Sr. Category Manager

Job Description: Position Summary Senior Category Managers serve as product experts for School Reading Events (Book Fairs and Book Clubs), leading the strategic development, curation, and merchandising of compelling book assortments across the Scholastic Dollars Catalog and Classroom Collections businesses. This role drives category sales, profitability, inventory productivity, and customer redemption while advancing Scholastic’s mission to encourage children around the world to read and grow. Senior Category Managers are responsible for developing and executing category strategies, acquiring relevant and engaging titles, managing publisher relationships, and partnering cross-functionally to optimize product performance and customer experience across redemption programs. The ideal candidate is a strategic, analytically driven category leader with a strong understanding of the book market, a passion for reading and education, and the ability to translate customer insights and business objectives into compelling assortments that drive growth. Key Responsibilities Category Strategy & Financial Performance Manage high-volume book categories within the Scholastic Dollars Catalog and Classroom Collections businesses, driving performance against sales, profitability, and inventory productivity goals. Develop and execute strategic category plans aligned with business objectives, identifying opportunities to maximize revenue, improve profitability, and increase customer redemption. Establish category priorities and evaluate performance to inform business decisions, identify growth opportunities, and drive continuous improvement. Product Assortment & Acquisition Lead the development of compelling, customer-focused product assortments, pricing strategies, and product presentation plans across customer redemption programs. Read, review, evaluate, select, and acquire relevant, high-performing titles and products for redemption programs, balancing customer needs, market trends, and financial objectives. Analyze product sales, market research, and customer insights to inform product selections, identify emerging trends, uncover new categories, and capitalize on opportunities for incremental growth. Partner with Scholastic Trade and Book Fair Category Management teams to maximize title ordering efficiencies and identify opportunities for cross-divisional collaboration. Vendor & Publisher Relationships Build and maintain strategic relationships with publishers and vendors to support the growth and success of the Scholastic Dollars Catalog and Classroom Collections businesses. Negotiate product costs, vendor terms, and promotional support to improve margins and achieve category financial objectives. Evaluate tariff regulations and assess their impact on product costs, sourcing decisions, and profitability. Inventory Planning & Financial Optimization Partner with the Inventory Planning team to develop inventory strategies aligned with sales trends, inventory positions, and financial goals. Provide item-level demand forecasts and purchasing recommendations to project, quantify, and procure inventory needed to support sales demand while maintaining alignment with established open-to-buy plans. Monitor inventory productivity and sell-through, identifying opportunities to optimize inventory investment and mitigate excess inventory risk. Marketing, Merchandising & Sales Enablement Collaborate with Product Marketing and cross-functional partners to develop and execute promotional strategies for the book category that drive customer engagement, redemption, and revenue growth. Lead catalog merchandising strategy for the book category, partnering with Marketing to ensure accurate, compelling, and effective execution. Develop product merchandising plans and provide strategic direction to the E-Commerce team and E-Commerce Specialist to ensure effective online product presentation and alignment with category priorities. Support sales team product training …

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