Director, Category Management

As Director of Category Management at Balsam Brands you will lead the endtoend strategy performance and evolution of key highvolume product categories across mass retail and multiple channels. With deep experience in consumerpackaged goods (CPG) and shelfbased retail environments you will define categorylevel strategies that win with both retailers and consumers drive commercial outcomes and ensure excellence in execution across assortment pricing packaging and instore presentation.

This seniorlevel role is highly crossfunctional requiring close partnership with internal and external partners to optimize category performance in a competitive fastmoving environment.

This fulltime position reports to the VP of Merchandising and is expected to work in a hybrid model which currently includes Monday Tuesday and Wednesday inoffice. This role is based in our Burlingame CA office with time in our Redwood City office.

What youll do:

• Category Leadership & Strategy
  • Own the category vision and multiyear growth strategy across a portfolio of massmarket product lines.
  • Define and drive categorylevel goals related to revenue margin velocity and market share.
  • Build and execute goodbetterbest assortment strategies tailored to channelspecific customer behaviors.
• Consumer & Market Insight Integration
  • Guide strategic SKU rationalization and portfolio optimization to balance profitability and shelf impact.
  • Leverage consumer research sales data competitive benchmarks and market trends to inform decisions and prioritize innovation opportunities.
• RetailReady Execution
  • Guide packaging merchandising and planogram strategies to ensure shelf impact and customer clarity.
  • Oversee development of shelf schematics and racking solutions in partnership with Sales and Channel teams.
• CrossFunctional Product Collaboration
  • Collaborate with Product Development and Sourcing to shape product roadmaps and packaging strategies that support scalable channelappropriate offerings.
  • Partner with Planning and Inventory to align category strategies with supply chain capabilities and seasonal rhythms.
• Vendor & Retailer Partnership Management
  • Build and maintain strategic vendor relationships leading negotiations to drive cost efficiency innovation and supply reliability.
  • Serve as the category lead in key account meetings buyer line reviews and strategic retail initiatives.
• Performance Optimization
  • Own and report on category performance metrics including sales trends profitability inventory health and promotional effectiveness.
  • Support margin enhancement and productivity improvements through pricing mix shifts and sourcing collaboration.

What you bring to the table:

• 14 years of experience in merchandising category management or buying with significant time in CPG or mass retail environments.
• Proven track record of driving category growth and profitability across big box or omnichannel retailers.
• Expertise in shelfbased merchandising planogramming product packaging and customer segmentation strategies.
• Deep knowledge of retailer requirements shopper behavior and operational considerations in highvolume categories.
• Experience negotiating with vendors and building longterm valuedriven partnerships.
• Analytical and financial fluency including pricing strategy margin analysis and promotional ROI assessment.
• Strong crossfunctional leadership skills with the ability to influence across internal and external partners.
• Excellent communication skills with experience leading executivelevel presentations and external retail meetings.
• Proficient in Excel PowerPoint and merchandising analytics tools.
• Bachelors degree required; MBA preferred.

About Us: Balsam Brands is a global omnichannel retailer with roots in holiday and home dcor. We strive for excellence in everything we do and present a unique opportunity for those seeking to have a meaningful impact in a peoplefirst company that values relationship building authenticity and doing the right thing. We have steadily growing teams in Boise the Bay Area Dublin the Philippines Canada and Mexico.  

The companys mission is to create joy together. We empower our team and partners to love what they do provide products and experiences that inspire meaningful moments with family and friends and give back to our families and communities in impactful ways. When you join Balsam Brands youll find a culture of caring people doing challenging work and building a welcoming workplace.

• Check out our flagship brand Balsam Hill:
• Balsam Brands in Forbes: Brands on LinkedIn:  Balsam Brands we strive to offer a competitive compensation and benefits package. For permanent fulltime team members our current package includes:
  • Competitive compensation including a cashbased incentive plan; salary is reviewed yearly and may be adjusted as part of the normal compensation review process
  • Comprehensive Medical Dental and Vision coverage with 100% of monthly premiums covered for team members and 85% employerpaid premiums for other coverage tiers that include dependents
  • Up to $2000 annual funding toward HSA accounts
  • Medical transit dependent care FSA
  • Infertility coverage offered on all medical plans
  • Generous parental leave program and flexible return options
  • Companypaid life and AD&D insurance
  • Companypaid short and longterm disability insurance
  • 401(k) with dollarfordollar company match up to $4000 per calendar year
  • Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and other mental health and wellness perks
  • Paid holidays annual shutdown week PTO and volunteer timeoff (VTO) packages
  • Paid 5week sabbatical leave after 10 years of employment
  • Annual continuous learning benefit up to $1000 per person per fiscal year
  • Up to $300 flexible reimbursement to support setup of new team members workfromhome environment
  • Generous team member merchandise discount
  • Valuable extras: identity theft protection subsidized parking monthly wellness pet insurance accident & critical illness insurance

  The base pay range for this position is: $162000 to $202000. Please note that placement within the posted salary range is based on several factors including geographic location experience skills alignment with role requirements and other jobrelated factors. It is uncommon for offers to be made at the top of the range as this typically reflects a candidate who exceeds all role requirements and brings significant directly applicable experience. We benchmark our pay ranges against current external data sources and regularly review compensation for our team members. Balsam Brands is committed to providing our team members with an internally fair externally competitive and fiscally prudent total compensation package administered in a simple and consistent manner.

  At Balsam Brands we strive to build a diverse equitable and inclusive team to fulfill our purpose to create joy together. Balsam Brands is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We encourage people from all backgrounds ages abilities and experiences to apply. We do not discriminate on the basis of race ethnicity religion national origin citizenship marital or family status disability sexual orientation gender identity or expression pregnancy or caregiver status veteran status or any other legally protected status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations to participate in the job application and interview process to perform essential job functions and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.

  #LIHybrid

   

  
  

  Additional Information :

  All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

  
  

  Remote Work :

  No

  
  

  Employment Type :

  Fulltime