Category Manager

Job Type

Full time

PetSafe Brands, formerly known as Radio Systems Corporation, is headquartered in Knoxville, TN. It has been named “The Marble City” and "Scruffy City", names we have embraced for our unique charm. We are the home of 1982 World’s Fair and we boast of 21 craft breweries around the city (click here for the Ale Trail). If you like to hike or camp, visit the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. Take your pick of outdoor activities from walking, tubing, running, or biking in our Urban Wilderness. Knox County has an amazing public-school system, no state income tax, low property taxes and cost of living. We host Music and Shakespeare on the Square as well as Family Movie Nights on the Square during the summer months in downtown Knoxville.

Our Company: PetSafe Brands is the world leader in pet products through our family of brands:Pet Safe® Brand, Sport DOG® Brand, Invisible Fence® Brand, Kurgo and Premier Pet. Pet Safe® Brand makes every product from leashes and harnesses to water fountains and and litter boxes. We have an ambitious goal of touching over 21 million pets, people, and communities around the world each year. We serve a broad range of pet owners from providing the hunter the best gear for a successful hunt to accommodating the “Not-So-Crazy Cat Lady” with all the entertaining toys and effective solutions she could ever imagine. We do this by creating a culture of enthusiasm, resilience, adaptability, and teamwork every day in the office. We work hard to be our community’s employer of choice as we all live our purpose: We exist to unleash freedom for pet parents by keeping their pets happy, healthy and safe. 

The Category Manager is responsible for implementing the category vision and strategy within the brand strategy to deliver strong financial performance along with exceptional customer experience. This position requires a high level of accountability for financial success for the organization with an emphasis on managing the category profit and loss statement. This role maintains a focus on product development, marketing strategy, customer satisfaction, and competitive analysis to create a robust product portfolio delivering on the goals set forth by senior leadership. Category Managers work as cross functional leaders that provide requirements, guidance, and influence across all levels of the organization around all regions of the world. The successful candidate will be a strategic leader that can drive tactical execution to ensure ongoing success of the category and brands.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Responsible for P&L of assigned categories including sales, profit, expenses, etc.
• Lead long term planning and strategy development to establish a product portfolio that supports category KPI objectives and follows brand strategies
• Manage the 5 P’s of marketing globally. Product, Price, Place, and Promotion, and People
• Gain alignment and present business updates to executive growth team
• Lead product life cycle management process including product development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline
• Create, develop, and execute compelling customer centric product roadmaps focused on delivering strong value while maximizing company objectives
• Oversee product development process through all phases in collaboration with market research, UX/UI, engineering, brand, content, creative services, digital marketing, sales (domestic and international), etc.
• Maintain competitive analysis ensuring category strategy is best in class
• Accountable for new product performance with emphasis on ROI, market share, and customer satisfaction
• Develop deep understanding of omnichannel go to market strategies focused on pet specialty, food/drug/mass, Amazon, Chewy, etc.
• Collaborate and travel with global sales team to drive placement of product and optimize product portfolio with retailers
• Collaborate with supply chain to determine correct contract manufacturer, demand forecast, sale projection, inventory level, etc.
• Create robust and detailed marketing briefs that inform creative and content teams on story telling strategies for products and/or category.
• Review and report key category metrics using Tableau, Nielsen, Stackline, etc.

ACCOUNTABILITIES:

• Balanced scorecard metrics: sales growth, new product development, profit growth, customer experience
• Become subject matter expert in assigned categories
• Ensure successful launch for all new products
• Development and execution of robust product roadmap
• Strong communication across support teams ensuring alignment for plans
• Collaborate with engineering and risk management teams to execute the company’s intellectual property by pursuing patents to protect innovations.
• Reporting on sales, market share, and other key category updates

RELATIONSHIPS:

• Reports directly to a Category Director or VP, Category
• Direct reports of 1-3 Product Managers / Sr. Product Managers
• Maintains strong relationships with engineering, sales, marketing, creative services, customer care, and supply chain team
• Advocate for customer needs and solutions
• Interaction with retail partners through product and program presentations

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree required
• 5-10 years’ experience in product lifecycle management
• Proven success in setting and meeting aggressive timelines without sacrificing quality
• Ability to manage multiple projects and prioritize work in order to meet deadlines
• Demonstrated ability leading cross-functional teams
• Demonstrated success defining and launching customer centric products
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Strong analytical skills in order to evaluate the market for each new product
• Travel 10% (primarily domestic with some international)

BENEFITS:

Working for PetSafe Brands definitely has its benefits. We offer a collaborative and creative team-oriented work environment where we encourage you to take risks to learn and grow! We offer a competitive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, and 401K match. In addition we offer a rich wellness program which includes an onsite health clinic, workout facility and of course, we encourage you to bring your dog to work, which is our whole reason for what we do!

PetSafe Brands is dedicated to offering equal employment opportunity for all teammates and fostering a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. At PetSafe Brand, our teammates are our greatest strength. We strive to build a workforce as diverse as the customers we serve by hiring great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, life experiences, knowledge, self-expression and talent. We recruit and reward teammates based on capability and performance and together we are building a culture that welcomes all dimensions of an individual’s identity including race, color, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, age, educational background, national origin or ancestry, religion, veteran status, or physical ability. We embrace these differences and the unique contributions each teammate brings not just because it is the right thing to do but because it makes our company stronger. While we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace and a culture of belonging, we recognize that we still have more work to do and a lot more to learn.