Vice President, Merchandising
jobgether · US ·
This posting has been closed.
- Work mode
- Remote
- Seniority
- C level
- Employment
- Full time
- Category
- Retail
- Experience
- 10+ years
This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Vice President, Merchandising based in the United States.
As Vice President, Merchandising, you will own the full merchandising function for a portfolio retail brand, spanning assortment strategy, vendor relationships, catalog quality, pricing, margin, and promotions. You will shape a clear merchandising vision that creates a curated, commercially compelling assortment. The role combines strategic leadership with hands-on ownership in a lean, fast-moving environment. You will directly influence revenue, gross margin, vendor economics, and customer experience. You will also introduce AI-enabled workflows to accelerate analysis, reporting, catalog management, and decision-making. Working closely with executive and cross-functional leaders, you will have significant autonomy and accountability for results. This is an opportunity to build a modern merchandising organization while directly shaping business strategy.
Accountabilities
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Own assortment and category strategy across categories and price points, identifying assortment gaps, opportunities, underperforming SKUs, and potential new adjacencies based on customer, search, competitive, and market signals.
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Establish SKU productivity standards and continuously optimize the catalog, expanding high-performing areas while rationalizing low-productivity assortment.
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Develop and maintain the brand's merchandising point of view so the assortment is cohesive, curated, differentiated, and aligned with customer demand.
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Source, onboard, and manage drop-ship vendors, overseeing the pipeline from prospecting through first live SKU.
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Negotiate commercial terms covering cost, margin, freight, delivery, returns, defects, rebates, marketing funding, and exclusivity, while evaluating each vendor's total cost-to-serve.
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Establish vendor scorecards, service-level expectations, quarterly business reviews, and performance improvement or exit strategies where appropriate.
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Develop exclusive and co-developed product programs that strengthen differentiation and margin, while maintaining awareness of market and category trends through trade shows and industry relationships.
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Own catalog quality, including product setup, taxonomy, attributes, imagery, descriptions, dimensions, and lead-time accuracy, while improving onboarding speed and data consistency.
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Partner with technology, site merchandising, and marketing teams to improve product data systems, search relevance, category architecture, collections, seasonal campaigns, and gifting experiences.
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Own gross margin and pricing strategy, using competitive and marketplace intelligence to guide pricing, MAP/MSRP discipline, and promotional decisions.
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Build and manage the promotional calendar, including negotiations for vendor-funded promotions, and partner with Finance and executive leadership on revenue and margin planning.
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Leverage AI to automate recurring analysis and reporting and develop workflows for assortment analysis, vendor scorecards, competitive pricing, catalog enrichment, and business reviews.
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Validate AI-generated outputs against source data and commercial logic before using them to inform business decisions.
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Build, mentor, and develop the merchandising organization while collaborating closely with Marketing, Site, Operations, Finance, and executive leadership.
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Own the merchandising perspective in broader company strategy and communicate performance, challenges, opportunities, and planned actions clearly.
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10+ years of experience in merchandising, buying, or category management within retail or e-commerce, including direct people leadership.
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Demonstrated ownership of revenue and gross margin performance, rather than assortment management alone.
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Strong experience negotiating vendor relationships and commercial agreements, including the ability to establish, renegotiate, improve, or exit vendor partnerships.
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Fluency in product data and catalog management, including PIM or equivalent systems, taxonomy, attribution, and large-scale item setup.
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Proven ability to use AI-assisted tools such as Claude, Copilot, BI-native AI features, or similar technologies to automate analysis, reduce manual work, and improve team productivity.
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Comfort connecting AI-enabled workflows with live business data sources such as data warehouses or ERP systems.
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Strong analytical and financial capabilities, including advanced Excel skills and working knowledge of SQL or business intelligence tools.
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Ability to translate data and commercial insights into clear decisions and defend those decisions with stakeholders.
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Strong understanding of merchandising economics, vendor performance, pricing, promotions, and customer demand.
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Ability to operate effectively in a lean organization with substantial autonomy, shifting between strategic planning and hands-on execution.
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Strong leadership, mentoring, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
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Preferred: experience with drop-ship or marketplace merchandising.
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Preferred: experience in home, furniture, or home décor categories.
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Remote work opportunities within the United States.
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Paid time off policies.
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401(k) plan with employer matching.
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Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
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A variety of supplemental insurance and benefit options.
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Employee discounts across the portfolio of brands.
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Direct access to executive leadership and significant ownership of merchandising strategy.
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Opportunity to influence a broad range of P&L drivers, including assortment, vendor economics, pricing, margin, and promotional strategy.
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Opportunity to build and scale a merchandising organization while incorporating modern AI-enabled tools and workflows.
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Some roles may involve collaboration through hub offices, with locations including Salt Lake City, Austin, and Toronto.