Director of Merchandising

Purpose

The Director, Merchandising is responsible for leading a defined merchandising portfolio, driving category performance, vendor relationships, and commercial execution to deliver sales growth, margin performance, and retailer success. This role is accountable for portfolio-level P&L performance, including revenue, gross margin, cost of goods, and vendor funding utilization across an assigned group of categories. The Director translates merchandising strategies into effective pricing, assortment, and promotional execution to achieve targeted business outcomes. The Director operates within a moderate to high level of complexity, managing a focused set of categories and suppliers. This role emphasizes execution excellence, consistent performance, executive communication skills and effective team leadership within a defined scope of responsibility.

Job Responsibilities

Core Responsibilities

• Lead performance across an assigned category portfolio, including sales, margin, vendor funding, and inventory productivity
• Execute category strategies through pricing, assortment, and promotional decisions to drive growth and profitability
• Monitor performance and implement actions to address gaps and improve results
• Manage vendor relationships, negotiations, and funding optimization to maximize category performance
• Partner with Procurement to improve cost structure and overall profitability
• Oversee execution of merchandising and promotional programs, ensuring alignment with category strategy and customer needs
• Evaluate program effectiveness and implement enhancements
• Own category financial performance, including P&L delivery, pricing, cost management, and trade spend utilization
• Ensure compliance with financial policies and controls
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to align strategy and execution across Sales, Marketing, Finance, Procurement, and Operations
• Support communication of category priorities and serve as a point of es