Who are we?
Trader Joes is your favorite neighborhood grocery store. With almost 600 stores nationwide and growing, we are the place to be. Looking for something delicious and a friendly conversation? At Trader Joes you can find both. We love being your first and favorite place to shop.
What do we do?
Like shopping at Trader Joes? Then maybe youll love working with us. We are looking for an experienced Associate Category Manager who is searching to do what theyll love. Do you have experience in category curation, vendor negotiation, and management, and merchandising? Do you love food? If so, read on. We may have the role of a lifetime for you.
Trader Joes is unlike any place youve ever worked. Trust us on that. The qualified Associate Category Manager has at least 3 years of experience and is a raving fan of the Trader Joes concept. A Bachelors Degree is strongly preferred. This role is based in our office in Boston, MA, and we have an in-office expectation of 5 days a week.
Responsibilities
The Associate Category Manager is responsible for:
• Collaborating with Category Managers and Sr. Category Managers to achieve sales margin, SKU count, and sales dollar unit minimum targets, and provides support to Category Management in daily tasks and projects. • Developing category in product assortment, vendor capabilities, and category trends, and works to curate a diverse range of products that meet the changing needs of Trader Joes customers. • Working with Product Developers to actively diversify Trader Joes vendor base and develops broker-free relationships while maintaining strong vendor relations to expand product offerings. • Assisting with Subcategory Reviews and makes recommendations for improvement based on category and sales performance. • Partnering with departments such as Marketing Operations and Finance to ensure seamless execution of category plans and assists with planning and executing marketing features for all products, including New and Limited items. • Supporting the Supply Chain team to achieve fulfillment goals such as fill-rate, TOS, and inventory quality goals.
Requirements
The Associate Category Manager has:
• A Bachelors degree and three years of experience working as a Buyer, Category Manager, or Merchandising within a Retail organization, with a preference for CPG or Grocery. • Experience buying and sourcing new products while building relationships with new and existing vendors. • Strong negotiation skills. • Experience with perishables is preferred. • Excellent communication skills and demonstrates excellent time management skills. • Proficiency in Microsoft Office is required, as well as comfort with retail-based mathematics.
We want to hear from you
We get a lot of resumes, so to help us get to know you better, please submit your resume and cover letter. When creating your cover letter, please answer these questions:
• What is your favorite Trader Joes product and why? • What makes you uniquely qualified for this position?
Trader Joes is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to hiring a diverse Crew.
Where can you find a career that gives you upward mobility, encourages fun in your working environment and enables you to earn a boatload of money?
Trader Joe's
With over 460 stores nationwide (and growing), we are the place to be. That means that there are a lot of growth opportunities for our Crew. You can be part of our grassroots success story.
Are you an upbeat, outgoing individual motivated by challenges, who enjoys working with an educated, eclectic team? Do you have a good sense of humor and a strong customer orientation? If you answered yes to these questions, we might have a fit!
So how do you benefit?
Make an impact on people, product, and sales!
We're talking about a chance to make a difference, not just be another cog in the wheel. Trader Joe's is a company that has achieved remarkable success by celebrating individual style, creative ideas, and initiative. Energetic, friendly personalities blossom in this flexible atmosphere.
Earn an impressive living for hard work with a smile!
Our Captains (store managers) are very well compensated, earning in the top 5% of household incomes in the US. We value hard work, fun, and determination for success. To show we mean business, we review our Crew Members quarterly at which time they become eligible for yet another pay increase.
Enjoy great benefits
We offer comprehensive health, disability and life insurance plans for both you and your dependents. We also offer an excellent retirement plan into which we contribute an amount equal to 15.4 percent of your salary each year! Finally, a generous paid time off policy allows you to choose when to take time off for vacation and sick days.
Be Captain of your own ship
We think that as you navigate through your career, you should make decisions about your unique product mix, creative in-store displays, and best practices for your location. Employee autonomy at every level is a staple of Trader Joe's. Allow us to introduce ourselves...
To date, Trader Joe's celebrates almost 50 years of consistent growth and profit in the food and beverage industry. We're an extremely profitable company, and we have no debt. Because Trader Joe's remains private, we aren't beholden to the quarterly demands of stockholders, freeing us to address both short and long-term growth issues and, most importantly, control our own destiny. Trader Joe's is family-owned. We have personally funded our own expansion to almost 300 stores in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Missouri, Michigan, Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. All stores are company operated - no franchises! - and we promote from within.. In 2004, over 1000 promotions were made internally. Our reputation on the street is that we're a cool company, and you'll find that eyes light up when people hear you work at Trader Joe's.
The Crew:
Our Crew (in-store personnel) is well-trained, knowledgeable, friendly and fundamental to our success. We're a non-union company; we've maintained this position by offering a great compensation package, a comfortable workplace and open communication. Trader Joe's people are true ";foodies"; who enjoy working in a team environment. The Crew tastes our items so they can share their opinions with others. We like our customers to be engaged in the Trader Joe's experience, and our people play an integral part in making that happen.
We have achieved tremendous success throughout the past five decades through an innovative approach to our business and our customers. The atmosphere in our stores is different from the typical retail experience. Our employees sport Hawaiian shirts as uniform. Maritime bell signals replace intrusive loud speakers. The decor is early Beach Boys meets Captain Courageous (including "Crew members" as staff and, you guessed it, the "Captain" as Manager).