lululemon

Sourcing Category Manager

Reporting to the Manager, Sourcing, the Sourcing Category Manager will be the resident expert in sourcing, costing and delivering margins against our hardgoods accessories products, which include products such as yoga, training, and water bottles. The Sourcing Category Manager will co-develop and maintain the hard goods source plan for short, mid and long-term basis in accordance to global sourcing strategy. They will develop factory relationships to develop capabilities aligned with their product category to deliver quality products in a timely, consistent manner. The Sourcing Category Manager will develop plans and strategies that will address category specific margin goals.  

Sourcing Department

We are the Sourcing Department. We manage the relationship with our apparel & accessories vendors & ensure that lululemon has best in the world manufacturers. We work cross-functionally across the entire product team to ensure product meets our business strategy, quality & cost goals. We then work with our vendors to make those products a reality.

A day in the life of a Sourcing Category Manager

• Manage category vendor relationship on long range planning, challenges and opportunities.  
• Translate long range strategies to drive seasonal allocation and execution priorities
• Negotiate category vendor costing in partnership with Costing and LLO Merch team where applicable.
• Ensure cost and margin for assigned category meets target
• Manage data analysis of product cost and margin, including data updates in costing systems where applicable
• Develop action plans to mitigate Margin/Capacity risk and proposals to reduce cost working closely with cross functional partners.
• Support sourcing of and onboarding of new vendors successfully working closely with supply chain onboarding team
• Build strong relationships with vendors and cross functional teams to help foster partnership and trust
• Track all GTM Calendar by whens and ensure that all sourcing seasonal calendar timelines are met 

The finer print 

• You have over 7-10 years experience working closely & building relationships with off-shore manufacturers
• You are an expert in the hard goods manufacturing process & are familiar with operating principles such as LEAN, ISO & Continuous Improvement
• You have experience in training and fitness products with knowledge of electronic products
• You have visited countless factories & have a keen eye for quality, compliance & process optimization
• You can manage multiple projects working with a variety of cross-functional partners
• You have no problem getting your hands dirty & negotiating face to face
• You enjoy Excel, Power BI and Smartsheet