Category Manager

Why this role exists

This is the growth strategist seat, and the only role that owns a P&L end to end. You connect demand to conversion to margin, decide what the business sells and at what profitability, and build advertising and retail media as a new revenue line. The other four roles run the machine; this role decides where it goes.

What you own

• The P&L of the brand: demand shaping, margin, and profitability
• The full stitch from demand generation to conversion to margin sanctity
• Deals, promotions, and pricing experiments, and the discipline that keeps them profitable
• Ad monetisation and retail media as a net-new revenue line, with suppliers and brands paying for visibility
• Cross-functional resolution of post-purchase experience and inventory issues, so growth does not break the customer or the margin

What you will do

• Own category strategy: which categories to grow, which to defend, and the margin and contribution targets for each
• Shape demand through assortment, pricing, and promotion, and work with Performance and Merchandising to convert it without giving away margin
• Design and run the deals and promotions calendar with clean ROI measurement, not blanket discounting
• Build the retail-media business: ad placements, supplier-funded visibility, and the commercial model behind it
• Sit at the centre of cross-functional issues (post-purchase experience, inventory, stockouts, returns) and resolve the ones that hurt growth or margin
• Be the person who can say what a category will deliver in revenue and in margin, and then deliver it

How you will be measured

• Category P&L: revenue with margin, gross margin percentage, and contribution margin
• Retail-media and ad-monetisation revenue built from zero
• Promotion ROI and discount efficiency, measured as margin protected per rupee of promo
• Inventory and demand-forecast health: sell-through, stockout, and overstock rates

What good looks like in your first 6 to 12 months

• By month 6, the category P&L owned and delivering against the margin and contribution targets you set, with growth and margin moving together rather than trading off
• The first real retail-media revenue booked from paying partners, a net-new line that did not exist before, with a model proven enough to scale in year two
• A promotions and deals framework that measurably protected margin per rupee of promo versus the prior blanket-discount approach, shown with before-and-after numbers

Must-haves

• MBA or PGDM
• 7 to 8+ years across category management, business or P&L management, or commercial roles, ideally at a platform or e-commerce business
• Demonstrated ownership of a P&L or contribution margin, with results
• Strong commercial and analytical judgement across pricing, margin, promotions, and inventory
• The cross-functional weight to align category, supply, operations, and marketing

Preferred

• Retail-media or ad-monetisation build experience
• Vendor and supplier relationships in a relevant category
• Healthcare, pharma, or B2B commerce exposure

This role is for you if

You think like an owner, you are as fluent in margin as in growth, and you want to build a new revenue line rather than inherit one. It is not for you if you want a marketing brief without P&L accountability.