Category Manager

Job Summary & Responsibilities

Lifetime Brands, Inc -- Seattle division is located in the heart of the Belltown neighborhood, with views of the Space Needle and the Puget Sound. Every day, our team works to bring innovative products to your home. Together, we strive to build an experience for consumers that's best in class. When all is said and done, our main goal is to make better products. We achieve this goal by modeling every aspect of our company around tenacious, ingenuity-laden, and customer-focused business practices. We consider ourselves to be fun, approachable people, and strive to develop products that mirror these attributes.

Category Manager, Hydration - Position Overview

We are seeking a Category Manager to support product development and account management efforts related to our specialty coffee business. This role will be involved in all stages of the product development process from initial concepts to customer order fulfillment. Responsible for sales and margin growth within the customer account base, this stakeholder is responsible for establishing successful business partnerships with buyers and senior management of our retail accounts, while acting as the key point-of-contact within the organization. This role will pass along relevant information internally and externally, while tracking progress of all directives, and communicating any issues that prevent timelines from being met.

We are looking for someone who is excited about product development, can prioritize their workload, mitigate risks, alleviate roadblocks, and who has a proven track record in account management, as it relates to product development.

Essential Job Functions

Account Management: 

• Establish successful business partnerships with leading specialty coffee accounts
• Increase sales and margin growth
• Manage customer product specifications and regulatory documentation
• Ship product samples to customer for review/approval
• Update customers on a weekly basis regarding the status of all sampling and production in work
• Understand the product market, identify assortment gaps, and propose new solutions to the client

Product Development:

• Curate seasonal product assortment based on customer needs and cost (vessel selection, artwork development, finishing treatments)
• Responsible for cost analysis and cost negotiation against the retail landscape.
• Work with internal cross-functional teams to conceive, develop, implement, market, and sell creative merchandise programs
• Act as a key point-of-contact within the organization, passing along relevant information internally and externally
• Oversee entire sampling process for a wide array of products in various development stages - factory requests, tracking, approvals, production
• Responsible for effectively communicating product details including color/material/finish, product function, cost targets, and customer pricing, to both the customer, as well as internal stakeholders and vendors
• Manage the communication and coordination of efforts related to projects in work with our partners in China
• Develop an expertise in products and finishing techniques
• Support new treatment exploration, including treatments manufacturing feasibility and limitations. Responsible for treatment sample request and sample review.
• Ensure that customer specific standards are met for each customer market and are communicated across key stakeholders.
• Troubleshoot issues collaboratively with internal stakeholders and vendors to meet customer PO ship dates
• Collect and review Quality Assurance documentation on behalf of the customer; Ensure all stakeholders are aware their requirements
• Lead in testing execution and timeline for product delivery.
• Lead quality problem resolution with vendors and internal team, with QA support.
• Work with internal and external teams to seek out opportunity and align the team and timeline to deliver.

Requirements

Education: BA/BS Preferred

Experience: 5+ years’ experience working with teams in wholesale, manufacturing or retail with an affinity for consumer products

Specialized Knowledge, Licenses, Compliance:

• Manufacturing experience, oversea vendor management and project management experience
• Familiar with sales portal / Qilksense or similar system
• Intermediate to advanced skill set with Illustrator, Google Suite, Excel, and MS office products.
• Ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment.
• Understanding of the retail market place.  

Nice to Have: Ability to speak/write in Chinese

Working Conditions: Hybrid, but required to go into our Belltown office as needed to review products and ship samples to customers

Other Skills/Abilities:

• High attention to detail
• Highly self-motivated and self-directed: ability to work optimally and consistently without in-person oversight
• Excellent communication (written/spoken) and interpersonal skills
• Ability to structure deals and develop strong client relationships
• Strong negotiation skills with the ability to use advanced judgment in problem solving
• Understanding of consumer products and product development
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to multitask

Location: Seattle/Hybrid

Salary Range: $70,000 - $80,000

Preferred QualificationsLifetime Brands is a leading global provider of kitchenware, tableware and other products used in the home. We offer brands you trust, value without compromise and an unwavering commitment to innovation. Our products make it easier for you to prepare food, serve meals, entertain guests, and decorate your home. We offer a comprehensive suite of benefits, which includes: *All full-time employees (and family members) are eligible to participate in our Medical, Dental, and Vision plans *Flexible Spending Accounts for Health and Dependent Care *Short-Term Disability & Long-Term Disability *Company Paid Basic Life and Accidental Death & Dismemberment Insurance *Eligibility in the Company's 401K plan, after 90 days of employment *Paid Time Off (vacation/sick) - accrual of 15 days per calendar year for non-warehouse positions; accrual of 10 days per calendar year for hourly based warehouse positions *10 Company Paid Holidays *Employee Product Discounts *Tuition Assistance *Employee Assistance Program *Volunteer Opportunities- 4 hours of paid optional volunteer time (annually) *Seattle, WA based employees are provided with commute trip reduction incentives *Benefits are offered to employees who work 30 hours or more In addition to the above, we offer voluntary benefits. Lifetime Brands, is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply, and will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics, and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability. This job posting contains a pay range, which represents the range of salaries or hourly rates that Lifetime Brands believes, in good faith, at the time of this posting that it might be willing to pay for the posted job. Lifetime Brands expects to hire for this position near the middle of the range. Only in truly rare and exceptional circumstances, where an external candidate has experience, credentials or expertise that far exceed those required or expected for the position, would Lifetime Brands consider paying a salary or rate near the higher end of the range.