Category Manager — Office Furniture & Specialised Filing – Johannesburg | On-site at Datafin Recruitment

Environment

• A leading Retailer seeks a hands-on Category Manager to own the Office Furniture & Specialised Filing portfolio end-to-end. You’ll shape range, pricing, suppliers and promotions, while partnering with Head of Procurement (stock optimisation) and the Furniture Warehouse Manager (delivery & installation scheduling) to ensure OTIF, customer delight and sustainable margin growth.

What you’ll do

• Own the category P&L: range architecture, pricing & margin, promo calendar, demand planning and stock turns.
• Supplier strategy: source, negotiate and contract with furniture and filing manufacturers/distributors; monitor SLAs, lead times, warranties and after-sales service.
• Specialised filing: specify, cost and deliver high-density/compact/mobile shelving, archive & records-management solutions, plan chests, tambour/steel cabinetry and fire-rated storage; oversee site surveys, BOQs and installation plans.
• Space planning & proposals: coordinate CAD/space plans (AutoCAD/SketchUp/2020 or similar), finishes boards, and customer presentations; train sales teams on ergonomics and product knowledge.
• Sales enablement: run pipeline reviews with sales; build bid packs/quotes (public & private sector), align with marketing on campaigns and assets.
• Operations & stock: balance demand vs inventory with Procurement; align with Warehouse on delivery & install schedules; manage returns, refurb, damages and warranties.
• Governance & reporting: maintain tender/quote registers, credit control within category, competitor tracking, and weekly KPIs (GP%, GMROI, DOS, fill rate, OTIF).
• What success looks like (KPIs)
• GM% and GMROI improvement; stock turn and days-of-supply within targets.
• RFQ/tender win rate growth in furniture & filing projects.
• OTIF delivery & installation > 95%; warranty/return rate reduction.
• Up-skilled sales force (space planning & product knowledge scores).

Must-have experience

• 5–7+ years in office furniture (systems/desking, ergonomic seating, storage) and specialised filing (high-density/compact/mobile shelving, archive solutions, plan/flat files, fire-rated cabinets).
• Proven category/range management, supplier negotiation, and margin ownership.
• Hands-on with site surveys, BOQs, installation coordination and after-sales.
• Comfort with space planning/CAD outputs and reading technical drawings.
• Strong commercial acumen: pricing, rebates, costings, and promo mechanics.
• Advanced MS Office; CRM/reporting discipline; excellent written & verbal comms.

Nice to have

• Public sector/tender exposure (bid packs, compliance, portal submissions).
• Ergonomics and H&S familiarity (basic OHSA/SANS/ISO 9241 principles).
• Experience selling into Property/Facilities, HOAs, Education & Government.
• Team leadership (merchandisers, planners, or project/install coordinators).

Attributes

•  Strategic yet hands-on; decisive negotiator; detail-driven; superb stakeholder management; thrives in a fast, project-based environment; integrity and accountability.