---
title: 'Category Manager at Zola'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/category-manager-zola-new-york-sbgcs3gazc4q'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Category Manager at Zola

- **Company:** Zola
- **Location:** New York, NY
- **Posted:** 2026-07-17
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://www.zola.com/about/jobs?gh_jid=8638685002

## Job description

​We are looking for a smart, driven, and detail-oriented Category Manager who is passionate about assortment building and driving a best-in-class e-commerce shopping experience.

This person will be responsible for developing and implementing an assortment strategy to drive their categories of business, oversee and develop a direct report, and execute related tasks such as data analytics and financial modeling to drive thoughtful decisions around assortment curation, partnership negotiations, pricing and margin optimization, and site merchandising changes to achieve financial objectives.

The ideal candidate will have experience as a Category Manager in e-commerce, with a proven track record of growth and success in a fast paced environment. This role sits within the Merchandising Team, and will collaborate regularly with cross-functional partners in Planning, Operations, Finance, Customer Service, Marketing, Product & Engineering.

## ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

- Report into the Director of Merchandising and manage 1 team member
- Develop a clear strategic vision for your business that supports the overall objectives of Zola
- Use data to inform decision making around assortment strategy, site merchandising, margin optimization, and vendor negotiations
- Utilize AI solutions and emerging technologies to refine operational workflows, bolster analytical insights, and improve category management efficiency
- Forge strong relationships with new and existing vendors as well as with internal cross functional leaders
- Conduct research and business analysis for merchandise assortments
- Partner closely with Operations and Planning to manage vendor drop ship excellence in order fulfillment, and collaborate with Marketing, (digital) Product & Engineering, and other cross-functional leaders to drive e-commerce initiatives
- Contribute new business ideas for the growth of the business
- Attend trade shows, lead market meetings, stay up to date on competitive landscape and market research

## QUALIFICATIONS

- Experience:
- 5+ years of e-commerce specific experience in buying or category management, with a proven track record of entrepreneurial leadership and financial growth in a fast paced environment.
- 2+ years of experience in managing, mentoring, and developing a direct report.
- Skills:
- Proven analytical and diagnostic skills, with strong retail math skills
- Passion for team training and development, professional growth, and mentorship
- Systems-oriented & proficient in Microsoft Office, Google Suite, and everyday AI productivity tools
- Strong negotiation and communication skills (verbal and written), with ability to influence through both official and unofficial channels
- Traits:
- A strategic thinker with the ability to balance short and long term goals
- Demonstrated ability to juggle multiple demands while maintaining a high level of organization and attention to detail
- Comfortable operating in a fast-paced environment with a high degree of autonomy; able to get in the weeds and execute hands-on tasks when needed
- Results-oriented and self-motivated with a strong sense of ownership and follow-through
- Ability to be proactive in nature; resolves or appropriately escalates issues
- Strong team orientation, collaborative, cooperative work style
- Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing
- Strong assortment and style sensibility and a keen eye for emerging market trends to serve the customer need

Salary Range

The salary range for this role is $90,000 - $110,000. This full-time role will be hybrid at our office in NYC (Tuesdays & Thursdays).

## About Zola

We're Zola, the wedding company that will do anything for love. We're reinventing the wedding planning and registry experience to make the happiest moment in our couples' lives even happier. From engagement to wedding and decorating your first home, Zola is there, combining compassionate customer service with modern tools and technology… all in the service of love.

We built our entire platform from the ground-up in 2013, and quickly became the fastest-growing wedding company in the country. Our team has deep experience creating award-winning online and mobile products that are helpful, intuitive, and simply magical. We're proud to have investor partners including Female Founders Fund, Comcast Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Canvas Ventures, Thrive Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners, among others.

We are passionate about supporting all forms of love, and we're proud of our thriving community of over 2 million couples. We strive to hire a team that is as beautifully diverse as the couples getting married today, and we encourage individuals from every race, gender identity, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, marital status, religion and perspective to apply. Zola will always be a place where every employee, couple, wedding guest, wedding vendor, and partner will be respected and accepted and valued.

Our headquarters is in NYC. Come work with us!

## About Zola

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Zola is an all-in-one wedding planning platform offering a free website, registry, guest list management, venue discovery, and invitation services to help engaged couples plan their weddings.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series D)
- **Headquarters**: New York, New York, United States
- **Founded**: 2013
- **Founders**: Shan-Lyn Ma, Nobu Nakaguchi

## Core Business
- Primary industry: Wedding Planning / E-commerce / Internet Publishing
- Target customers: B2C (engaged couples), with a mix of self-service and vendor partnerships
- Mission or purpose: "To make engaged couples happy" by turning big ideas into great solutions that simplify the entire wedding planning process [zola.com](https://www.zola.com/about/team)

## Products & Services
- **[Registry]**: Universal registry that lets couples add gifts, cash funds, experiences, and group gifting from any store, all in one place. Includes 20% off post-wedding for forgotten items [zola.com](https://www.zola.com/).
- **[Free Wedding Websites]**: Customizable, ultra-design-forward websites for sharing wedding details with guests [zola.com](https://www.zola.com/).
- **[Guest List & RSVP Management]**: Tools to import spreadsheets, track RSVPs, meal selections, plus-ones, and manage seating charts [zola.com](https://www.zola.com/).
- **[Invitations & Paper]**: Designed by Zola artists, customizable save-the-dates, invitations, and thank-you cards [zola.com](https://www.zola.com/).
- **[Venue & Vendor Discovery]**: Personalized recommendations for venues and vendors (photographers, caterers, etc.) with the ability to contact and book directly on Zola [zola.com](https://www.zola.com/).
- **[Budget Tool]**: Helps couples stay on top of wedding spending [zola.com](https://www.zola.com/).
- **[Mobile App]**: Award-winning iOS app for planning on the go [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/zola).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (private company)
- **Key Metric**: Annual Revenue: $397.4M (2025/2026 estimate); Total Funding: $269.2M [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/zola-com)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, NBCUniversal, Thrive Capital (led Series A); other investors include numerous venture firms [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/zola-com)
- **Growth Signals**: Yearly revenue growth implied by size; headcount growth of +7.1% YoY (107 employees); website traffic of ~23.8M monthly visits, up 53.7% year-over-year; global rank #1,884 [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/zola-com)

## Competitive Advantages
- **All-in-one ecosystem**: Couples can manage registry, website, guest list, and vendor discovery from a single platform, reducing the need for multiple tools.
- **Trusted brand**: Over 2 million couples have used Zola, making it a widely recognized authority in wedding planning [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/zola).
- **E-commerce + Software**: The registry generates revenue through gift sales, creating a built-in monetization model that funds free planning tools.
- **Innovative features**: Group gifting, virtual exchanges, and a 20% post-wedding discount differentiate the registry experience.

## Strategic Focus
- **Deepening the planning suite**: Expanding from registry into full planning (venues, vendors, budgeting, seating charts) to capture more of the wedding lifecycle.
- **Mobile-first experience**: Investing in the award-winning iOS app to serve couples on-the-go.
- **Personalization and AI**: Likely using data to improve vendor recommendations and guest list management.
- **International growth**: Presence in Canada, Tanzania, and Nigeria, with headquarters in New York [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/zola-com).

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: "Passionate yet pragmatic dreamers" with a collaborative, mission-driven environment where everyone’s voice matters. "We treat each other the same way we treat our couples—because we’re all in this together." [zola.com](https://www.zola.com/about/team)
- **Work policy**: Hybrid/remote-flexible – employees have the option to be 100% remote or work 2 days a week onsite in NYC with additional flexibility [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/zola).
- **Team composition**: ~107 employees with a strong engineering presence (21 technical staff) and notable alumni from Amazon, Google, Gilt, and Blue Apron [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/zola-com).
- **Recent openings** (as of mid-2026): Senior Manager, Growth Marketing; Senior Accountant; Director of Brand Marketing – indicating growth in marketing and finance [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/zola-com) [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/zola).
- **Employee ratings**: 3.2/5 on Built In (142 reviews); work-life balance 3.3, culture 3.2 – moderate but positive community sentiment.

## Sources
1. [Zola website – products and mission](https://www.zola.com/)
2. [Zola – About / Jobs](https://www.zola.com/about/jobs)
3. [Zola – About / Team](https://www.zola.com/about/team)
4. [LinkedIn – Zola company page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/zola-com)
5. [Built In – Zola company profile](https://builtin.com/company/zola)

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