Senior Director Merchandising Strategy

BJ's Wholesale Club • BJ's Club Support Center Marlborough, MA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Director, Merchandising Strategy serves as the principal strategic advisor to the Chief Merchant and the Merchandising leadership team. The role develops and aligns Merchandising strategy with enterprise priorities and financial objectives, translates priorities into action, and helps the organization operate with clarity, discipline, and focus. It combines strategy, business management, executive communications, cross-functional leadership, and program and project management to lead strategic planning and drive critical leadership initiatives through completion.

Working primarily through influence, the Senior Director aligns executives, senior leaders, and cross-functional partners; strengthens consistent processes; and focuses leadership attention on decisions and actions that support long-term business results. The role calls for a structured, commercially minded leader who can address complex issues, create structure amid ambiguity, influence across functions, and independently advance important work on behalf of the Chief Merchandising Officer.

The position is hybrid: Tuesday through Thursday are in-office at BJ’s Club Support Center in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and Monday and Friday are remote.

Requirements

• Significant experience as a Senior Director- or Vice President-level leader in retail, consumer businesses, or another complex commercial environment.
• Strong preference for experience in Merchandising, Commercial, Strategy, Transformation, Finance, or a related business function.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives from definition through execution.
• Experience working directly with senior executives and preparing materials for executive-level audiences.
• Proven ability to operate effectively amid multiple stakeholders, competing priorities, and organizational complexity.
• Ability to break broad or ambiguous questions into clear issues, workstreams, decisions, and actions.
• Strong critical thinking, including the ability to understand business issues, challenge assumptions, identify implications, and develop sound recommendations.
• Exceptional attention to detail, accuracy, preparation, follow-through, and quality of executive materials.
• Commercial orientation and understanding of retail economics and operating realities, with the ability to connect recommendations to business performance.
• Strong executive communication skills, including synthesizing complex information into concise messages, narratives, and board materials.
• Ability to influence without authority, build credibility, and mobilize senior leaders and cross-functional teams.
• Collaborative, low-ego, pragmatic interpersonal approach and comfort working with varied personalities and leadership styles.
• Bias for action and willingness to personally drive work forward.
• Strong judgment about when to resolve issues independently, involve others, or escalate to senior leadership.
• Comfort with ambiguity and situations where the answer, ownership, or path forward is not yet defined.

Nice To Haves

• Prior management consulting or equivalent strategic problem-solving experience is strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with AI tools, including ChatGPT, is valued.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of multi-year Merchandising transformation roadmaps and the strategy and planning process in partnership with the Chief Merchant, aligned with enterprise strategy and financial objectives.
• Develop the planning calendar, clarify deliverables and accountabilities, and coordinate contributions across Merchandising and cross-functional partners.
• Synthesize complex business inputs into strategic priorities, choices, and executive-level materials.
• Translate strategy into initiatives, milestones, and measures of success, and provide visibility into outcomes, value realization, risks, and required interventions.
• Own selected high-priority, complex initiatives on behalf of the Chief Merchandising Officer, defining scope, objectives, governance, workstreams, milestones, and decision points.
• Structure ambiguous business problems and develop fact-based recommendations.
• Convene and lead cross-functional teams across functions including Merchandising, Finance, Operations, Membership, Digital, Supply Chain, Analytics, and Technology.
• Maintain project momentum, resolve roadblocks, escalate decisions as needed, and ensure initiatives deliver measurable business outcomes.
• Take ownership of emerging issues when responsibility is unclear and establish the structure needed to advance the work.
• Establish mechanisms to track progress against Merchandising priorities, commitments, and key initiatives.
• Synthesize business performance and initiative updates into concise executive reporting; identify off-track performance, diagnose issues, and facilitate corrective actions.
• Lead the Merchandising leadership team’s operating rhythm, including meetings, business reviews, strategic working sessions, offsites, and town halls.
• Shape agendas, executive communications, and leadership discussions around business priorities, strategic decisions, and emerging issues, ensuring consistency with broader company strategy.
• Partner with leaders, content owners, and Communications teams to prepare decision-ready analyses, pre-work, messages, and supporting materials.
• Document leadership decisions, establish accountabilities, and follow through to ensure direction is translated into action.

Benefits

• Weekly pay.
• Access to earned pay before payday through Daily Pay; a fee may apply.
• Complimentary The Club Card Membership and a free Supplemental Membership for someone in the household.
• Paid time off including vacation, personal, sick days, holidays, bereavement, and jury duty leave.
• Choice of three medical plans, with optional dental, vision, Health Savings Account, and flexible spending account options.
• 401(k) retirement savings plan with a company match, available to team members 18 and older.
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan, with shares of BJ’s common stock available at a 15% discount; eligibility requirements vary by position.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed