

Job description

Swish Maintenance Limited in Peterborough, Ontario is seeking a Category Manager to lead assigned product categories from purchasing through merchandising. You will balance product availability, supplier performance, cost, margin, assortment, and working capital while supporting Sales, Marketing, e-Commerce, Operations, and growth.

You will leverage data, supplier relationships, and market knowledge to improve category performance, strengthen the product portfolio, and drive profitable growth.