Head of Men's Merchandising

vineyard vines•Stamford, CT

23h•Hybrid

About The Position

vineyard vines is a highly successful, privately held, American clothing and accessory retailer founded in 1998 on Martha’s Vineyard by brothers, Shep & Ian Murray. With Shep & Ian still at the helm today, vineyard vines has experienced exponential year over year growth and now operates over 120 retail locations including an outlet division, a successful e-commerce business, domestic distribution center, and expanding corporate headquarters. In addition, vineyard vines is carried in major department stores such as Nordstrom and Bloomingdales as well as numerous specialty boutiques across the US. vineyard vines was founded on a state of mind that Every day should feel this good. You don’t need to be on a beach, by the ocean or on vacation to have Every day should feel this good moments. It’s a state of mind that we all experience, and one where everyone is invited. At vineyard vines, we don’t just live an #EDSFTG life away from our desks—we bring it to work with us, too. In our stores, at our Harbor Drive headquarters or working remotely, our company culture is fun, encouraging and welcoming to all. We work hard and play harder, and we never take ourselves too seriously. And while we have many company goals, our number one priority is making vineyard vines a great place to work for all employees. Our team is our family, and we’d never have grown to where we are today without them. We’re committed to building an inclusive team across all channels, departments and stores within our community. We hope you’ll join us and see what the smiling pink whale is all about. Overview: The Head of Men’s & Boy’s Merchandising will develop and lead the overall merchandising strategy and vision for the Men’s & Boy’s business while delivering profitable sales growth and brand health. The ideal candidate is a strategic merchant who can build financial and product line architecture and drive brand affinity by capturing exciting trends and storytelling moments. This leader will work cross-functionally with Designers, Planners, Marketing & Production teams to manage timelines, product assortment, quality, price, product life, and line assortment.

Requirements

10+ years of Merchandising experience required, Men’s experience is ideal
5+ years of managing high performing teams
Team-oriented with the ability to interact with partners across the organization at all levels
Strong business acumen and understanding of inventory management
The broad scope of this role requires a deep understanding of many functions, including Buying, Planning, Product Development, CAD Design, Production Services, Overseas Sourcing, Logistics, and Marketing
Ability to innovate and challenge current norms to drive positive change and efficacy
Experience in customer and trend direction to inform both assortment strategy, and decision making
Inspirational leader who fosters growth & a positive environment
Must have strong Excel skills (Pivot Tables, vlookups, etc.)
Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience required

Responsibilities

Approach the business from an entrepreneurial viewpoint by constructing the building blocks of a strong men’s tops business
Consistently find ways to elevate the brand and product experience
Champion blue-sky opportunities and build consensus and strategy to execute
Analyze the business both short-term and long-term from creative and financial lenses
Analyze weekly sales reports to identify risks and opportunities to financial plans (sales margin, inventory, etc.) while putting action plans into place to mitigate risks and capitalize on opportunities
Produce seasonal documents including scorecard overviews, presentation decks, assortment rankings, and store tiers
Evaluate competitive landscape on a continuous basis to ensure voids within the brand are identified and opportunities for future growth are realized
Understand current customer buying patterns, identify new customer opportunities and align the product offering accordingly
Act as the cross-functional liaison lead to execute seasonal assortments from concept through commercialization
Manage, coach and develop a team of talented merchants and work to develop them for the next level
Lead adherence to seasonal development calendar across all channels and departments
Lead and manage the team to ensure the product assortment offering meets fashion seasonal core and good, better, best requirements and plans for success