Resume template · Updated October 2026
Category manager resume template
Short answer
Olivia suits a category manager: the blue header band gives a confident, commercial look, and skills print before experience so assortment, pricing and data skills are seen first. The fictional sample manages a snacks and beverages category for a grocery chain, grew sales and margin and negotiated with suppliers. Show category size, sales and margin growth, assortment changes and supplier results.
Download the category manager sample
Brian is a fictional category manager. Replace every detail with your own before you send it.
The files are made in your browser by Resumity's own exporters, from this sample. The builder opens it as your own resume: click any line to replace it. Free plan, no watermark.
Why Olivia suits a category manager resume
Olivia prints a full-width blue header band, then summary, skills and experience. Category management is a commercial role, and the strong header suits it while the single column keeps sales and margin numbers easy to compare.
Second choice: Meridian. Meridian keeps the same order in black and grey, a fit for procurement-side category roles.
What goes in each section, in Olivia's order
Olivia prints its sections in a fixed order, the same in the PDF and the Word file. Here is that order for this sample, and what to put in each section.
- Professional Summary. Retailer or company, category and size, years of experience and one sales or margin result.
- Skills. Assortment planning, pricing, promotions, supplier negotiation, data and tools.
- Work Experience. Bullets on category sales and margin, assortment changes, supplier deals, promotions and space planning.
- Education. Degree with the year.
The sample resume as text
The same content as the files above, so you can copy a line or compare it with your own.
Brian Choi
Category Manager, Snacks and Beverages
Minneapolis, MN | brian.choi@example.com | (612) 555-0123 | linkedin.com/in/sample-brian-choi
Category manager with seven years in grocery retail. Manage a $180 million snacks and beverages category for a 120-store chain, growing sales and margin through assortment and supplier work.
Experience
Category Manager, Snacks and Beverages, Northland Grocers, Minneapolis, MN (02/2021 to Present)
- Manage a $180 million category across 120 stores.
- Grew category sales about 9% and margin by about 1.2 points in two years.
- Cut about 300 slow items and added 150 new items based on sales and shopper data.
- Negotiated supplier cost and promotion funding worth about $4 million a year.
- Redesigned the promotion calendar to focus on deals with the best return.
- Work with space planning teams on planograms for each store size.
Assistant Buyer, Twin Cities Market, St. Paul, MN (06/2016 to 01/2021)
- Placed orders and managed stock for dairy and frozen.
- Set up new items and prices.
- Built weekly sales reports.
Education
Bachelor of Science, Marketing, University of Minnesota (05/2016)
Skills
Assortment planning, Pricing, Promotion planning, Supplier negotiation, Space planning, Circana, Excel, Power BI, Negotiation
How to make the sample yours
Show category size
Annual sales of the category you manage. It tells readers how much you are trusted with.
Show growth
Sales and margin growth against plan. Margin matters as much as sales.
Describe assortment
Items added and cut, and results.
Show supplier deals
Cost and funding negotiated with suppliers.
Describe promotions
Promotion plans and their return.
Keywords to keep where they are true
Terms this kind of resume is usually searched for. Use the posting's exact wording, and only for work you have done.
- category manager
- category management
- assortment planning
- pricing strategy
- promotions
- supplier negotiation
- margin growth
- space planning
- planograms
- retail analytics
- Circana
- Nielsen
Mistakes to avoid
- Supplier terms.
- Confidential sales figures.
- No growth or margin numbers.
- Buyer admin tasks only.
How the sample PDF reads in text extractors
We exported this sample with Resumity's PDF exporter in Chrome on 2026-10-29 and read the file back with three open-source text extractors. This shows whether software that turns a PDF into text can recover it; it is not a test of any commercial applicant tracking system. How we test templates.
| Extractor | Name, email, phone | Headings | Bullets intact |
|---|---|---|---|
| pdf.js 4.10.38 | All found | 4 of 4 | 9 of 9 |
| pdftotext (Xpdf) 4.00 | All found | 4 of 4 | 9 of 9 |
| pypdf 6.13.0 | All found | 4 of 4 | 9 of 9 |
Frequently asked questions
What should a category manager resume focus on?
Category size, sales and margin growth, assortment changes, supplier deals and promotions. Retail leaders want category managers who grow profit, not just sales. Lead with category size and growth, since those numbers frame everything else.
How do I show results without confidential figures?
Use growth percentages, margin points and the number of items changed. Describe category size in ranges if needed. Shopper or loyalty data results, such as more trips or bigger baskets, also help.
How do I move from buyer to category manager?
Show assortment decisions, supplier negotiations and data analysis you led. Owning a smaller category is a common step. Leading a line review or reset is a strong example of category work.
Is this template right for procurement category managers?
Yes. Replace retail sales with spend under management, savings and supplier performance. Name the categories you manage and the number of suppliers in each.
Should I list data tools?
Yes. Market data and analytics tools are central to the job, so name the ones you use and what you did with them. If you built forecasts or dashboards, describe what decisions they supported.
How long should the resume be?
One to two pages. Keep sales and margin results on the first page.
Will applicant tracking systems read this Olivia PDF?
The sample PDF read back with its contact details, all 4 section headings and all 9 bullets intact in three open-source text extractors (pdf.js, pdftotext and pypdf). Commercial systems such as Workday, Greenhouse or Taleo were not tested, and each employer configures its own.
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