Nathan James is looking for a Category Manager to join our team that will help support the company’s growth by developing and managing a compelling, well-balanced product assortment by leading the furniture product development division.

Design-first home, People-first company.

We are a design-first, home furnishing company focusing on the habits of urban dwellers and first time home buyers. We pride ourselves on the best in class customer happiness, providing the highest possible quality products that are affordable for the majority and assembly that isn’t dreadful.

 

You’ll be responsible for leading the Product Development, Furniture division within the Product function at Nathan James, developing and managing the growth of our product assortment in order to drive sales and profit objectives. You will need to ensure that the company meets its KPIs of annual sales per new product developed. 

 

A big part of this role is being a highly analytical, self-motivated leader with a strong eye for home design. You will lead and grow the Product Development, Furniture division in order to support the company growth. You will develop efficient mechanisms with our Director of Product in order to simplify and improve the product development cycle. 

 

You will analyze market research, consumer insights, and internal sales data to identify emerging trends and develop strategic assortment plans across multiple sub-categories within home furniture. You will manage Product Engineers (currently one) in order to define product design requirements during development seasons and collaborate with overseas technical teams to bring successful, on-brand products to the market.  You will be expected to define overarching goals and strategy for your categories, problem-solve, articulate and execute against tactical plans, and manage category performance metrics.

 

During training, you’ll be expected to learn about the performance of our current assortment, have the ability to navigate around our current sales data and as well as perform external market research reports at a SKU and sub-category level. Once fully up-to-speed (2-3 months), you will have full ownership to build the assortment plan for future product launches.  You will also assess any hiring needs for our growing team.

 

We have a rhythm to our work and a very low turnover rate — we have yet to have a single team member opt-out. Your voice matters to us. We make change from fresh perspectives and appreciate new viewpoints, so you should feel comfortable speaking up about your values and goals.

 

We’re ready for the ongoing work that goes into building an inclusive, supportive place for you to do the best work of your career. Our values, workplace, and our benefits are designed to support a sustainable, healthy relationship with your work. Our operating values provide the framework we use in building a healthy, resilient organization.

 

You can expect a mindful onboarding process with ramp-up and time to learn. You can expect a team that listens, and to be heard. You can expect to give and provide direct feedback. You can expect to work with good people. You can expect to be counted on. You can expect to do your best work and build a career here.

 

You are a highly analytical, self-motivated individual with a passion for home interior trends and furniture designs.  You have a proven ability to understand the e-commerce market, recognize product potential and lead assortment planning from a merchant’s perspective.  We prefer you to have a minimum of 5 years’ experience in retail merchandising and/or planning as well as at least 2+ years experience in product development.  Experience within the home furnishings industry is a strong plus.

 

For this position, you will be expected to be the driving force behind our Product Development  Division; therefore, you should have 2+ years of managerial experience and a passion to improve the work experience for those that work within your division as well as interdepartmental interactions.  

 

You will need to be flexible to change within the work environment and scope of responsibility as we are a growing company.  You will also need to be capable of streamlining and improving processes and troubleshooting.  

 

For this role, we do require that your normal workday has at least 4 hours overlap with the CST time-zone without impinging on your personal/family life.

 

This is a remote role, since we are a remote company! You’re free to work where you work best, anywhere in the world where you can have a quiet place to take phone calls: home office, coworking space, coffee shops. While we currently have an office in Montreal, you should be comfortable working remotely—most of the company does! That hinges on effective writing, self-discipline, and comfort with open communication.

 

Our benefits are all aimed at supporting a life well lived, both at work and away from work.

We’re all about reasonable working hours, sharing, ample vacation time, wellness, education, comfort, and giving back. See our benefits and perks here

Please submit an application here that speaks directly to this position here 

There are no right answers or cookie-cutter expectations. A cover letter is not required, but those that clearly demonstrate how Nathan James would be a great fit for you and how you would be a great fit for us will be given full attention and are highly appreciated. 

We’re accepting applications until April 16, 2020 00:00:00 UTC. 

Next: We expect to take a week to review all applications. 

You’ll hear from us by April 27, 2020 about advancement to an introduction call. Then on to an interview. Our interviews are one hour to 1.5 hours all remote by Whereby video chat (no software needed), with your future colleagues, on your schedule.

We aim to make an offer by June 9, 2020 at the latest with a start date in late June.

We appreciate your consideration in having Nathan James be part of your career. Our open conversation starts with this post. We look forward to hearing from you.