Director, Global Merchandising

Samsonite•Mansfield, MA

3d•$180,000 - $220,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, Global Merchandising plays a critical role in executing Samsonite’s global product and assortment strategy across regions and channels. Reporting to the Vice President, Global Product & Brand Strategy, this role is responsible for executing the VP’s vision on global product, brand, and lifecycle strategies into actionable merchandising and assortment frameworks that drive brand consistency, commercial performance, and operational efficiency worldwide. This leader partners closely with regional merchandising teams, Global Marketing & Ecommerce (GMEO), Product Management, Planning, Sourcing, and Visual Merchandising to ensure cohesive assortments, disciplined SKU governance, and a strong omnichannel brand experience across full-price retail, outlet, and ecommerce channels. The role operates as a key integrator within a decentralized organization—communicating the VP’s vision and global direction, enabling regional execution, and feeding market insights back into product and brand strategy. We work a hybrid schedule; 4 days on site, 1 day remote, weekly.

Requirements

Experience in executing global product and assortment strategy.
Ability to partner with regional merchandising teams, Global Marketing & Ecommerce (GMEO), Product Management, Planning, Sourcing, and Visual Merchandising.
Experience in managing SKU governance, productivity analysis, and lifecycle management.
Ability to monitor and analyze SKU-level performance, margins, and inventory efficiency.
Experience in synthesizing regional sales performance, trend analysis, and consumer feedback into actionable recommendations.
Ability to analyze competitive landscape, consumer trends, and regional insights.
Experience in collaborating with Visual Merchandising partners.
Ability to support global price architecture reviews.
Experience in influencing across a matrixed organization without direct authority.
Ability to guide regional teams to build strategic merchandising capabilities.

Responsibilities

Manage execution of the global assortment strategy across regions, channels, and product categories in alignment with the global product lifecycle framework.
Maintain global assortment and product architecture frameworks across channels (full-price retail, outlet, and ecommerce), enabling regional teams to tailor assortments while preserving global brand and commercial intent.
Ensure assortments align with global brand positioning, customer needs, and channel strategies as defined in partnership with Global Marketing & Ecommerce.
Partner with Global Marketing & Ecommerce to support seasonal go-to-market planning, ensuring assortments support global campaigns, brand storytelling, and coordinated product launches.
Manage alignment across merchandising, marketing, ecommerce, visual merchandising, and retail partners to deliver a cohesive omnichannel brand experience.
Support product flow and storytelling moments across channels to maximize product performance and brand impact.
Manage day-to-day global SKU governance including SKU rationalization, productivity analysis, and lifecycle management.
Monitor and analyze SKU-level performance, margins, and inventory efficiency, escalating risks and opportunities to the VP as needed.
Partner with regional Product Management and Planning teams to determine end-of-life strategies, manage SKU exits, and improve assortment efficiency across regions and channels.
Influence future product development by synthesizing regional sales performance, trend analysis, and consumer feedback into clear, actionable recommendations for the Global and regional Product teams.
Analyze competitive landscape, consumer trends, and regional insights to identify opportunities and risks within the global assortment.
Leverage regional market visits, store observations, consumer research, and external insights to inform global merchandising strategies and best-practice sharing.
Partner closely with regional merchandising leaders to ensure consistent adoption of global merchandising frameworks, calendars, and tools.
Collaborate with Visual Merchandising partners to support global standards for assortment presentation, collection flow, and storytelling.
Support global price architecture reviews in partnership with Product Management by contributing competitive benchmarks and assortment-level insights.
Act as a change agent in evolving global merchandising processes to improve speed, clarity, and execution discipline.
Serve as a trusted thought partner to regional merchandising leaders, balancing global standards with regional relevance.
Influence across a matrixed organization without direct authority, driving alignment across merchandising, marketing, planning, and commercial stakeholders.
Partner and guide regional teams to build strategic merchandising capabilities and a continuous-improvement mindset.