Category Assistant / Specialist

Role Overview

Category and Commercial Support

• Provide administrative and analytical support for category planning, execution, performance reporting, budgeting, forecasting, and business reviews.
• Analyze sales, revenue, units, gross margin, inventory, sell-through, targets, budgets, and category variances.
• Identify best-selling, slow-moving, declining, and emerging products and support category reviews and range decisions.
• Prepare dashboards, Excel reports, analytical tools, presentations, calendars, action plans, and management materials.

Product and Inventory Operations

• Maintain product lists, master data, category hierarchies, descriptions, attributes, brands, prices, and other product information.
• Coordinate product setup and data corrections across ERP, POS, e-commerce, and other systems.
• Support product launches, seasonal range changes, stock availability, replenishment, stock reviews, clearance, and markdown activities.
• Support assortment planning, SKU rationalization, new-product introductions, product exits, store execution, planograms, and seasonal resets.

Market, Pricing, and Supplier Work

• Conduct competitor and market research covering assortment, pricing, promotions, brands, product launches, trends, and customer preferences.
• Support pricing analysis, promotional calendars, campaign execution, promotional product lists, and sales-uplift analysis.
• Maintain supplier records and prepare supplier-performance reports covering sales, margins, availability, service levels, and promotions.
• Support supplier meetings, business reviews, commercial negotiations, agreements, category commitments, and follow-up actions.

Systems and Analytical Tools

• Use Microsoft Excel, ERP systems, POS systems, inventory-management systems, merchandise-planning platforms, e-commerce platforms, CRM tools, and business-intelligence dashboards.
• Strong Excel skills including PivotTables, XLOOKUP/VLOOKUP, SUMIFS, charts, data validation, and basic dashboards are highly desirable.
• Experience with SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Power BI, Tableau, Salesforce, or category-management software is advantageous.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or diploma in business administration, retail management, marketing, merchandising, commerce, economics, finance, or a related discipline.
• 1–4+ years of experience in retail, category support, merchandising, buying, sales analysis, commercial operations, or a related function.
• Strong analytical, numerical, Excel, reporting, communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills.
• Fluency in English is required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Previous experience in category management, buying, merchandising, merchandise planning, pricing, promotional analysis, supplier coordination, inventory, e-commerce, or omnichannel retail.
• Experience in the UAE retail market is highly desirable, and experience across the UAE and GCC is advantageous.
• Arabic fluency is an advantage.

Retail Environment

• The role requires understanding UAE retail customer preferences, shopping-mall dynamics, seasonality, tourism, promotional calendars, competitive pricing, and regional buying behavior.
• The category scope may include fashion, beauty, electronics, grocery, home, sports, luxury, consumer goods, health and wellness, specialty retail, e-commerce, and omnichannel retail.

Employer Offering

• Competitive salary and performance-based incentives are offered.
• The role provides exposure to category management, merchandising, buying, planning, pricing, supplier management, and retail channels.
• The employer describes professional development and career progression opportunities in retail analytics and commercial operations.