Category Assistant / Specialist

🛒 We're Hiring: Category Assistant / Specialist📍 Location: United Arab Emirates (Remote) 🕒 Employment Type: Full-Time 💼 Experience Level: Entry-Level to Mid-Level 🌐 Work Arrangement: Fully RemoteAbout UsWe are a commercially focused organization committed to building customer-relevant product categories, effective assortments, competitive pricing, strong supplier relationships, and sustainable category growth.Our teams collaborate across Category Management, Buying, Merchandising, Retail, Sales, Marketing, Strategic Sourcing, Inventory, Demand Planning, Supply Chain, Finance, and E-commerce to ensure categories perform effectively across all relevant channels.The RoleWe are seeking a Category Assistant / Specialist to support category administration, product and sales analysis, assortment management, supplier coordination, pricing, promotions, inventory monitoring, market research, and category reporting.The successful candidate will help Category Managers maintain accurate category information and turn sales, inventory, customer, supplier, and market data into practical insights and recommendations.Key ResponsibilitiesSupport Category Managers with day-to-day category activities.Maintain category trackers, calendars, databases, and documentation.Assist with category reviews and planning cycles.Prepare category reports, dashboards, presentations, and analysis.Coordinate category-related activities across Buying, Merchandising, Sales, Marketing, Procurement, Inventory, Supply Chain, Finance, and Retail Operations.Track category actions, deadlines, and deliverables.Follow up with internal and external stakeholders.Support category strategy implementation.Collect and consolidate category information.Assist with category performance analysis.Review sales, margin, volume, inventory, availability, and product-performance data.Compare actual performance against targets, budgets, forecasts, and prior periods.Identify significant variances and trends.Highlight underperforming and high-performing products.Support preparation of category recommendations.Maintain category hierarchies.Ensure products and SKUs are correctly assigned to categories and subcategories.Identify duplicate, incorrectly classified, inactive, or missing product information.Coordinate data corrections with relevant teams.Support category segmentation.Maintain accurate product, brand, supplier, and SKU classifications.Support assortment management.Review product performance by SKU, brand, store, channel, and category.Identify best sellers, slow movers, declining products, and emerging products.Support SKU introductions, substitutions, and discontinuations.Assist with assortment reviews.Identify assortment gaps and duplication.Coordinate assortment changes with Merchandising, Buying, Inventory, and Retail teams.Support new-product introductions.Maintain new-product trackers.Coordinate product information, pricing, supplier details, launch dates, and availability.Monitor new-product sales after launch.Report launch performance and issues.Support product lifecycle management.Track products approaching launch, maturity, phase-out, or discontinuation.Maintain product-status records.Coordinate product exits with relevant stakeholders.Support pricing analysis.Collect and analyze current product prices.Conduct competitor price checks.Compare price points and promotional pricing.Identify pricing discrepancies.Support price-change activities.Maintain approved price lists and category pricing files.Monitor pricing implementation.Support promotional activities.Maintain promotional calendars.Coordinate promotional product lists and pricing.Track promotional implementation.Monitor promotional sales and inventory performance.Compare promotional performance with regular sales.Identify significant promotional variances.Coordinate with Marketing, Merchandising, Sales, and suppliers.Support supplier coordination.Maintain supplier and product records.Collect supplier information and commercial documentation.Coordinate routine supplier communications.Track supplier quotations, product submissions, lead times, pricing, and availability.Support supplier-performance reporting.Escalate supplier delays, shortages, quality issues, and commercial discrepancies.Assist with sourcing and supplier-selection activities where required.Support RFQ and RFP processes.Collect supplier quotations.Prepare quotation comparisons.Assist with commercial evaluation.Maintain sourcing documentation.Support supplier negotiations by providing market, pricing, and product information.Monitor category inventory.Review stock levels, stock cover, sell-through, and product availability.Identify stockout risks.Identify excess and slow-moving inventory.Coordinate with Inventory and Demand Planning teams.Support replenishment and allocation activities.Monitor inventory following promotions and assortment changes.Assist with inventory-reduction initiatives.Support demand and sales forecasting.Provide category sales history and product assumptions to planning teams.Review forecast performance against actual sales.Highlight significant forecast changes.Support seasonal forecasting activities.Assist with market research.Monitor competitors, products, prices, promotions, new launches, and market trends.Collect customer and market insights.Prepare competitor comparisons.Identify emerging category opportunities.Support customer and shopper analysis.Analyze customer purchasing patterns where data is available.Identify customer preferences and product trends.Support customer-focused category decisions.Assist with e-commerce category activities.Maintain online product assortments.Check product information, descriptions, pricing, availability, and promotional content.Monitor online category performance.Identify product-content or availability gaps.Coordinate with E-commerce and Digital teams.Support omnichannel category management.Compare physical-store and online performance.Identify channel-specific assortment and pricing opportunities.Support merchandising activities.Assist with planograms, displays, product placement, and promotional execution.Monitor merchandising compliance.Coordinate product-display information with Retail and Merchandising teams.Support category space-management analysis where applicable.Assist with margin analysis.Review product cost, selling price, discounts, gross margin, and contribution.Identify margin variances.Support margin-improvement initiatives.Track supplier rebates, promotional contributions, discounts, and other commercial benefits where applicable.Coordinate with Finance on commercial reconciliations.Support category budgeting and financial planning.Maintain category sales and margin budgets.Track performance against financial targets.Prepare variance reports.Assist with category business cases and investment analysis.Support scenario analysis.Compare alternative product, supplier, pricing, promotional, and assortment options.Estimate potential impacts on sales, margin, and inventory.Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)Performance will be measured through a combination of category, commercial, inventory, supplier, and operational KPIs, including:Category sales performanceCategory sales growthGross-margin performanceSKU productivitySell-through rateInventory turnoverStock coverStockout rateProduct availabilityExcess inventorySlow-moving inventoryNew-product performanceAssortment productivityPricing accuracyPrice competitivenessPromotional executionPromotional upliftSupplier response rateSupplier performanceSupplier on-time deliverySourcing savingsCost avoidanceForecast accuracyCategory-reporting accuracyCategory-data accuracyCategory-project completionAction-item closure rateProduct-master-data accuracyE-commerce assortment accuracyStakeholder satisfactionCandidate ProfileThe successful candidate should have experience or strong academic exposure in category management, retail, merchandising, buying, procurement, sales analysis, inventory, commercial operations, or a closely related discipline.This role is suitable for someone who is analytical, commercially aware, organized, detail-oriented, and comfortable working with product and performance data.What You'll BringExperience in retail, category management, merchandising, buying, procurement, sales, or a related function is advantageous.Strong interest in category management and commercial planning.Good understanding of retail and product-management principles.Strong analytical and numerical capabilities.Ability to analyze sales and SKU-level data.Basic understanding of category KPIs such as sales, margin, sell-through, stock cover, and inventory turnover.Strong Microsoft Excel skills, including PivotTables, lookup functions, and data analysis.Experience with ERP, retail, merchandising, inventory, procurement, or category-management systems is advantageous.Experience with Power BI, Tableau, SQL, or other analytical tools is advantageous.Strong attention to detail.Good market-research and competitor-analysis skills.Strong organizational and administrative capabilities.Good communication and presentation skills.Ability to work effectively with suppliers and internal stakeholders.Strong follow-up and coordination skills.Good problem-solving abilities.Ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines.Strong teamwork and collaboration skills.Ability to work independently and effectively within a fully remote environment.Relevant diploma or degree in Business Administration, Retail Management, Marketing, Merchandising, Supply Chain, Procurement, Economics, Finance, or a related discipline.CIPS, CIM, CPIM, CSCP, or other relevant certification is advantageous.Knowledge of UAE/GCC retail markets is advantageous.Arabic language proficiency is advantageous.