Category Lead - Beauty & Wellness

Role Summary

The Category Head – Beauty & Wellness will be responsible for building, launching, and scaling the Beauty & Wellness business. The role combines full P&L ownership, category strategy, assortment curation, brand partnerships, commercial trading, and cross-functional leadership to create a differentiated destination for beauty and wellness customers. The role will drive revenue growth, profitability, customer acquisition, retention, and long-term category expansion across digital and Phygital store.

Key Responsibilities

1. Category Strategy & P&L Ownership

Define and execute the Beauty & Wellness category vision aligned with overall business objectives and customer strategy.
Own category P&L including revenue, gross margin, contribution margin, inventory productivity, marketing efficiency, and profitability.
Develop and execute a 1–3 year growth roadmap covering assortment expansion, brand portfolio development, marketplace opportunities, omnichannel initiatives, and regional growth.
Analyze market trends, consumer behavior, competitive landscape, and emerging opportunities across beauty and wellness sectors within the GCC.
Identify whitespace opportunities and new growth segments to drive category leadership.

2. Assortment & Brand Portfolio Management

Build and manage a differentiated portfolio across:
Skincare
Makeup
Fragrance
Haircare
Personal Care
Wellness & Self-Care
Vitamins & Supplements
Functional Nutrition
Women's Wellness
Fitness & Recovery
Clean, Natural & Sustainable Products
Develop category architecture including price ladders, customer segments, hero products, exclusive launches, bundles, and subscription offerings.
Source, negotiate, and onboard leading regional and international brands including the marketplace model.
Lead commercial negotiations covering margins, rebates, marketing investments, exclusivity, payment terms, inventory commitments, and promotional support.
Establish strategic partnerships with key suppliers to drive innovation, exclusives, and category differentiation.

3. Commercial Trading, Pricing & Growth

Build and execute the annual trading calendar covering key retail moments such as Ramadan, Eid, Summer, Back-to-School, White Friday, Singles Day, 11.11, 12.12, New Year Wellness, and gifting occasions.
Define pricing and promotional strategies balancing competitiveness, premium positioning, customer value, and profitability.
Drive growth through promotions, bundles, replenishment programs, subscriptions, and loyalty initiatives.
Monitor and optimize key KPIs including:
Revenue
Margin
Conversion
Average Order Value (AOV)
Sell-through
Customer Acquisition
Repeat Purchase Rate
Inventory Turnover
Category Market Share
Lead weekly and monthly business reviews and implement corrective actions to maximize performance.

4. Customer Experience & Omnichannel Merchandising

Partner with Product, UX, CRM, and Marketing teams to create a best-in-class Beauty & Wellness shopping experience.
Develop category navigation, product discovery journeys, routines, wellness goals, personalized recommendations, and educational content.
Ensure best-in-class product content including ingredients, benefits, certifications, usage guidance, routines, reviews, before-and-after imagery, and expert recommendations.
Drive onsite merchandising strategy including category pages, landing pages, search optimization, ranking logic, and cross-category recommendations.
Build customer engagement programs focused on replenishment, loyalty, subscriptions, sampling, and community-led discovery.
Identify opportunities to integrate beauty and wellness with fashion and lifestyle categories to increase basket size and customer lifetime value.

5. Supply Chain, Inventory & Operations

Partner with Planning and Supply Chain teams to manage demand forecasting, inventory investments, replenishment, launch planning, and lifecycle management.
Optimize inventory health, stock cover, markdown exposure, and working capital efficiency.
Ensure operational readiness for beauty and wellness-specific requirements including storage, shelf-life management, temperature-sensitive products, compliance, and returns handling.
Drive availability and fulfillment excellence while minimizing stock-outs and excess inventory.

6. Marketing, Partnerships & Customer Growth

Collaborate with Brand Marketing, CRM, Social Commerce, Influencer Marketing, and Performance Marketing teams to drive customer acquisition and retention.
Develop integrated category campaigns, product launches, influencer partnerships, and brand collaborations.
Build category awareness through educational content, wellness programs, expert partnerships, and community engagement initiatives.
Drive customer lifecycle strategies focused on repeat purchases, replenishment behavior, and long-term loyalty.

7. Team Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration

Build and lead a high-performing team across category management, buying, merchandising, and trading.
Foster a culture of commercial excellence, customer obsession, innovation, and accountability.
Collaborate closely with Product, Operations, Finance, Marketing, CRM, Marketplace, and Retail teams to deliver category objectives.
Mentor and develop future category leaders within the organization.