Category Manager - Grocery

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc.; Phoenix (AZ); On-site; USD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay

Sick time plan

Vacation accrual plan

Career growth opportunities

15% employee discount

Flexible schedules

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

401(K) with company match

Company paid life insurance

Job summary

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. in Phoenix, AZ seeks an experienced Category Manager in Grocery to lead product development and category performance. You will research trends, negotiate vendor agreements and manage procurement lifecycle to support department objectives and compliance.

You will build assortments, pricing, budgets, and drive growth across stores and ecommerce, partnering with Sprouts Brand Team and vendors for innovative, high-quality products.

Qualifications

• Preferred bachelor’s degree in business or related field.
• Requires long-term strategic and financial planning skills.
• Excellent negotiation and relationship management abilities.
• Strong project management skills and the ability to handle multiple priorities.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and the Internet.
• Ability to preserve confidentiality of information and work with all management levels.

Responsibilities

• Embrace our purpose and bring it to life in your categories.
• Develop strategies to deliver sales and margin growth and win market share across Grocery or Frozen.
• Create assortments and pricing structures to maximize sales and margins.
• Develop and maintain budget, sales, gross margins, and profit goals.
• Lead category reviews and drive innovation and partnerships with vendors.
• Build vendor collaborations and supplier relationships.
• Coordinate and source participation for new store openings and resets.

Skills

Negotiation

Relationship management

Project management

Confidentiality handling

Education

Bachelor’s degree in business or related field

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Word

PowerPoint

Outlook

Internet

Job description

Overview

The Category Manager plays a leadership role in product development and category performance within the Grocery department. This role is responsible for driving product innovation, evaluating market trends, and ensuring alignment with Sprouts' quality standards. The Category Manager conducts in-depth analyses of sales data, consumer trends, pricing, and product quality to assess value and sales velocity. Key responsibilities include researching and launching new products or brands, negotiating vendor agreements, and managing the procurement lifecycle from selection and ordering to payment authorization ensuring that all activities support departmental objectives and contractual compliance.

Overview of Responsibilities

• Embrace our purpose of helping people live and eat better and bring that to life in your categories.
• Develop strategies to deliver sales and margin growth and win market share in your categories that support broader Grocery or Frozen department and overall Sprouts strategies. Includes ecommerce and stores.
• Create assortments and pricing structures to maximize sales, margin and minimize spoilage
• Develop and maintain budget, sales, gross margins, and profit goals for department
• Drive the category review process with all CFT’s. Launch innovation faster than our competition. Find the optimal balance of building emerging brands and driving strong sales on existing favorites.
• Lead JBP vendor partnerships and expand our depth of collaboration with vendors and brokers across the business. Build win-win partnerships that enhance our reputation in the industry.
• Build and create customers’ favorite items in partnership with the Sprouts Brand Team. Align projects with category and department initiatives and emerging industry trends.
• Oversee all department marketing plans and ads, including monthly and weekly flyers, and partner with Shopper marketing and loyalty teams on vendor campaigns.
• Respond to vendor, customer, and store level issues as needed on a timely basis
• Develop and communicate easy to use weekly merchandising plans and directives for stores
• Develop and maintain strong vendor and broker relationships
• Support and act as a liaison between Sprouts stores and vendors to assure quality products and department standards are being delivered
• Supply clear direction for new & existing stores on proper department layout, schematics, opening orders, programs & training
• Coordinate and source vendor participation for new store openings and resets

#LI-CS1

Qualifications

• Preferred bachelor’s degree in business or related field, with 3+ years of retail buying experience
• Requires long-term strategic and financial planning skills
• Excellent negotiation and relationship management abilities.
• Strong project management skills and the ability to handle multiple priorities.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and the Internet
• Ability to preserve confidentiality of information, communicate with all levels of management and work within strict time frames and resolute deadlines

Please note that this position does require travel, a few times a year for trade shows, vendor on site meetings, or other business demands. This is a full-time role that requires 3-5 days a week to be in-person at the Sprouts Support Office in Phoenix, AZ.

Benefits

In addition to a rewarding career, Sprouts offers a comprehensive program to help support you and your family. These programs include:

• Competitive pay
• Sick time plan that you can use to support you or your immediate families health
• Vacation accrual plan
• Opportunities for career growth
• 15% discount for you and one other family member in your household on all purchases made at Sprouts
• Flexible schedules
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• 401(K) Retirement savings plan with a generous company match
• Company paid life insurance
• Contests and appreciation events throughout the year full of prizes, food and fun!

Eligibility requirements may apply for the following benefits:

• Bonus based on company and/or individual performance
• Affordable benefit coverage, including medical, dental and vision
• Health Savings Account with company match
• Pre-tax Flexible Spending Accounts for healthcare and dependent care
• Company paid short-term disability coverage
• Paid parental leave for both mothers and fathers
• Paid holidays

Get Paid Every Day!

Sprouts Farmers Market offers DailyPay - if you’re hired as an eligible employee, you’ll be able to transfer the money you’ve already earned at no extra cost, and get it the next business day, for free. We offer DailyPay so you don’t have to wait for payday to access the money you’ve already worked for. With DailyPay, you can see how much you’ve made every day and you can transfer your money any time before payday.

You can learn more by visiting https://www.dailypay.com/partners/sprouts-farmers-market/.

Why Sprouts

Grow with us!

If you have a passion for inspiring people and a flair for fresh food, consider applying for a job at Sprouts! With a focus on customer service, our neighborhood grocery stores offer high-quality, farm fresh produce, natural meats, plenty of scoop-your-own bulk goods and much more in a fun, friendly, old-fashioned farmer’s market setting. Come grow your career in healthy living with a fast-paced, rapidly growing company and teams that pride themselves on empowering others along their journey.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of the work being performed by people assigned to this work. This is not an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, and requirements. Sprouts’ management reserves the right to amend and change duties, responsibilities, and requirements to meet business and organizational needs as necessary.

Sprouts will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Fair Chance in Hiring Ordinance.

California Residents: We collect information in accordance with California law, please see here for more information.