Vans: Senior Director, Global Merchandising, Apparel and Accessories
About The Position
The Senior Director, Global Merchandising, Apparel & Accessories owns Vans’ global merchandising strategy and multi-season merchandise portfolio. The role spans line architecture, category strategy, franchise investment, lifecycle intent, and direct-to-consumer (DTC) execution. It ensures a globally aligned line that reflects the brand vision, consumer needs, cultural relevance, and commercial goals while supporting consistent execution across regions and channels. The position translates consumer and marketplace insights into scalable assortments, business tradeoffs, and enterprise merchandising decisions intended to drive profitable growth, inventory productivity, brand heat, and long-term portfolio health. It works closely with Design, Product Development, Global Planning, DTC, Regional Merchandising, Marketing, Supply Chain, Finance, and VF partners, and reports to the Global Chief Merchant. The role has a hybrid in-office schedule in Costa Mesa, California.
Requirements
- 12+ years of progressive merchandising, product, or retail leadership experience, including experience leading global or multi-channel merchandising strategies at scale.
- Bachelor’s degree in Merchandising, Product Management, Business, Fashion, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of experience and education.
- Deep apparel and/or accessories merchandising experience with proven ownership of global or multi-season product portfolios, including product creation, consumer trends, assortment strategy, pricing architecture, margin, lifecycle management, and marketplace segmentation.
- Proven ability to build and execute long-range merchandising strategies that balance brand heat, commercial growth, consumer relevance, regional needs, franchise/category investment, and long-term product vision.
- Enterprise-level cross-functional leadership skills, including experience influencing senior leaders across relevant functions and regions.
- Experience leading and developing high-performing teams through managers or category leaders.
- Strong business and financial acumen, including the ability to interpret selling results, LRP/MFP inputs, revenue, margin, SKU productivity, option efficiency, inventory health, and marketplace performance to make enterprise-level tradeoff recommendations.
- Ability to work a hybrid schedule in-office in Costa Mesa, California.
Nice To Haves
- Advanced business, merchandising, or retail leadership experience.
- Experience working within a global brand, matrixed organization, multi-region product creation model, or enterprise operating model transformation.
Responsibilities
- Own global merchandising strategy and multi-season portfolio architecture for Apparel & Accessories across categories, price tiers, consumer segments, franchises, and channels.
- Define seasonal and long-range assortment strategy, including category priorities, option counts, pricing architecture, lifecycle intent, product segmentation, and franchise investment choices.
- Align assortment depth, flow, pricing, launch sequencing, and marketplace priorities to establish DTC as a core execution channel.
- Translate consumer insights, brand strategy, cultural relevance, regional feedback, and selling performance into scalable global assortments.
- Partner with Global Planning and Finance to align assortments to LRP, MFP, revenue, margin, option productivity, SKU efficiency, inventory guardrails, and profitable growth goals.
- Lead and develop high-performing teams through managers or category leaders, setting priorities, coaching talent, strengthening operating rhythms, and fostering an inclusive environment.
- Influence senior leaders and collaborate across Design, Product Development, Planning, Finance, Wholesale, Retail, DTC, Marketing, Operations, Supply Chain, and regional teams.
Benefits
- Eligible for additional compensation awards that may include an annual incentive plan, sales incentive, or commission potential.
- Eligible to participate in a Long-Term Incentive Plan.
- VF Corporation offers benefit programs; details are provided during the hiring process.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
