Purchasing & Category Manager / Team Lead - Fresh
Good Eggs
Oakland, CA, USA
Posted on Jan 16, 2025
About Good Eggs
At our core, we represent radical freshness, impeccable quality, curated selections and exceptional service. Picked yesterday, baked this morning, by the people we know and trust. We go straight to the source and bring only the best right to you. We're Good Eggs.
About the Role
At Good Eggs, delivering absurdly fresh, high-quality produce is at the heart of our mission—and we’re looking for a scrappy, collaborative, and analytical leader to help us raise the bar even higher.
We are hiring a Purchasing & Category Manager / Team Lead– Fresh to be the main point of contact for our produce growers and suppliers. You will ensure our warehouse is consistently stocked with the highest quality, seasonal, and sustainably grown produce available. This role involves continuously identifying and securing optimal sources of produce supply, balancing quality, cost, and availability. In addition, this role will take ownership of running triage-related meetings to address urgent inventory, quality, or supplier issues — ensuring swift resolution and seamless operations.
This is a hands-on role for someone with strong instincts, a bias for action, and a deep love of produce. You’ll serve as the hub between growers, suppliers, merchandising, marketing, and operations—leading with grit, creativity, and a team-first mindset.
Qualifications
- 5+ years relevant industry work experience, either on farms or, preferably, in fresh grocery retail (physical or online), distribution, purchasing, or category management
- 2+ years experience in category management and/or purchasing, preferably in the meat, seafood, or produce industries
- 2+ years experience as a people leader
- Strong analytical and problem solving skills Strong negotiation skills
- Strong business and financial acumen
- Outstanding communication and time management skills
- Knowledge of quality standards and industry certifications
- Experience managing relationships with outside vendors
- Experience with e-commerce a plus
- Knowledge of food safety and handling practices
- Proficiency in Google and MS Office suite software (i.e. spreadsheets, presentation, and word processing software)Experience managing large data sets and utilizing to drive performance and process improvements
- Ability to understand and engage with new tools
- Strong team player
Duties & Responsibilities
- Be the business owner for your categories / subcategories, accountable for financial performance and managing key KPIs.
- Act as category subject matter expert to educate and galvanize the rest of the organization around your assigned categories Work cross-functionally with other buyers, merchandisers and the marketing team on promotional, pricing, merchandising and marketing strategy
- Manage day-to-day purchasing, pricing, promotions, merchandising, and assortment for your assigned categories.
- Set up and manage supply agreements, continually optimize supply for quality and COGS, negotiating market and seasonal pricing with suppliers
- Coordinate creation and launch of new items, in-season items and webstands with merchandising and marketing teams
Working conditions
- Typical office working conditions
- Occasional travel for industry events and site visits with producers
Why work for Good Eggs?
Work for a purpose-driven company in an incredible work environment with passionate, diverse, and accomplished team members.
Our benefits and compensation package is the following for this role:
Vacation Time
Paid Sick Time
Enrollment in our 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan (not matching at this time)
For employees working 30+ hours per week, Medical, Dental and Vision plans
Life Insurance, AD&D, Short and Long-Term Disability - all eligible employees receive coverage
20% Employee Discount & Free Delivery
The Good Eggs Compensation Philosophy:
We offer competitive compensation based on market rates, evaluated bi-annually. Our final offer is based on years of experience, length of time with title, and demonstrated impact while in previous roles, combined with our compensation philosophy.
Good Eggs provides equal employment opportunities for team members and candidates regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, military status or disability in accordance with local, state and federal guidelines. We hire and promote individuals based on their qualifications for the position to be filled. We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workforce.
Good Eggs uses E-Verify to confirm the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires.