Category Assistant Lead [T500-29676]

Officeworks GCC India; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Officeworks GCC India is seeking a Category Assistant Lead to build and lead a centralized Category Assistant team across multiple portfolios. You will drive product onboarding, data maintenance, range administration, and promotions while balancing strategic delivery with hands-on execution.

The role focuses on strengthening data quality, pricing controls and supplier information, partnering with Merchants and IT, and delivering against ambitious commercial outcomes in a fast-paced retail

Qualifications

• Lead an operational support, category administration, product data or merchandise support team.
• Manage work across multiple portfolios, stakeholders and competing priorities.
• Establish service expectations and monitor performance.
• Strong people leadership and coaching capabilities.
• Attention to detail and controls for product, pricing, rebates and supplier information.
• Experience identifying and implementing process, system or service improvements.
• Experience in retail or omnichannel environment preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead centralized Category Assistant service across portfolios and monitor delivery.
• Direct priority work and contribute hands-on when needed to meet deadlines.
• Balance leadership with hands-on delivery and manage workload.
• Monitor data quality and ensure accurate onboarding, data, pricing and promotions.
• Collaborate with Merchants, Category Managers and IT to drive improvements.

Skills

People leadership

Operational management

Category management

Product data

Data accuracy

Stakeholder management

Process improvement

Excel

Education

Business/Commerce qualification

Retail/Data management focus

Job description

Officeworks’ purpose is “we bring big ideas to life at low prices”. It’s how we create shared value for customers, team members, suppliers, communities and shareholders.

We are Australia’s leading omnichannel retailer of complete technology solutions, stationery, furniture, art supplies, and learning resources. We also offer services including Print & Create, and Geeks2U.

Our products and services provide solutions to our diverse range of customers across Australia from households, students, small to large sized businesses, governments and schools.

Our culture is built on beginning with customer, doing the right thing, executing with accountability, and leading with ambition. We are one team who are proud to “wear the blues” and deliver for our customers.

We are an inclusive, forward-thinking organization where diverse perspectives enable innovation, continuous improvement and better outcomes for our customers and teams. The work we do plays an important role in helping Australians work, learn, create and connect.

Title: Category Assistant Lead

Function: Commercial

About the Commercial Function:

The Commercial team sits at the heart of Officeworks’ growth agenda. This function brings together customer needs, product innovation, services, supplier partnerships, merchandise planning, and channel growth to shape what Officeworks sells, how it competes, and the value it delivers across Retail, B2B, Government, and Education. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to one of the business’s most commercially impactful areas.

The team plays a key role in evolving Officeworks’ product and service offering, accelerating growth in high-potential channels (such as B2B and Education), expanding private label and exclusive ranges, strengthening supplier partnerships, and unlocking emerging category opportunities across areas like technology, gaming, mobility, VR, print, installation, telco, and managed services.

You will help build commercial capability from the ground up, shaping scalable ways of working, strengthening planning and decision-making, and driving outcomes that impact sales, margin, customer experience, inventory performance, and long-term growth.

These roles are best suited for people who enjoy:

• Thriving in a growth-focused retail environment where commercial decisions directly influence customers, sales, margin, and competitiveness
• Contributing to key growth areas, including B2B, Education, Government, private label, exclusive products, and emerging categories
• Using insights (customer, competitor, category, supplier, financial, inventory) to identify opportunities and inform decisions
• Collaborating cross-functionally to turn commercial strategy into practical outcomes

Why this role exists:

The Category Assistant Lead is accountable for the performance, capability and service delivery of a centralized pool of Category Assistants supporting assigned category portfolios. The role ensures core category processes, including product onboarding, product data maintenance, range administration, promotions, pricing and rebates, are completed accurately, consistently and within agreed service levels.

The role combines people leadership with direct involvement in category support. It works alongside the team on complex or priority activity, steps into delivery when additional support is required and uses day-to-day work to build capability, reinforce standards and resolve issues.

The role provides a clear link between Category Assistant teams and Merchandise stakeholders. It balances portfolio continuity with shared business priorities, manages service expectations and works with the Systems and Reporting Team Lead to improve the systems, processes and data that support category execution.

Our Values:

• Our values shape the way we work, our behaviours and how we interact with each other, our customers, suppliers and communities.

We begin with customer:

• We start with our customer’ needs in every decision.
• We offer simple, helpful and affordable solutions.
• We listen, learn and continuously improve.

We do the right thing:

• We lead with integrity and care for our team communities and planet.
• We work together safely and treat everyone with respect, inclusion, and trust.
• We collaborate across teams and think Officeworks-wide.

We execute with accountability:

• We are accountable for our decisions, actions, results, and mistakes.
• We stay across the details and focus on delivering what matters.
• We move with pace and agility to deliver outcomes.

We lead with ambition:

• We set bold ambitions that help us to win and transform.
• We are courageous with new ideas.
• We focus on transformation, not incremental steps.

Where you will make a difference

In this role you will:

Centralized Support and Portfolio Delivery:

• Lead the delivery of category support across assigned portfolios through the centralized Category Assistant team.
• Work alongside the team on priority and complex activity and undertake category support work directly where additional capacity, judgement or experience is required.
• Manage team workload, portfolio coverage and delivery priorities while balancing leadership responsibilities with hands‑on contribution.
• Monitor the quality and timeliness of work, intervening where delivery is at risk and supporting the team during workload peaks, planned absences and major commercial activity.
• Resolve competing requests and elevate material capacity constraints, commercial decisions or control risks through the appropriate channels.

Process Execution, Quality and Control:

Oversee and contribute to the accurate execution of product onboarding, product data, range, promotional, pricing, rebate and supplier administration.

Support resolutions of complex transactions and exceptions, working with team members to resolve issues and reinforce expected standards.

Ensure approved category decisions are accurately reflected across relevant systems, processes and customer channels.

Maintain consistent processes and controls, including appropriate approvals and records for material product, pricing, rebate and supplier activities.

Monitor data quality, transaction accuracy and rework, addressing recurring issues and providing hands‑on support where standards are not met.

Stakeholder Partnership and Continuous Improvement:

Act as the primary service contact for Merchandise leaders across the supported portfolios.

Agree priorities and delivery expectations with Category Managers and Merchandise Planners while maintaining clear commercial decision rights.

Work alongside category stakeholders and Category Assistants to resolve operational issues and support major launches, seasonal events and range changes.

Provide clear visibility of team capacity, work in progress, service risks and material dependencies.

Use operational insights and team feedback to identify recurring issues and opportunities to simplify work, improve controls or reduce manual effort.

Partner with the Systems and Reporting Team Lead to priorities improvement needs and contribute operational expertise to process analysis, solution design, testing and user validation.

Lead the adoption of approved improvements within the Category Assistant team through practical coaching, communication, training and performance follow-up.

• Lead, coach and develop Category Assistants to deliver accurate, timely and consistent category support.
• Build capability through work reviews, demonstrations and shared problem‑solving, using day‑to‑day delivery as a practical coaching opportunity.
• Set clear expectations and accountabilities and provide regular feedback on individual and team performance.
• Build cross‑portfolio knowledge and team coverage across core category processes and supporting systems.

Who you will be working with:

• Commercial and Merchandise leadership: Align the Category Assistant service with commercial priorities, operating model expectations and performance requirements.
• Category Managers and Merchandise Planners: Agree portfolio priorities, service requirements and delivery expectations while maintaining clear commercial decision rights.
• Category Assistant team: Lead performance, capability, workload, portfolio coverage and consistent ways of working.
• Suppliers: Support the timely provision and resolution of product, pricing, rebate and administrative information.
• Marketing, Digital, Stores and Online: Coordinate category information and activity required for execution across customer channels.
• Finance and Commercial Operations: Maintain appropriate controls over pricing, rebates, supplier funding and other commercial processes.
• Technology, Data and process owners: Resolve system and data issues and improve the tools and processes supporting category execution.

What success looks like:

• Service performance: Category support activities are completed accurately and within agreed service levels and category milestones.
• Portfolio coverage: Assigned portfolios receive consistent support while team capacity can respond effectively to changing business priorities.
• Data and execution quality: Product, range, promotional, pricing and rebate information is complete, accurate and correctly established across relevant systems.
• Operational control: Category support activities comply with agreed processes, delegated authorities and audit requirements.
• Stakeholder confidence: Category and Merchandise Planning teams have clear expectations and confidence in the support provided by the centralized pool.
• Team capability: Category Assistants demonstrate the knowledge, accountability and flexibility required to support multiple category processes and portfolios.
• Issue resolution: Service risks, control exceptions and competing priorities are resolved promptly or escalated through the appropriate governance process.
• Continuous improvement: Recurring errors, delays and process inefficiencies are identified and addressed.
• Values and behaviours: The team demonstrates behaviours aligned with Officeworks’ values and contributes to a respectful, inclusive and high performing culture.

How you will lead:

Line Manager:

• Leads a culture based on our Officeworks values and behaviours
• Builds capability and delivers results across a diverse global workforce.
• Demonstrates resilience, has determination and drive to persist through challenge
• Is self‑aware; has humility and is self‑reflective; understands how to bring out the best in self and others
• Strong sense of personal and team accountability, drives a genuine commitment to their teams’ and individual development
• Proactively contributes to a safe working environment, escalates appropriately if there are unsafe conditions or inappropriate behaviour
• Operates in line with applicable Officeworks company policies and Code of Conduct
• Builds inclusive teams and creates an environment where diverse perspectives, equitable opportunities and respectful behaviours enable team and business performance

Qualifications and work experience:

• 6+ years' experience leading an operational support, category administration, product data or merchandise support team.
• A relevant qualification in business, commerce, retail, data management or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.
• Strong knowledge of product onboarding, product data, range administration, promotions, pricing, rebates or comparable commercial processes.
• Experience managing work across multiple portfolios, stakeholders and competing priorities.
• Demonstrated ability to establish service expectations, monitor performance and address delivery or quality issues.
• Strong people leadership capability, including performance management, coaching and team development.
• Strong attention to detail and an understanding of the controls required for product, pricing, rebate and supplier information.
• Confidence working with business systems, workflow tools, data and Microsoft Excel.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to resolve competing priorities and manage service expectations.
• Sound judgement and the ability to distinguish operational execution from matters requiring commercial decisions or escalation.
• Experience identifying and implementing process, system or service improvements.

Preferred:

• Experience in a retail, consumer goods or omnichannel environment.
• Experience working within retail, consumer goods or another complex, high volume commercial environment.