[Hiring] Director of Category Management & Merchandising @SSP

Role Description

We are seeking a strategic, commercially minded Director of Category Management & Merchandising to define and scale our retail and category strategy across snack/impulse, non-alcoholic beverage, and an expanded portfolio of retail and travel essentials. Reporting to the Vice President, Commercial, this leader will build a best-in-class, multi-category retail program that drives revenue growth, margin expansion, and a better customer experience alongside our core food and beverage operations.

This is an ideal opportunity for a leader who enjoys building category strategy, shaping the physical retail experience, using data to grow sales and margin, and developing a team that executes consistently in the field.

What You'll Do:

• Serve as SSP America's subject matter expert and strategic advisor for category management, merchandising, planograms, space allocation, and pricing and promotional strategy.
• Define and execute a holistic retail and category strategy that integrates snack/impulse, non-alcoholic beverage, and expanded retail categories into one cohesive commercial approach.
• Establish SSP America as a competitor in travel retail and convenience formats, identifying new revenue streams through fresh food, travel essentials, and emerging consumer trends.
• Lead the creation and optimization of planograms, merchandising frameworks, and space allocation strategies across all formats, including fresh and prepared food categories.
• Partner with Design & Construction to set retail design standards for new builds, renovations, and conversions.
• Deliver against key commercial KPIs, including average transaction value, capture rate, margin, and incremental sales.
• Develop pricing and promotion strategies with Commercial and Finance, and partner with Operations and Marketing to execute promotions.
• Lead end-to-end execution of new program rollouts, including product selection and testing, POS setup, and post-launch performance analysis.
• Build strategic relationships with key suppliers and distributors, managing and growing the supplier income program.
• Lead and mentor a team of category managers, retail buyers, and merchandisers.
• Build a high-performance culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement aligned with SSP America's Core Values.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree (or international equivalent) in Marketing, Business Management, Finance, or a related field.
• Minimum of 8 to 10 years of experience in the hospitality, retail, or food service industry.
• Proven experience in multi-unit restaurant, retail, or foodservice operations.
• Deep understanding of category management principles for food and beverage products.
• Experience leading, developing, and mentoring teams of category managers, retail buyers, or merchandisers.
• Strong understanding of P&L, sales, and profitability.
• Proven experience interacting with and advising senior leaders.
• Excellent communication, presentation, organization, and problem-solving skills.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office and planogram software.
• Ability to establish and maintain eligibility to work in the United States without sponsorship.
• Ability to travel less than 20% within the U.S. and Canada.
• Ability to pass and maintain a criminal background check and meet airport security requirements.

Requirements

• Experience in travel retail, airport concessions, convenience, or grab-and-go foodservice formats.
• Experience expanding merchandising into fresh and prepared food categories.
• Experience partnering with design and construction teams on retail buildouts.
• Experience managing supplier income programs and marketing funds.
• Working knowledge of marketing and graphics software.

Benefits

This role shapes what travelers see and buy at SSP America locations in airports nationwide. You'll build a multi-category retail program inside a complex, growing organization, with direct access to senior leadership and real influence over strategy, assortment, store design, and commercial results.

If you're passionate about category strategy, merchandising, retail design, and building programs that travelers notice and operators can execute, we'd love to hear from you.

Apply today and help us build the future of Retail at SSP America.