Senior Category Manager

The Senior Category Manager is responsible for leading the strategy, financial performance, assortment development, pricing, vendor partnerships, inventory management, and overall business results for highly complex, high-volume product categories or groups of related subcategories. This position develops and implements category buying, pricing, promotional, and marketing strategies while ensuring category performance aligns with AutoZone's customer, sales, profitability, and market-share objectives. The Senior Category Manager serves as a senior merchandising leader, providing guidance to Category Managers and supporting the development of merchandising talent while partnering closely with Directors of Category Management on strategic initiatives and long-term category planning. The role requires advanced merchandising expertise, strong financial acumen, vendor negotiation capabilities, and the ability to manage large-scale business opportunities and risks.

Category Strategy & Business Ownership

• Lead the development and execution of long-term category strategies for highly complex, high-volume categories or multiple interconnected subcategories.
• Develop and implement category buying, pricing, marketing, and promotional philosophies that support AutoZone's strategic and financial objectives.
• Identify growth opportunities through assortment expansion, product innovation, customer insights, market trends, emerging technologies, and changing industry conditions.
• Evaluate category performance and establish strategic actions that improve market share, customer penetration, profitability, and category productivity.
• Participate in senior merchandising team decisions and help influence broader merchandising strategies across multiple categories.

Financial Management & Category Performance

• Own the sales, margin, profitability, inventory productivity, and market performance of assigned categories.
• Develop annual operating plans, sales forecasts, inventory strategies, promotional plans, and financial targets for assigned categories.
• Analyze sales, gross profit, inventory, vendor, customer, and market data to ensure assigned categories achieve established financial objectives.
• Drive category performance through strategic pricing, assortment optimization, inventory management, vendor partnerships, and promotional activities.
• Identify risks and opportunities early and implement corrective actions to maximize results and minimize business disruption.

Vendor Strategy and Negotiations

• Develop and maintain strategic vendor relationships that support category growth, innovation, profitability, and operational excellence.
• Lead complex vendor negotiations involving cost structures, pricing, contracts, funding programs, product exclusivity, service expectations, and performance requirements.
• Evaluate vendor performance and drive continuous improvement in product availability, service levels, inventory flow, quality, and profitability.
• Collaborate with vendors to identify innovation opportunities, develop new products, improve packaging, and enhance category performance.
• Select and develop vendor partnerships that support long-term category strategies and customer needs.

Assortment, Pricing and Product Lifecycle Management

• Ensure the right products are positioned in the right stores at the right price through data-driven assortment and pricing strategies.
• Lead category assortment reviews and make final recommendations on product additions, deletions, replacements, and lifecycle management decisions.
• Monitor competitive activity, customer demand, and category trends to continuously improve assortment productivity and relevance.
• Oversee testing and evaluation of new products and category innovations to support future growth.

Cross-Functional Leadership and Execution

• Lead cross-functional collaboration with inventory management, supply chain, pricing, marketing, digital, finance, store operations, and commercial business teams to execute category strategies.
• Direct the execution of category initiatives, large-scale product launches, assortment transitions, vendor changes, and promotional programs.
• Resolve complex supply chain, inventory, product availability, quality, and operational issues impacting category performance.
• Lead high-impact projects that improve merchandising effectiveness, operational efficiency, reporting capabilities, and customer experience.

Leadership and Talent Development

• Provide mentorship, coaching, and development support to Category Managers, Senior Assistant Category Managers, Assistant Category Managers, and other merchandising team members.
• Share merchandising best practices, category expertise, and business insights across the merchandising organization.
• Lead through influence and serve as a senior resource for category-related decision making, problem solving, and strategy execution.
• Support succession planning efforts by developing future merchandising leaders and strengthening organizational capability.

Strategic Innovation and Continuous Improvement

• Leverage customer insights, market research, industry developments, and vendor expertise to anticipate emerging trends and business opportunities.
• Champion innovation and continuous improvement initiatives that improve category performance, customer experience, and business efficiency.
• Recommend and implement enhancements to merchandising processes, systems, reporting, and business practices.
• Drive adoption of new tools, processes, and merchandising capabilities across supported categories and teams.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience required .
• Five to seven years experience, preferably in a retail operations environment .
• Prior experience in merchandising, purchasing and manufacturing a plus. Strong financial acumen and communication skills .
• Strong retail foundation, vendor management and analytical skills