Category Manager, Sundries

The Category Manager, Sundries owns the sundries business for Canada end to end: assortment strategy, vendor relationships and negotiation, pricing and promotional strategy, and stocking model efficiency. This role provides full category leadership for sundries, working closely with Sales, Operations, Finance, and Marketing to build a disciplined, well-negotiated, and well-merchandised category that supports the broader paint business. This role operates on a hybrid schedule, requiring three days per week in-office at either our Boucherville, QC or Vaughan, ON location. Key Responsibilities: Conduct a full assortment deep-dive: product line review (PLR), identification of RFQ opportunities, assortment gaps, and rationalization of underperforming SKUs and categories. Own direct vendor negotiation for Canadian and shared North American vendors, sourcing competitive bids and holding vendors accountable to clear category, format, and customer-need parameters Review and optimize the stocking model (DC vs. direct-to-store, inventory levels by category) to improve GMROI and operational efficiency. Coordinate on national-brand vendor negotiations where shared North American buying power is relevant, while retaining full decision authority over Canadian assortment and go-to-market strategy. Direct promotional strategy for sundries, including competitive shop analysis, and determine where the business should run EDLP pricing versus deeper promotional mechanics, by store format and customer segment (DIY walk-in, residential repaint, Pro). Collaborate with the paint marketing team to align sundries promotional content with broader marketing and promotional efforts, including flyers, POP, and in-store communication. Monitor price realization and margin capture by pricing mechanism and recommend adjustments to protect margin as vendor costs change. Partner with Finance to build and present the cost structure case for a focused, efficient assortment, including the cost of one-off/special-order fulfillment, shipping, and stocking exceptions. Work with Sales and Operations leadership to drive field execution of the chosen assortment, supporting the shift away from ad hoc special-order fulfillment toward a disciplined, sell-what-we-stock model. Support the broader in-store attachment and selling-behavior initiative by ensuring the assortment, planograms, and merchandising standards actively contribute to that effort's success Manage the administrative interfaces required to operate the category, including coordination on price list maintenance, cost/price analysis, vendor revenue, rebates, direct orders, and inventory management with relevant support functions. Establish and maintain category-level reporting on assortment performance, vendor scorecards, margin, and promotional effectiveness. Track and report on planogram currency across sundries categories, prioritizing categories with outdated assortments. Provide regular updates to the Director, Product Management, and collaborate with Sales leadership on category performance and field execution. Experience 5+ years of experience in category management, buying, or merchandising, ideally in a retail, building materials, or specialty hardgoods environment. Demonstrated experience negotiating directly with vendors on cost, terms, and promotional funding. Strong analytical skills; comfortable working with assortment, margin, and inventory data to make and defend recommendations. Experience with planogram development and in-store merchandising standards is an asset. Ability to work cross-functionally and build alignment across Sales, Operations, Finance, and Marketing, without needing a large team to do so. Comfortable operating with significant ownership; this is an individual-contributor role with broad category authority rather than a large direct-report structure. Bilingual (English/French) an asset given the Canadian market. We don’t use AI in our recruitment process. All hiring decisio…

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