Merchandising Portfolio Manager

Lowe's Home Centers•Mooresville, NC

22d•Onsite

About The Position

The Merchandising Portfolio Manager supports the planning, governance and execution of high-priority, complex initiatives aligned to Merchandising leadership priorities. This role partners with senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders to diagnose business problems and opportunities, informed by enterprise and Merchandising strategy, business performance, customer insights and industry trends, and helps translate those opportunities into well-defined initiatives and executable plans. The Merchandising Portfolio Manager provides structure and leadership to ambiguous, highly cross-functional work by establishing objectives, workplans, governance, milestones and measures of success; driving decisions and accountability; and proactively managing risks, dependencies and organizational barriers. The role may lead a portfolio of related initiatives or serve as the lead for a highly complex initiative or workstream, supporting work from problem definition and initiative development through testing, pilot and transition to ongoing business ownership. This role serves as a trusted partner to senior leadership and works across Merchandising and enterprise functions to drive alignment, enable informed decision-making and advance initiatives toward measurable business outcomes.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree Business Administration, Industrial Engineering, Communications, or related field or equivalent years of experience in lieu of education requirement, if applicable
7 Years Experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives in a matrix organization.
Experience in Retail, merchandising, business operations or related industry
5 years of experience partnering with senior and executive leaders to diagnose complex business problems, develop recommendations, structure ambiguous work and translate business priorities into actionable initiatives and plans
5 years of experience leading projects, programs or initiatives requiring cross-functional alignment, governance, milestone and dependency management, risk mitigation, change leadership and delivery of measurable business outcomes.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree Business Administration
Experience developing executive-level communications, synthesizing complex business information and data, and framing recommendations, decisions and tradeoffs for senior leadership.
Experience managing multiple concurrent initiatives or a portfolio of interconnected work with competing priorities, dependencies and stakeholders.
Project Management Institute (PMI) or other project/program management certification

Responsibilities

Partner with senior leaders and key stakeholders to understand and diagnose business problems and opportunities, leveraging enterprise and Merchandising strategy, business performance, customer insights and industry trends to help frame opportunities and translate priorities into actionable initiatives.
Lead high-priority, complex initiatives and/or portfolios of related work, establishing clear objectives, scope, work plans, milestones, measures of success, roles and accountabilities necessary to advance work from definition through execution and/or pilot.
Provide structure and execution leadership for ambiguous work, identifying key questions, organizing the appropriate cross-functional teams and workstreams, establishing governance and operating rhythms, and driving clarity as initiatives evolve.
Lead cross-functional teams across Merchandising and enterprise functions to drive alignment, manage interdependencies, resolve barriers and maintain accountability for commitments and intended business outcomes.
Partner with senior leaders and stakeholders to frame decisions, evaluate options and tradeoffs, synthesize relevant information and develop clear recommendations and next steps.
Prepares executive-level communications and materials that enable informed decision-making.
Proactively identify and manage risks, issues, dependencies, and decisions across assigned initiatives and portfolios.
Drives resolution with appropriate stakeholders and escalates matters requiring senior leadership action or tradeoffs.
Establish and facilitate effective governance, including leadership forums, working-team cadences, milestone reviews and decision processes, applying project and portfolio management practices appropriate to the complexity and needs of the work.
Apply business and financial acumen to understand initiative value, evaluate opportunities and tradeoffs, establish meaningful measures of success, and maintain focus on intended business and customer outcomes.
Support the development and execution of tests and pilots by establishing clear hypotheses, success measures, stakeholder ownership and decision points.
Synthesizes results and supports recommendations to scale, refine, stop or transition work.
Establish clear business ownership and partners with business leaders to transition initiatives into scaled execution or ongoing business management when the work is sufficiently established and appropriate for business ownership.
Regularly monitor, synthesizes and communicates portfolio and initiative health, accomplishments, risks, decisions, dependencies and upcoming milestones to senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders.
Represent senior leaders and/or the portfolio in cross-functional working sessions as appropriate, ensuring leadership direction is understood, stakeholder perspectives are surfaced, and decisions and actions are carried forward.
Contribute to the continuous improvement of portfolio and initiative management practices, sharing expertise and helping strengthen the team's capabilities in problem solving, executive engagement, governance, and disciplined execution.