Purchasing & Category Manager / Team Lead - Fresh - Good Eggs

Job Title: Purchasing & Category Manager / Team Lead - Fresh
Job Location: Oakland, California
Job Listing URL: https://jobs.lever.co/goodeggs/99f85946-bfdb-45a7-ae17-ceb9be42c354
Job Description: 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