Category & Retail Marketing, Director chez Gardner White Furniture

Description

Summary:

The Director, Category & Retail Marketing leads go-to-market planning for one or more major product categories (e.g., Living Room, Mattress, Clearance, Bedroom). As the “GM of the category marketing plan,” this role is responsible for translating merchandising strategies into customer-facing campaigns, in-store activations, and digital experiences that drive traffic, revenue, and brand differentiation. This leader serves as the marketing counterpart to Merchandising, working across media, creative, CRM, and vendor teams to ensure every product story is brought to life with seasonal relevance, compelling offers, and strong visual storytelling.

Key Cross-Functional Partners: Category Merchants, Inventory Planning & Pricing Teams, Creative Services, CRM & Lifecycle Marketing, Media Planning & Marketing Communications, Store Operations & Visual Merchandising, Ecommerce & Site Merchandising, Vendor & Supplier Brand Teams

Essential Functions:

• Build seasonal, category-specific marketing plans aligned with business goals, brand strategy, and customer segmentation
• Translate merchandising calendars and inventory flows into consumer-facing campaign ideas
• Brief Creative, Media, and CRM teams on category priorities and activation needs
• Develop and execute promotions that connect category strategy to customer behavior and channel nuances
• Ensure consistent, on-brand activation across in-store signage, site experiences, and email/digital campaigns
• Partner with Store Ops and Ecommerce to ensure offer clarity and customer experience consistency
• Collaborate with Vendor Partnership Manager on co-op strategy and funding opportunities
• Secure vendor support for campaign execution and storytelling
• Provide clear proof-of-performance for vendor activations
• Track category-level KPIs and campaign performance in collaboration with Marketing Analyst
• Partner with CRM to target segments with personalized offers and retention programs
• Help lead Monthly Business Review discussions related to category performance.

Requirements

Qualifications:

• 7–10 years of experience in category marketing, brand management, or retail marketing
• Proven ability to translate business goals into customer-facing marketing campaigns
• Experience managing promotions, pricing communication, and vendor collaboration
• Strong cross-functional leadership and influence skills
• Excellent brief writing, storytelling, and retail execution instincts

Success Metrics:

• Category sales and margin growth vs. plan
• Campaign performance (traffic lift, promo ROI, conversion)
• Vendor marketing contributions and POP delivery
• On-time execution of marketing activations
• Internal satisfaction from Merchandising, Store Ops, and Creative teams

Supervisory Responsibilities:

This position does not have any supervisory responsibilities. 

Work Environment:

This role operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.

Physical Demands:

The employee is occasionally required to sit; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

Travel:

This role will require travel as needed.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work:

This is a full-time position working general business hours but may be required to adjust the schedule to support the needs of the business.

This job description is intended to convey information essential to understanding the scope of this position. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of qualifications, skills, duties, or responsibilities associated with the role.