Category Manager

When it comes to performance, skills and experience don’t tell the whole story. They only tell us what to do in known, predictable, and contextual situations. 

We look for attributes as they tell us how you behave in all situations, particularly unknown, challenging, or stressful ones when you can’t apply your learnt skills.

We have big ambitions and we need people who work here to have big ambitions too.

To achieve our growth plans we need talented and driven people who are curious and comfortable with uncertainty and step outside their comfort zone to learn and try new things.

If you're the kind of person who rolls up your sleeves and gets stuck in, we want to hear from you!

Watch HERE to find out what it takes to be successful and build a better career at MSC.

Requisition ID : 14188 

Employment Type : Full Time         

Job Category : Category Management                                             

Work Location :  Wednesbury, UK 

Potential Work Location : United Kingdom : England : Wednesbury 

As a Category Manager with MSC, you will play a critical role in the growth and future shape of the business by bringing our category strategy to life. You will develop strong relationships with industry-leading suppliers and deliver innovation to the ever-changing customers’ needs and behaviours.

The Category Management team is evolving to establish an industry-leading range of products and solutions led by an exceptional team. This team is critically important to the continued success of MSC.

Are you looking to take your career to the next level? When you join MSC we offer you more than just a job, we provide the opportunity to grow and develop helping you build your career. Great businesses need great people - that’s where you come in!

What’s in it for me?

• With MSC you’ll have the autonomy to shape your role and develop your career with us. We believe in continuous growth, which is why you will have constant access to coaching, mentoring and an environment where personal and professional development and success are celebrated.

• Love discounts? You'll love it even more with our discounts and rewards site, which covers all the most popular brands. Whether it’s a breakaway, cashback on essentials or shopping for a special occasion, we’ve got you covered.

• On top of this, we give you 25 days of holiday entitlement + Bank Holidays. A company pension scheme matched up to 10% of your annual salary. Life insurance, which is 6x annual salary, plus, a discounted health cash plan and private medical insurance to support you with whatever life throws at you.

What will I be doing?

As a Category Manager, you will have full accountability for the category strategy and performance of a unique range of products developing a category strategy using customer and supplier insight that aligns with the MSC value proposition will be central to your thinking.

Ensure our suppliers understand the MSC story to gain commercial advantage and leverage support for our sales and engineering teams. Connecting our suppliers and customer-facing teams is critical to ensure the relevant product solutions are presented to customers from strategic brands

Use your curiosity to research and qualify potential new suppliers to add to the range which aligns with the overall category strategy. You will then onboard these suppliers and relevant product ranges in our systems in addition to new products from our existing suppliers where appropriate.

Confidence in building relationships with suppliers and developing strategic partnerships to identify opportunities and activities that drive sales growth for mutual benefit will be key.

Support all aspects of product lifecycle management and ensure customers can find & buy the latest products and solutions and exceed their expectations

Build on your knowledge of customer behaviour in the market to select the appropriate products and channels for sales and marketing campaigns.

You will need a keen eye for data and utilise this to understand the performance of your category and inform your decision-making for future opportunities

Be a natural collaborator and enjoy working alongside key stakeholders and peers across the business to achieve desired outcomes

In addition, you will negotiate commercial agreements with suppliers to generate cost savings for the business and improve the overall profit margin

Your products will be visible to customers across digital and offline channels and you will take pride in ensuring these products are fully optimized for customers to find and buy what they need

Actively measure the performance of your product portfolio to ensure profitability and sales growth and take corrective measures where necessary to ensure continued success.

You will evaluate the product range, pricing and services relative to competitors and ensure adjustments are made to keep MSC ahead of the competition

Our growth plans are ambitious, and you will have a direct contribution to achieving our goals.

What do I need?

We trust that our people will be able to teach you the role-specific skills, but for you to truly succeed at MSC you will embody our values and these significantly important attributes; ones that MSC believes embody talent within our business.

Connections: Your interpersonal skills; how well you manage relationships, and how rewarding you are to deal with

Thinking: The abilities you draw upon to solve problems, learn and be agile

Creativity: How adept you are at creating solutions and working with change.

Drive: Your level of ambition.  The pace, energy, and enthusiasm applied to activities

Ultimately, we identify talent in people who can demonstrate our values and the behaviours required to thrive in our business. So, if you can operate effectively in a team, demonstrate customer-centricity, and are eager to make a difference then we would love to hear from you - apply today!

Why MSC?

As one of the UK’s Best Companies (awarded 3 Star by Best Companies), we care about our associates.

The journey to the best version of you, starts with us. If you’re searching for an employer that will enable you to learn, grow and make a difference, you’ve found it.

You will feel a sense of purpose and belonging as we allow our people to have a voice and the opportunity to make a genuine impact

We have created a psychologically safe and inclusive environment where we treat our associates as adults and give them autonomy to make decisions, take risks and learn from mistakes.

You will be encouraged to challenge the norm, make decisions and take ownership to make changes, enabling you to significantly contribute towards our business success.

Our people-centric culture will encourage you to continuously develop, both professionally and personally.

From our culture to our forward-thinking leadership, you’ll soon realise that you have an incredible opportunity here to be your best self.

Whether your career path is vertical or squiggly we’d love to watch you grow and reach your full potential with us

Watch HERE to find out what it’s like to work at MSC and join us as we continue to build team of people doing their best work

We won’t just give you a job, we’ll enable you to be yourself, discover opportunity, unlock your potential, and design your career.