Category Manager

Diversified Foodservice Supply, LLC; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

DFS is seeking a Category Manager to lead the Equipment & Supplies category, directing the product assortment, vendor base, and margin management across core brands. The role focuses on expanding direct sourcing, including overseas opportunities to improve cost, quality, and service.

The Category Manager negotiates supplier agreements and collaborates with senior leaders to meet gross margin targets, manage data accuracy in the PIM, and ensure a seamless customer experience across channels.

Qualifications

• 5–10 years of merchandising/category management experience, preferably in foodservice or related industries.
• 3+ years of people management or team leadership experience.
• Proven negotiation skills with domestic and international suppliers.
• Ability to travel for conferences, vendor visits, and international sourcing as needed.

Responsibilities

• Curate E&S product assortment, vendor base, and product information across brands.
• Develop strategic business plans for the E&S category and drive sales growth and margin.
• Lead price strategy in collaboration with pricing to maximize profitability and minimize channel conflict.
• Oversee product data and taxonomy, ensuring accuracy across data systems and web presentation.
• Manage and develop a small team of Category Analysts/Specialists; mentor and build capabilities.

Skills

Merchandising

Category management

Team leadership

Negotiation

Travel

Education

Bachelor’s degree in related field

Tools

Excel

PowerPoint

Teams

Salesforce

Jira

Job description

DFS is looking for a Category Manager. This leadership position is responsible for the product assortment, vendor base, and margin management within the Equipment & Supplies (E&S) category for DFS’ core brands, and for building and leading the team that supports it. A major area of focus is growing the direct-sourced portion of the category, including qualified overseas sourcing where it improves cost position, quality, or service. The Category Manager is the primary point of contact with the domestic (and, as applicable, international) vendor community and works with each brand’s Sales organization to identify sourcing priorities for the enterprise team.

The Category Manager leads negotiation of, and is accountable for, supplier agreements — domestic and international — with involvement from the Director of Merchandising and other senior leaders as appropriate. The role manages to budget gross margin targets by negotiating cost and partnering with the Pricing team on sell prices. As the product expert for E&S, the Category Manager also organizes the assortment into a customer-facing hierarchy on the web, ensures accuracy and availability of product data in the PIM, and creates a seamless customer experience across all channels (web, phone, EDI, counter, etc.). The role also directly manages and develops a small team of Category Analysts/Specialists and is expected to bring hands-on foodservice equipment & supplies industry knowledge to every part of the job.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

• Curates the E&S product assortment, vendor base, and product information to eliminate duplication and drive appropriate customer experience across all brands.
• Develops and executes strategic business plans for the E&S category across the core brands.
• Tasked with growing sales while improving profitability — establishes category goals for sales volume, gross profit, and vendor service levels, and works with the Purchasing and Pricing departments to execute those goals.
• Establishes product assortment to meet customer demand and identifies new business opportunities through new product development and improved cost positions for OEM products.
• Works with the Sourcing Manager to identify opportunities to build private label within the E&S category; private label programs may also be developed with current domestic vendors.
• Partners with the Sourcing team on domestic-to-import conversions, identifying required quality, key specifications, and cost profile, and provides final sample approval.
• Determines initial stocking strategy and regularly performs SKU rationalization to recommend inventory disposition strategies.
• Conducts annual vendor performance reviews and ongoing category and vendor assortment reviews — evaluating sales, gross margin performance, competitiveness, and service levels — and identifies opportunities to keep the assortment and cost position competitive within the industry.
• Partners with Senior Leadership, Sales, Marketing, e-Business, and Operations on action plans for products or categories not meeting goals.
• Develops and/or coordinates supplier product training for Customer Care and Sales.
• Provides Level 3 (most complex) support for Customer Care, Sales, and customers on product identification and technical issues.
• Partners with Marketing and e-Business on the promotional calendar, collateral execution, and online merchandising.
• Acts as an expert source on RFPs, RFQs, and national bids — partnering with Sales on large quotes to identify the best product, pricing, delivery, and supplier options for major accounts.
• Serves as key subject-matter expert and industry liaison on foodservice equipment & supplies market, customer, and product trends.
• Selects, develops, and maintains strong relationships with domestic and international vendor partners.
• Negotiates new and existing contracts and supplier agreements to secure the best products and prices, including terms, quality requirements, and lead times.
• Manages all cost elements including landed/into-stock costs, vendor rebates, vendor co-ops, and payment terms.
• Leads or supports overseas vendor evaluation and negotiation for qualified direct-import opportunities; coordinates with international freight forwarders and logistics partners to ensure efficient, compliant delivery.
• Develops and enforces product compliance protocols with suppliers (e.g., NSF, UL, and other applicable certifications) and stays current on regulations affecting both overseas and domestic sourcing.
• Coordinates with Purchasing on incentive-driven purchases to meet rebate targets.

Pricing and Margin Management

• Works with the Pricing team to establish baseline selling prices that maximize profitability and minimize channel conflict.
• Establishes methodology and manages required discounts from list to profitably grow sales and achieve margin targets.
• Monitors and analyzes competitive prices in the industry and identifies competitive pricing opportunities.
• Works with the Pricing team to ensure compliance with all contractual pricing obligations.
• Responsible for achieving margin dollars and margin percentage targets.

Product Data Management

• Establishes required data elements and ensures accurate, complete product data.
• Establishes taxonomy and related attribute schema for the E&S category.
• Works with suppliers to obtain required data and digital content for products.
• Identifies process gaps, creates and maintains SOPs, and standardizes processes, policies, and systems for managing product data throughout the product lifecycle.
• Partners with the Data Governance team to maintain product data in the appropriate systems, update specs and descriptions, and complete missing product information.
• Maintains the vendor repository, including vendor documentation and product data records.
• Directly manages, coaches, and develops a team of Category Analysts/Specialists supporting the E&S category.
• Builds team capability in negotiation, vendor management, and product data practices through mentoring and structured development.
• Models and reinforces a “do what it takes” hands-on leadership style — leading by doing as well as by managing.

Supervisory / Management Responsibility

• Must have experience leading a team of 1–3 Category Analysts/Specialists within the Product Management organization.
• Builds relationships and partners with other business leaders to identify and implement direct-sourcing growth strategies.

Education Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Supply Chain, or related field.
• Must be proficient in Excel and comfortable working across Microsoft Office products, including PowerPoint and Teams; experience with Salesforce and Jira is an advantage.

Required Qualifications

• 5–10 years of merchandising/category management experience in progressively senior roles. Perferably in the Foodservice Industry.
• 3+ years of people management or team leadership experience, with demonstrated ability to hire, coach, and develop direct reports.
• Exceptional capacity for negotiation and critical thinking, including experience with international/overseas supplier negotiations.
• Proven ability to succeed in a lean, middle-market sales/distribution company.
• Ability to travel, including buying conferences, domestic vendor visits, and, as needed, international sourcing trips and trade shows.
• Experience working with buying groups and managing a remote or distributed team is highly valued.
• Decisive leadership skills with a proven ability to manage and succeed in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to build and lead a high-performing team, including coaching, motivating, and developing individual contributors to exceed brand goals.
• B uilds strong working relationships across a distributed team, across brands, and within a matrix organization, with demonstrated ability to influence and partner across functions.
• Ability to quickly establish credibility across the enterprise and engage others to facilitate multi-channel, cross-brand opportunities.
• Solid business acumen accompanied by superior interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills.
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills, with the ability to work independently while managing and developing a team.
• Demonstrated ability to accomplish by doing as well as by managing — does what it takes to achieve the objective.