Senior Category Manager

Food Lion
Food Lion

Operations

Salisbury, NC, USA

Posted on Jul 20, 2026

Responsible for producing a comprehensive and cohesive category strategy which successfully meets the needs of our customers and achieves category goals while supporting brand integrated business plans. Drive the day to day activities of a selling organization culture with a consumer-centric focus through Category, Merchandising and Pricing (CMP) responsibilities. Responsible for thought leadership and category expertise around trends and category innovation.

Duties & Responsibilities:

  • Manages performance for assigned category including margin and shrink
  • Responsible for all category financial & customer metrics
  • Responsible for procurement and replenishment (Fresh) and in stock position at the shelf (Center Store) [Service levels, inventory/days on hand, forecasting and seasonal impacts)
  • Responsible for talent planning, team development and performance management
  • Develops and executes customer-focused category plans and drives a selling culture
  • Manages pricing for assigned categories and influences pricing strategy
  • Subject matter expert for assigned categories
  • Manages assortment and selection for assigned categories (f.e. final approval for all POG decisions)
  • Drives product innovation
  • Vendor negotiation and relationships
  • Develops and builds strong teams

Skills and Abilities:

  • Ability to manage day to day activity in support of identified business area and functional area strategies
  • Ability to influence organizational alignment across multiple business areas
  • Ability to take an educated risk with implementing programs that support consumer demands.
  • Ability to negotiate
  • Ability to think innovatively
  • Demonstrate a personal acceptance of change and the ability to adapt and drive change
  • Demonstrated ability to implement and analyze retail business using consumer insights and analyzing trends.
  • Active listener with an ability to build trust across varying levels of the organization
  • High degree of credibility and the ability to work with and through all levels of management
  • Excellent organizational, planning, influence, communication and presentation skills
  • Self-motivated and persuasive in presenting and selling ideas and executing their implementation

Qualifications:

  • Bachelor's Degree or equivalent combination of education and related work experience.
  • 5 - 8 years in Category Management
  • Minimum of 8 years combined experience in retail, merchandising, pricing, logistics, supply chain, procurement, or distribution
  • Experience leading during organizational change management
  • Demonstrated track record of developing others
  • Knowledge of merchandising management, retail management, replenishment and item management systems
  • Proficiency with Logistics as it plays a critical role with short shelf life products
  • Proficiency with commissary operations and processes
  • Expert in food preparation practices and overall food safety standards
  • Knowledge of local and state governmental impacts to selling fresh products (FDA, USDA, Weights/Measures, etc.)