Product Category Manager (Remote)

COMPANY OVERVIEW

NorthSky was founded in 2024 in The Woodlands, Texas and is a streamlined, eCommerce-forward, innovative B2B MRO distribution platform. Our mission is to save businesses money on the products they need most, without sacrificing quality. We accomplish this through deep partnerships with manufacturers around the globe, reducing links in the supply chain and a simple, easy to navigate ecommerce platform focused on small and medium sized businesses. As a rapidly growing startup, we offer exciting growth opportunities that allow you to make a direct and long-term impact on both our business and the broader MRO industry.

POSITION OVERVIEW

As NorthSky Supply continues to grow, we seek a Product Category Manager to create and drive the assortment strategy for key product categories and suppliers. The Product Category Manager will focus on driving growth and profitability of the product assortment, focusing on product lifecycle, industry trends, and opportunities to differentiate NorthSky Supply in the marketplace. As a key decision maker for the business, the Product Category Manager will be expected to work cross-functionally to understand the needs of the customers we serve and the business. The Product Category Manager will display curiosity, creativity and passion towards building and deploying a best-in-class product offering intended to save businesses money by providing high quality, low price products, through innovation and deep manufacturing partnerships.

The Product Category Manager will be part of the NorthSky Supply Product Management Team and will report to the VP of Supply Chain & Operations. He/she will work cooperatively with internal partners – Marketing, Sales, Supply Chain and Customer Service organizations; as well as external parties – product suppliers, customers, 3rd party support vendors. The ideal candidate will be based in either the Chicago or Houston areas.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Craft a high quality, customer centric assortment strategy for aligned product categories, focusing on profitability, sales growth and differentiation in the marketplace.
• Build strategic supplier relationships, manage core financial measurements and create merchandising strategies for aligned product categories.
• Manage the product through its lifecycle, ensuring a best in class product offering and minimizing excess and obsolete inventory issues.
• Use reporting and analytics to guide decision making for the portfolio.
• Create and deliver operating reviews for aligned categories, focused on key operating metrics (customer acquisition, sales growth, profitability, etc.)
• Leverage resources to manage key processes related to the product line including: cost/price changes, product information improvement, merchandising enhancements, supplier performance, etc.
• Work cross-functionally with business partners to drive improvement related to aligned product assortment.
• Understand the competitive landscape, research the industry, and identify trends within data and business partner feedback to build and improve assortment strategy.
• Create and apply pricing methodology for the portfolio, maintaining the balance between market relevance and profitability.
• Research and understand NorthSky Supply’s customers to provide insights about growth and improvement opportunities.
• Partner with Marketing and Sales teams to promote the portfolio to drive sales growth and new customer acquisition.
• Drive cost improvement efforts within the product assortment to drive greater profitability for the company.
• Conduct Line Reviews for aligned product categories, focused on building best in class assortment at the best cost, with the best service levels.
• Own overall relationships between NorthSky Supply and domestic suppliers, focusing on supplier performance, collaboration and partnership.
• Monitor market competition and provide insights related to product assortment changes, pricing changes, and opportunities to better position NorthSky Supply in the marketplace.

KEY OPERATING METRICS:

• New Customer Acquisition
• Sales Growth
• Cost management and Gross profit improvement
• (Continuous Improvement) Cycle time reduction for key processes

QUALIFICATIONS / REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 3 – 5 years’ experience in related field – supply chain, product or marketing a plus.
• Customer focused.
• Exceptional attention to detail, problem solving and critical thinking skills.
• Strong financial acumen.
• Creative thinker – the ability to see the big picture and not just follow the process, the ability to solve the right problem, not just the obvious problem.
• Process oriented, with a focus on time management and managing multiple priorities.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, keeping informed those who are involved in key topics as they progress.
• A desire to progress in her/his career, an interest in learning and being coached.
• Strong ability to contribute to strategy development, using data to inform a point of view.
• Able to multi-task and work in a deadline-driven environment.