Director - Merchandising Operations

FERGUSON•Newport News, VA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Since 1953, Ferguson has been a source of quality supplies for a variety of industries. Together We Build Better infrastructure, better homes and better businesses. We exist to make our customers’ complex projects simple, successful, and sustainable. We proactively solve problems, adapt and grow to continuously serve our customers, communities and each other. Ferguson, a Fortune 500 company, is proud to provide best-in-class products, service and capabilities across the following industries: Commercial/Mechanical, Facilities Supply, Fire and Fabrication, HVAC, Industrial, Residential Trade, Residential Building and Remodel, Waterworks and Residential Digital Commerce. Ferguson has approximately 36,000 associates across 1,700 locations. Ferguson is a community of proud associates who operate with the shared purpose of building something meaningful. You will build a career that you are proud of, at a company you can believe in. The Director - Merchandising Operations is a senior leadership role responsible for defining and advancing the strategy, governance, and performance of core digital commerce capabilities that power the customer shopping experience and drive business growth. This leader oversees a multi-functional organization spanning product data enrichment, taxonomy, search, personalization, recommendations, and ratings & reviews. The role is accountable for ensuring these capabilities work together cohesively to deliver scalable, high-quality, and high-performing digital experiences and business outcomes. The Director will play a critical role in digital merchandising operations, from enterprise-aligned, strategically driven capabilities through day-to-day execution. This includes playing leadership roles in digital and enterprise product data enrichment /governance, leadership of management talent, and influence across cross-functional partners to drive alignment, standardization, and measurable business outcomes. This role requires a balance of strategic vision, organizational leadership, and cross-functional influence, with a strong emphasis on data quality, customer experience, and operational scalability. Location: This position may be remote or hybrid in accordance with company policy.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in ecommerce, digital merchandising, merchandising operations, product data, or related fields
Proven experience leading managers and building high-performing, multi-layered teams
Demonstrated success driving strategy and execution across complex, cross-functional organizations
Experience with product data, taxonomy, site search, personalization, or related digital commerce capabilities

Nice To Haves

Experience leading or supporting enterprise product data enrichment and PIM strategies
Familiarity with AI/ML applications in ecommerce (search, recommendations, content, data enrichment)
Experience in large-scale, multi-brand or multi-site ecommerce environments

Responsibilities

Strategy & Business Outcomes Define and lead the long-term strategy for merchandising operations, ensuring alignment with enterprise digital commerce and customer experience goals Translate enterprise priorities into clear functional strategies, roadmaps, and measurable outcomes across all merchandising operations capabilities Drive improvements in key performance indicators including conversion, revenue, speed-to-market, data quality, and customer engagement Establish analytics as a core capability to measure Merch Operations performance, inform decision-making, and optimize the digital shopping experience
Enterprise Product Data Leadership Lead product data alignment initiatives to support the future integration of disparate product data systems into a unified MDM/PIM environment. Plays leadership role in digital and enterprise product data enrichment, including governance, strategy, and execution across channels Establish and enforce standards for data quality, completeness, accuracy, and consistency across product content Balance speed-to-market with data integrity, ensuring scalable processes for enriching vendor and internal product data Partner cross-functionally to define and evolve sources of truth, data models, and workflows that support enterprise and digital needs Ensure product data enables downstream capabilities including search relevance, recommendations, SEO performance, and overall site experience
Digital Experience Enablement Leverage platform capabilities to drive measurable improvements in relevance, discoverability, and engagement, enabling sales, conversion, and margin improvements via product data enrichment, site search, recommendations/personalization, reviews and the site taxonomies Ensure these capabilities are aligned and optimized to improve the end-to-end customer experience
AI & Future Capability Development Define /lead vision for AI-enabled capabilities across merchandising operations. Leads execution of AI use cases across Digital Merch Operations in partnership with AI Enterprise teams Evaluate, prioritize, and guide adoption of AI to improve scalability, automation, relevance, and data quality
Organizational Leadership & Team Development Lead a team of managers responsible for distinct functional areas, ensuring strong alignment, accountability, and performance across teams Build leadership capability within the organization, via Manager development and coaching, operating models and career pathing /succession planning Ensure digital and enterprise strategy and priorities are translated into actionable goals at every level of the organization Foster high-performance culture focused on outcomes, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement
Cross-Functional Influence & Enterprise Alignment Serve as a key partner to Digital, Product, IT, Merchandising, and Vendor Management teams to align priorities and remove organizational barriers Influence enterprise decisions related to product data, digital experience, and merchandising capabilities Drive standardization of processes, tools, and governance models across previously fragmented teams