Position Summary:
The Category Manager is responsible for managing and executing category strategies across assigned product categories to support profitable growth, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency. This role partners closely with Sales, Integrated Site Leadership, IT, Sourcing, and Supply Chain to optimize assortment, pricing, and supplier performance while ensuring category plans align with customer needs and enterprise objectives.
Essential Job Duties and Responsibilities:
- Assortment Management:Manage core and extended product assortments based on customer demand, sales performance, and supplier capabilities with a strong focus on customer needs.
• Category Planning & Execution: Support the development and execution of category plans, including assortment changes, supplier negotiations and value positioning.
• Supplier Management: Manage supplier relationships, including performance reviews, cost initiatives, and ongoing collaboration to support category strategies.
• Analytics & Reporting: Analyze sales, margin, and inventory data to monitor category performance, identify trends, and support data-driven decisions.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work with Sales, Sourcing, Marketing, and Operations to execute category initiatives and ensure alignment with business goals.
• Market & Product Insights: Monitor market trends, competitive activity, and product opportunities; support new product introductions and lifecycle management.
• Financial Performance Support: Support category-level margin, inventory, and working capital objectives through pricing actions, cost initiatives, and supplier programs - Other duties assigned by departmental leadership.
Job Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Marketing, or related field
• 3–5 years of experience in category management, sourcing, merchandising, or product management, preferably within industrial distribution or B2B environments
• Solid analytical and financial skills with experience evaluating sales, margin, and inventory performance
• Ability to execute category plans and manage multiple initiatives simultaneously
• Understanding of market dynamics, customer needs, and competitive positioning
• Strong collaboration skills and ability to work effectively across functions
• Effective communication and supplier relationship management skills
• Experience working with ERP systems and data analysis tools (e.g., Excel, Power BI, Tableau)
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Marketing, or a related field
- 3-5 years of experience in category management, sourcing, merchandising, or product management
- Experience preferably within industrial distribution or B2B environments
- Solid analytical and financial skills, including evaluating sales, margin, and inventory performance
- Ability to execute category plans and manage multiple initiatives simultaneously
- Understanding of market dynamics, customer needs, and competitive positioning
- Strong cross-functional collaboration skills
- Effective communication and supplier relationship management skills
- Experience with ERP systems and data analysis tools such as Excel, Power BI, or Tableau
Vallen USA Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Vallen USA and has not been reviewed or approved by Vallen USA.
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Retirement Support — Feedback suggests the 401(k) plan includes a company match (e.g., $0.50 per dollar up to 6% of pay), and employer-paid life and disability insurance add to perceived financial security.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid vacation that accrues from 80 to 160 hours based on seniority, sick time, eight scheduled holidays, and two floating holidays are often highlighted as comprehensive.
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Healthcare Strength — Standard medical, dental, and vision coverage, along with FSAs, an EAP, and a wellness program, are described as reliable core offerings.
Vallen USA Insights
What We Do
Vallen is a leading provider of indirect industrial supplies—all those materials that are not part of the products our customers manufacture. From earplugs to specialty tools, to abrasives and cutting tools, we cover the vast majority of our customers’ maintenance, repair, operations and production-related needs. Vallen is also a leader in safety services with offerings that include equipment inspection, maintenance, certification and solution design. Many of our customers look to us for integrated supply solutions and vendor-managed inventory, with Vallen associates on-site, bringing local knowledge and expertise to the specific needs of individual facilities.
