Director, Category Management

Job Description

As Director of Category Management at Balsam Brands, you will lead the end-to-end strategy, performance, and evolution of key high-volume product categories across mass retail and multiple channels. With deep experience in consumer-packaged goods (CPG) and shelf-based retail environments, you will define category-level strategies that win with both retailers and consumers, drive commercial outcomes, and ensure excellence in execution across assortment, pricing, packaging, and in-store presentation.

This senior-level role is highly cross-functional, requiring close partnership with internal and external partners to optimize category performance in a competitive, fast-moving environment.

This full-time position reports to the VP of Merchandising and is expected to work in a hybrid model, which currently includes Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in-office. This role is based in our Burlingame, CA office with time in our Redwood City office.

What you’ll do:

• Category Leadership & Strategy
  • Own the category vision and multi-year growth strategy across a portfolio of mass-market product lines.
  • Define and drive category-level goals related to revenue, margin, velocity, and market share.
  • Build and execute good-better-best assortment strategies tailored to channel-specific customer behaviors.
• Consumer & Market Insight Integration
  • Guide strategic SKU rationalization and portfolio optimization to balance profitability and shelf impact.
  • Leverage consumer research, sales data, competitive benchmarks, and market trends to inform decisions and prioritize innovation opportunities.
• Retail-Ready Execution
  • Guide packaging, merchandising, and planogram strategies to ensure shelf impact and customer clarity.
  • Oversee development of shelf schematics and racking solutions in partnership with Sales and Channel teams.
• Cross-Functional Product Collaboration
  • Collaborate with Product Development and Sourcing to shape product roadmaps and packaging strategies that support scalable, channel-appropriate offerings.
  • Partner with Planning and Inventory to align category strategies with supply chain capabilities and seasonal rhythms.
• Vendor & Retailer Partnership Management
  • Build and maintain strategic vendor relationships, leading negotiations to drive cost efficiency, innovation, and supply reliability.
  • Serve as the category lead in key account meetings, buyer line reviews, and strategic retail initiatives.
• Performance Optimization
  • Own and report on category performance metrics, including sales trends, profitability, inventory health, and promotional effectiveness.
  • Support margin enhancement and productivity improvements through pricing, mix shifts, and sourcing collaboration.

What you bring to the table:

• 14+ years of experience in merchandising, category management, or buying, with significant time in CPG or mass retail environments.
• Proven track record of driving category growth and profitability across big box or omnichannel retailers.
• Expertise in shelf-based merchandising, planogramming, product packaging, and customer segmentation strategies.
• Deep knowledge of retailer requirements, shopper behavior, and operational considerations in high-volume categories.
• Experience negotiating with vendors and building long-term, value-driven partnerships.
• Analytical and financial fluency, including pricing strategy, margin analysis, and promotional ROI assessment.
• Strong cross-functional leadership skills with the ability to influence across internal and external partners.
• Excellent communication skills with experience leading executive-level presentations and external retail meetings.
• Proficient in Excel, PowerPoint, and merchandising analytics tools.
• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA preferred.

About Us: Balsam Brands is a global, omnichannel retailer with roots in holiday and home décor. We strive for excellence in everything we do and present a unique opportunity for those seeking to have a meaningful impact in a people-first company that values relationship building, authenticity, and doing the right thing. We have steadily growing teams in Boise, the Bay Area, Dublin, the Philippines, Canada, and Mexico.  

The company's mission is to create joy together. We empower our team and partners to love what they do, provide products and experiences that inspire meaningful moments with family and friends, and give back to our families and communities in impactful ways. When you join Balsam Brands, you'll find a culture of caring people doing challenging work and building a welcoming workplace.

• Check out our flagship brand, Balsam Hill: www.balsamhill.com
• Balsam Brands in Forbes: https://bit.ly/balsambrandsforbes2023
• Balsam Brands on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/balsam-brands
• Glassdoor: https://bit.ly/balsambrands-glassdoor

At Balsam Brands, we strive to offer a competitive compensation and benefits package. For permanent, full-time team members, our current package includes:

• Competitive compensation, including a cash-based incentive plan; salary is reviewed yearly and may be adjusted as part of the normal compensation review process
• Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage, with 100% of monthly premiums covered for team members, and 85%+ employer-paid premiums for other coverage tiers that include dependents
• Up to $2,000 annual funding toward HSA accounts
• Medical, transit, dependent care FSA
• Infertility coverage offered on all medical plans
• Generous parental leave program and flexible return options
• Company-paid life and AD&D insurance
• Company-paid short and long-term disability insurance
• 401(k) with dollar-for-dollar company match up to $4,000 per calendar year
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and other mental health and wellness perks
• Paid holidays, annual shutdown week, PTO, and volunteer time-off (VTO) packages
• Paid 5-week sabbatical leave after 10 years of employment
• Annual continuous learning benefit up to $1,000 per person, per fiscal year
• Up to $300 flexible reimbursement to support setup of new team member's work-from-home environment
• Generous team member merchandise discount
• Valuable extras: identity theft protection, subsidized parking, monthly wellness, pet insurance, accident & critical illness insurance

The base pay range for this position is: $162,000 to $202,000. Please note that placement within the posted salary range is based on several factors, including geographic location, experience, skills, alignment with role requirements and other job-related factors. It is uncommon for offers to be made at the top of the range, as this typically reflects a candidate who exceeds all role requirements and brings significant, directly applicable experience. We benchmark our pay ranges against current external data sources and regularly review compensation for our team members. Balsam Brands is committed to providing our team members with an internally fair, externally competitive, and fiscally prudent total compensation package administered in a simple and consistent manner.

At Balsam Brands, we strive to build a diverse, equitable, and inclusive team to fulfill our purpose to create joy together. Balsam Brands is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We encourage people from all backgrounds, ages, abilities, and experiences to apply. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, citizenship, marital or family status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy or caregiver status, veteran status, or any other legally protected status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations to participate in the job application and interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.

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Additional Information

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