Category Lead

We’re looking for a highly strategic, analytical, and hands on Category Lead to help us manage and expand our assortment of Snacks, Sweets, Supplements, and Grains & Pastas. In this role, you will manage the supply chain including but not limited to overall assortment planning, SKU and vendor selection, pricing, packaging, vendor performance, and merchandising. You will lead, develop, and maintain key vendor and supplier relationships, identify and deliver cost reduction ideas with suppliers to obtain industry leading solutions and drive results.

In this highly critical and impactful role, you will report directly to the Director of Sourcing and work closely with our culinary, analytics, food safety, marketing, and supply chain teams to identify, negotiate and onboard new products that align with our brand values and meets our “Root Standard” for quality, nutrition, ease of preparation, and taste.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the Director of Sourcing and leadership to develop and execute the strategy for the snacks, sweets, supplements, and grains & pastas categories.
• Identify innovative brands and products that fit within our assortment and align with our values of health, convenience, and taste.
• Oversee the end-to-end process for bringing new products into the assortment, from ideation to launch, including vendor negotiations and contract agreements.
• Make data-driven decisions to optimize the assortment, identifying opportunities to improve customer satisfaction and grow category sales and profitability.
• Evaluate the existing assortment for potential cost savings, negotiating with suppliers or switching suppliers to reduce costs while maintaining quality and performance.
• Oversee product reformulations, discontinuations, and other changes to ensure the assortment is continuously evolving to meet customer and business needs.
• Stay informed of food trends and identify opportunities consistent with Hungryroot’s mission and business model.
• Collaborate with the product development lead, culinary team, and leadership to develop and launch innovative private-label products that meet Hungryroot’s high standards.
• Build and maintain strong vendor relationships, ensuring they consistently meet our performance expectations for quality, food safety, cost, and on-time delivery.
• Partner with the food safety team to ensure that suppliers meet all federal, state, and company regulations and standards for food safety, freshness, sanitation, and environmental conditions.
• Partner with supply chain planning and fulfillment center teams, along with suppliers, to ensure timely deliveries and accurate inventory levels that match demand requirements.
• Collaborate with brands and our partnerships team to identify promotional opportunities for brands / products that enhance visibility and drive sales within our ecosystem, while helping us drive marketing revenue

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in category management, buying, and/or merchandising, preferably in eCommerce
• Strong negotiation, communication, organization, and project management skills
• Experience establishing brand/vendor relationships and developing private label products
• Understanding of retail and ecommerce fresh food safety requirements
• Analytically-minded with strong proficiency of Excel / Google Sheets
• Highly collaborative with experience working with cross-functional teams
• Flexible and solution oriented, able to react quickly to ever changing market conditions
• A motivated, positive, proactive and transparent attitude
• Passion for food, health, and wellness, with an understanding of market trends and customer preferences.
• Netsuite, Airtable, Looker, or ERP systems experience a plus

Perks & Benefits 

• Remote-first: work from home, work from our NYC office, work from anywhere in the U.S. – you decide!
• Equity
• Unlimited vacation policy
• Universal paid parental leave
• Monthly Hungryroot credit for delicious, healthy groceries
• Comprehensive health, vision, dental, and life insurance
• Wellbeing benefits including One Medical, Spring Health, LiveHealth, Rightway care concierge, and more
• 401k
• A work from home stipend to support your initial home-office setup

Expected Pay Range
$90,000-$130,000