Role Overview
Clients bring on a Brand Manager at the Strategist level to take ownership of the brand’s performance, direction, and growth on Walmart Marketplace—especially when private label products are involved. This role exists to build and protect the value of the brand across every touchpoint that affects sales, rankings, and margins. You’re expected to think bigger than listings or ads—you are here to align business goals with real marketplace outcomes. The client is trusting you with leadership-level judgment in a high-stakes channel that is often unpredictable and unforgiving.
This is not a support role, and it’s not about task execution or passive management. The Strategist is not just “managing” an account—they are driving it forward. If you’re waiting for direction, the brand is stalling. Missing comps, misreading data, or failing to challenge poor product-market fit can cost the client more than just dollars—it damages momentum, leverage, and confidence. On the flip side, a sharp Strategist can create scalable wins that translate across an entire portfolio. That’s the bar.
Standards You Must Meet
- A clearly owned growth roadmap—clients expect you to define the plan and deliver on it with visible upticks in sales, profit, and ranking.
- You must call the gap early—missed buy box, incorrect comps, or stalled sell-through shouldn’t come as a surprise to the client.
- Strategic positioning is not optional—your actions must protect margin and brand equity, especially in private label categories.
- Expect heavy scrutiny on your judgment—clients will watch how you respond when inventory, pricing, or product-market fit start breaking down.
- Reporting must show more than KPIs—it needs to connect the dots between what’s happening and what needs to happen next.
- The brand should not feel reactive—if you’re only moving when a problem hits, you’ve already lost ground.
- Clients are hiring leadership—they expect initiative, confident calls, and full command of Walmart’s fast-moving dynamics.
- When performance steps up, they should see why—strategy must translate into systems, not just short-term wins.
What You’ll Be Doing
- Build and maintain a 90-day growth roadmap that ties Walmart KPIs to profit, placement, and catalog priorities.
- Monitor Buy Box ownership, comp accuracy, and pricing shifts weekly to catch breakdowns before they hit margins.
- Own all promotional timing and discount triggers to balance velocity, competitiveness, and profitability.
- Audit Sell-Through Rates and inventory burn to recommend pacing adjustments or catalog pivots that protect capital.
- Run strategic catalog reviews to flag dead SKUs, identify hero opportunities, and close category gaps.
- Connect creative and listing quality to conversion metrics with clear calls on what gets optimized—and why.
- Provide forward-looking reports that explain trends, risks, and strategic next steps clearly to brand stakeholders.
- Coordinate with AVPs, ops, and creatives to remove blockers and implement playbooks that drive sustained performance.
What You’ll Hand Over
- A quarterly brand growth plan tied to Walmart KPIs, showing clear decisions on pricing, catalog, and promotional focus.
- A validated competitor analysis with up-to-date Buy Box, price, and demand insights, guiding near-term positioning.
- Monthly reporting that connects metrics to actions—what moved, why it moved, and what happens next.
- A breakdown of SKU-level strategy with launch timing, exit calls, and margin benchmarks documented and defended.
- A weekly risk summary highlighting pricing gaps, inventory threats, and marketplace shifts—with recommended responses.
Tools You’ll Need to Use
- Walmart Seller Center – Central platform for managing catalog, inventory, and listings; accuracy here drives visibility and conversions.
- Helium 10 (Walmart Suite) – Critical for keyword research, listing optimization, and market tracking specific to Walmart’s algorithm.
- Pacvue for Walmart – Essential for managing and optimizing Walmart Connect ad campaigns at a strategic level.
- Excel / Google Sheets – Used daily for data analysis, reporting, trend tracking, and bulk catalog actions.
- Asana or ClickUp – Supports project and task tracking across cross-functional brand management workflows.
- GS1 Data Hub – Ensures UPC and GTIN compliance for product listings, a non-negotiable in retail catalog management.
- Retail Link (if applicable through partner/brand access) – Provides backend sales, inventory, and performance metrics for decision-making.
Why Work Smarter
We’re not saying you must be an expert today. But baseline familiarity — knowing what’s possible and when to bring automation into play — is quickly becoming the minimum expectation. Understanding where AI and automation fit into catalog updates, order tracking, or competitor analysis is no longer optional in high-performing accounts.
OES sets automation fluency as a standard because the market already demands it. The clients hiring us expect leverage, not manual labor. Keep up, or get left behind.
Why Your Work Matters
Walmart is a battlefield right now—tight margins, high buyer expectations, and a fast-moving algorithm that punishes sloppy execution. Brands don’t get second chances here. Every pricing error, inventory delay, or misread comp costs real revenue and erodes trust internally and externally. That’s why this role isn’t about support or maintenance—it’s about direct influence over profitability, positioning, and long-term viability on one of the most unforgiving platforms in retail.
In private label especially, there is no coasting. If you’re not shaping strategy, protecting margin, and reading the market faster than the next seller, you’re falling behind. Strong brand managers aren’t just delivering reports—they’re making hard calls, preventing damage, and setting a cadence of compounding wins. At OES, a Strategist in this seat isn’t optional—they are the reason clients stay, grow, and expand. This role carries weight because what you choose to act on—or ignore—shows up directly in the client’s bottom line.
What We Expect From You
As a Brand Manager at the Strategist tier in Walmart + Private Label, you own the margin. This role requires you to lead with judgment and act with profit discipline—no guesses, no shortcuts. You decide which levers to pull on a Walmart PL catalog based on data, timing, and risk. Your job is to shape strategy, not just keep operations running. That means making the right call between investing in a new product or doubling down on an existing one—and being accountable for where that lands.
We’re looking for someone who knows that growth at this stage is won through systems, not hustle. You need the discipline to operate cleanly, the foresight to plan in quarters, and the confidence to push back when a direction doesn’t serve the brand’s long-term health. Compliance isn’t negotiable, and profitability is your scoreboard. You should be ready to lead your internal team, partner with your AVPs, and drive client decisions at the strategy table. This is a tier where brand mistakes have a cost—financially and reputationally—so your judgment needs to earn trust on day one.
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$615 – $1,675
OES salary standards reflect real market benchmarks, tier and experience level, ensuring fair pay for VAs and realistic expectations for clients.
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