Citrus Recruit are excited to be recruiting for a Senior Category Manager for a Solihull based company that are leaders in buying, events and trade shows. You will be spearheading the Homeware team with driving sales and product strategy, whilst leading a small team of Junior Category Managers. This is a fantastic opportunity to join the team on a 12-month fixed term contract. Working closely with the Category Managers and Directors, you'll be tasked with managing the supplier base and managing relationships between suppliers and customers. Regularly attending trade shows and staying abreast of industry trends, you'll ensure product offering remains competitive and on-trend. This is a great opportunity to work as part of a close-knit team in a really varied role, if you have experience in a Category Manager role or a Senior Category role then this role could be suitable for you. Responsibilities & day to day duties As a Senior Buyer you will be responsible for:

Day to day management of all activities in the Home department, including leadership of Junior Category Managers.
Manage Home Retail Buying & Merchandising department, develop strong business relationships with Customers. Negotiate supplier terms, cost prices and additional support.
Provide a high standard of customer service by effectively managing member relationships, making regular Member calls or visits to build relationships, ensuring clear objectives and follow-up are in place.
Professionally manage supplier relationships, ensuring a mix of good, better, best suppliers are available for members, create joint business plans with strategic partners.
Identify trends, new brands and market opportunities and formulate future department strategy and proactively feed into the wider business strategy.
Make informed decisions, using trend information, market data, member feedback, trade shows, sales data, competitor landscape. Share insights within the internal AIS teams and members.
Develop commercial Own Brand and branded exclusive ranges, effectively communicate the product proposition positively to the members to drive awareness and turnover.

Skills & experience required.

Experience in a Category Manager or Senior Category Manager role
Experience within the Retail Sector ideally within Homewares
Experience the buying process with a passion for product
Strong commercial awareness of the category and the overall market with an exceptional commercial eye for product
Exceptional interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate verbally and in writing at all levels.
Creative thinker, with the ability to think outside the box.
Fresh thinker and generates ideas with a ‘can do’ attitude.
Exceptional negotiator and has strong influencing skills.
A flexible and reliable team player
Computer literacy including competence in Excel, PowerPoint and Word

Benefits

Salary of up to £68,000
£5000 car allowance
Hybrid working 3 days in the office (Usually Monday & Tuesday office based)
25 days holiday plus bank holiday (Christmas closure)
Can purchase 5 days holiday.
Birthday leave
Pension
Employee assistance program
Additional benefits through a salary sacrifice scheme.
Car parking

Citrus Recruit acts as an employment business when introducing candidates for permanent employment with a client. We take pride in being an equal opportunity employer that celebrates diversity. Our commitment to inclusion means that we seek out the best candidates for every role, regardless of their gender, age, race, sexual orientation, disability, religion, or any other protected characteristic. While we make every effort to reach out to all candidates. If you don't receive a response within 10 days of applying, please understand that your application has not progressed on this occasion. Please review our website for further and upcoming opportunities.

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