Category Manager - Buy Side - Regional Brand/FMCG/eCommerce

Category Manager - Buy Side (Regional Brands

Role & Responsibilities:

- Vendor Management & Negotiation: Manage vendor relationships, negotiate local rates to meet cost-per-unit targets, and ensure timely delivery of products.

- Inventory Monitoring: Track stock levels, share daily reports on low inventory, and ensure minimum order quantities (MOQ) are met.

- Purchase Order Coordination: Map/unmap products, raise POs with desired vendors, and monitor negative margins at product level.

- Cross-functional Collaboration: Meet regularly with the Business Operations and Growth teams to align on stock availability, sales plans, and product launches.

- Payment & Delivery Follow-up: Coordinate with Finance on vendor payments to avoid delays, and ensure smooth vehicle offloading at Distribution Centers (DC).

- Vendor Sourcing: Identify and onboard alternate vendors to maintain product availability and address supply gaps.

- Stock Management: Monitor put-away status of inventory, manage slow-moving stock, and support sales strategies for excess inventory.

- Reporting & Analysis: Provide regular performance updates, including benchmarking new products, sales plans, and launch strategies.

Ideal Candidate:

- First Principles Problem solver.

- Proven experience (3+ years) in category management, vendor management, or procurement, preferably in a retail, e-commerce environment, or fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry.

- Strong analytical skills with advanced proficiency in Excel.

- Strong understanding of supply chain processes and inventory management best practices.

- Ability to manage relationships with both local vendors.

- Strong negotiation skills and a keen eye for cost optimization.

- Ability to work independently with limited support in a fast-paced, high growth environment.

- Hunger to work, deliver, and grow in a rapidly growing organization.

- Experimentative mindset: Ideate, try, measure, learn, document and help improve our ways of working.

- Good collaboration skills - great at communication and negotiation - Ability to influence a variety stakeholders without relying on positional authority.

- Willingness to getting your hands dirty : Learn from customers, manufacturers and on ground teams about their business and challenges.