Associate Category Manager

Job Title: Associate Category Manager – Bags
Supervises: None
Department: Easton Product
FLSA Status: Exempt
Reports to: Director/BUL BHP & Bags
Location: 112 S. Lakeview Canyon Road Suite 150 Thousand Oaks, CA 91362
Salary Range: $60,000-$75,000 annually

General Overview: Assist with the implementation and merchandising of new products for the sporting goods trade channels. Partner with Sales, Operations, R&D, Engineering, Supply & Demand, and Finance Teams to ensure effective, timely and profitable rollouts, while executing basic product line management tasks daily.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Line Planning

• Collaborate with the product and sales team to ensure product plans are aligned with business goals, retailer priorities and overall revenue growth.
• Assist in the implementation of dealer specific product assortments to drive incremental growth.
• Synthesize feedback from multiple sources, including player feedback, competitive analysis, data analysis and market research to ensure products meet performance expectations for dealers, retail customers, players, and coaches.
• Assist sales department and sales analyst in the pricing approval process.

Product Creation

• Create briefs that provide guidance to the R&D Development team to ensure achievement of seasonal goals consistent with brand positioning and growth initiatives of the company.
• Conduct user feedback and research sessions to understand user pain points, desired features and market perception to support product strategy.
• Liaise with product development to ensure product is on time, at the target cost and best in class.
• Shepard projects through multiple gates and milestones to bring them to buy ready status.
• Plan and ensure delivery of product samples.
• Travel to manufacturing facilities to observe and assist in the development process is required.

Marketing

• Co-ordinate with marketing to ensure product stories are well communicated and consistent with category objectives.
• Assists in marketing functions such as PR, trade shows and events, website, photography and catalog.

Information Management

• Ensure consistency and accuracy of information throughout the product line within company information systems.
• Manage Item setup, SKU status, pricing updates, line.
• Generate line plans starting at the SKU level and produce analysis to support business decisions.
• Create account/channel specific line review presentations by product line.
• Serves as category liaison to the sales, inventory & operations team.

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Marketing, Project Management, or comparable/applicable work experience in consumer goods
• One year of work experience in an office environment
• Well versed with the Microsoft Office Suite
• A passion for baseball or softball, and consumer goods
• Team player with excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills.
• Self-starter, project driven and able to manage project calendar to meet deadlines.
• Energetic with a strong work ethic. Highly organized and success driven.
• Travel domestically and internationally of up to 20% required.

Preferred, but not required attributes:

• Strong preference for experience in using Microsoft Excel to manipulate large data sets with nested functions.
• Preference for someone who and has played collegiate, travel team, and/or high school sports.
• Prior experience with an enterprise resource planning system such as SAP or JDE a plus
• Prior experience in packaging and point of sale materials a plus.
• One year experience or exposure to product development or Rawlings/Easton lines a plus

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit and use hands; need finger dexterity. The employee is frequently required to reach with hands and arms. The employee is occasionally required to stand and walk. The employee will occasionally lift, push and/or move objects weighing 25-50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, and color vision. Employee will be required to hear telephone.

This job description does not list all the duties of the job. Incumbent may be asked to perform other instructions and/or duties.