Senior Director, Vendor Partnerships & Merchandising (VETTE)

Condé Nast•New York, NY

37d•$157,000 - $175,000•Onsite

About The Position

Vogue Shopping and VETTE are seeking a Senior Director of Merchandising & Vendor Partnerships to build and lead brand strategy across these platforms, operating as a curated marketplace model. This role is responsible for the entire vendor relationship lifecycle, including brand development and recruitment, assortment strategy, commercial negotiations, and ongoing performance management. The objective is to create a unique, editorially-driven portfolio that converts effectively and reflects the authority of Vogue and the cultural relevance of the creators VETTE supports. The ideal candidate will possess extensive relationships within the global luxury, designer, and contemporary markets, a strong perspective on emerging brands, and the commercial expertise to manage distinct platforms: Vogue Shopping and creator-commerce storefronts. This is not a traditional buying position; it requires a blend of brand strategy, business development, and an understanding of modern multi-vendor commerce infrastructure.

Requirements

12+ years of experience in merchandising, buying, or vendor partnerships within a multi-brand e-commerce retailer.
Deep network of relationships across emerging, contemporary, and luxury fashion brands (including European markets).
Proven experience building and managing brand portfolios and assortment strategies at scale.
Strong expertise in both marketplace and inventory-based commerce models.
Experience leading merchandise planning and driving financial performance (revenue, margin, inventory turn).
Demonstrated ability to identify and scale emerging brands.
Strong commercial acumen with a data-driven approach to decision-making.
Experience leading and developing teams in fast-paced, high-growth environments.
Comfortable operating in a startup or build-phase business.

Responsibilities

Define and lead brand acquisition strategy across luxury, designer, contemporary, and discovery markets, establishing clear vendor selection criteria.
Build and refine a brand matrix balancing emerging and established brands, price tiers, category depth, and trend relevance across fashion, beauty, and lifestyle.
Develop and maintain brand and product toolkits to streamline the process between discovery and storefront activation.
Lead new-brand discovery, secure exclusive products, and develop unique brand initiatives.
Attend global market appointments to review assortments, identify market gaps, and build partnerships.
Cultivate strong relationships with brand teams to ensure successful launches, consistent product flow, and competitive commercial terms.
Lead commercial planning each season and develop long-range plans considering evolving business models.
Negotiate full-funnel commercial terms, including commission structures, exclusives, co-op marketing, and launch commitments.
Own vendor performance across revenue, margin, sell-through, and conversion, developing strategies for revenue growth.
Build reporting infrastructure for editors and creators to access performance insights and make merchandising decisions.
Collaborate with Product and Technology to develop tools and back-end experiences for editors and creators to optimize and self-service as merchants.
Create and own the visual merchandising playbook for Vogue Shopping and VETTE creator storefronts.
Partner with creative, editorial, and product teams to ensure cohesive brand execution.
Implement tactics to improve funnel metrics (AOV, CVR, CTR, EPC) while maintaining editorial integrity.
Partner with Product and Technology to define platform capabilities for scaling the editor and creator commerce model.
Act as the commerce representative in seasonal planning, integrating assortment strategy across editorial, marketing, and creator programming.
Collaborate with finance and operations on planning inputs such as open-to-buy, margin targets, and inventory flow.
Build and lead a high-performing team focused on vendor partnerships, merchandising, and planning.
Define the structure and capabilities of a platform-era merchandising team.
Establish clear processes, roles, and KPIs to support scalable growth.
Foster a test-and-learn culture and contribute to overall commerce strategy.