Opticians Category Manager

Welcome to the Boots Opticians Commercial Team - an exciting and fast paced team at the heart of Boots Optician's customer proposition and growth plans. As customers are changing, so are we! We're focusing on really understanding our customers' needs and making sure we have brands and products to excite them, and meet their needs. Our team is all about collaboration, ensuring we work effectively across Support Offices and from Suppliers right through to Stores
Reporting to the Head of Commercial, this Category Manager role is responsible for the end-to-end management of products and suppliers across our Frame, Lens and Accessories & Solutions categories. The role leads a team of four Buyers, and these categories account for more than 60% of Boots Optician's annual revenue. You will, Manage the frame, lens and accessories & solutions product categories; work through a team of buyers and across business functions to execute activity which ensures Boots Opticians meets the needs of our customers through our product portfolio, driving category margin growth
Deliver product and category performance analysis to generate meaningful insights which drive business and category review
Lead a team of Buyers to execute category, product, supplier and pricing strategies, managing end to end product lifecycle, and cost and retail pricing
Manage supplier negotiations and contracts; drive category margin through end to end supplier negotiations including cost pricing and securing supplier funding to support refresh and promotion activity
Budgeting, forecasting and performance reporting; develop and use category insight to inform budget and forecast planning and review delivery against category objectives
What you'll need to have
Strategic thinking and execution; able to define category and growth strategies, and effectively plan and implement change across multiple stakeholders and a large retail estate
Ability to interpret data to draw meaningful insight and make decisions to drive commercial benefit
Budgeting; able to develop budgets and forecasts to plan for the impact of various activities
Negotiation; with suppliers (and multiple internal stakeholders) to navigate decisions and drive strategic commercial benefit
Leadership and influencing; lead a team to plan and execute change across the category, and work cross functionally with multiple stakeholders to deliver

Optical industry knowledge; understanding of the levers and interdependencies between categories in this sector
Buying and product development experience
Our benefits
Boots Retirement Savings Plan
Discretionary annual bonus
Generous employee discounts
Enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption leave pay and gift card for anyone expecting or adopting a child
including holiday buying, discounted gym membership, life assurance, activity passes and more.
Access to free, 24/7 counselling and support through TELUS Health, our Employee Assistance Programme.
We have a great range of benefits in addition to the above that offer flexibility to suit you - find out more at . Please note, any salary estimates given on third-party sites are not provided or endorsed by Boots and may not be accurate.
Why Boots Opticians
At Boots Opticians, we foster a working environment where consideration and inclusivity help everyone to be themselves and reach their full potential. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, passionate about embracing the diversity of our colleagues and providing a positive and inclusive working environment for all. Join our team and let's see what's possible when we change for the better.
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