Senior Manager, Merchandising (Promotional Products)

BDA•Woodinville, WA

9d•$145,000 - $155,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Manager, Merchandising is a key leader within BDA’s merchandising organization, responsible for leading and developing a team of merchandising professionals and driving merchandising strategy and execution across assigned clients and categories. Reporting to the Director, Global Merchandising, this role provides day-to-day leadership for the merchandising team, setting priorities, establishing clear accountability, and ensuring the team delivers strong product strategies and assortments that meet client and business objectives. The Senior Manager works closely with New Business Development, Client Services, Design, Global Sourcing, Merchandise Planning, Purchasing, and Operations to connect client needs, product opportunities, financial performance, and execution. This leader brings strong merchandising expertise and product knowledge to the business, using trends, client insights, and performance data to guide the team’s decisions, identify opportunities, and continuously improve merchandise programs. The Senior Manager also plays an active role with clients, participating in business reviews, product presentations, strategic discussions, and new-business opportunities while developing a high-performing merchandising team that can support BDA’s continued growth.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Merchandising, Business, Marketing, Design, or related field preferred.
7+ years of progressive experience in merchandising, product development, category management, retail, consumer goods, or promotional merchandise.
3+ years of experience leading and developing people and teams.
Demonstrated experience leading merchandising strategies, product assortments, and category initiatives.
Strong understanding of product development, sourcing, merchandise planning, purchasing, inventory management, and production timelines.
Experience using sales, margin, inventory, and product performance data to drive decisions and actions.
Demonstrated ability to lead through others, establish priorities, and hold teams accountable for results.
Strong client-facing and presentation skills with experience presenting strategies and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
Proven ability to build strong cross-functional relationships and influence across multiple teams.
Strong organizational, communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
Experience working in a fast-paced environment managing multiple clients, programs, and priorities.
Experience with merchandising, planning, ERP, PLM, or related systems preferred.
Experience in branded merchandise, retail, consumer products, apparel, lifestyle products, or a related industry strongly preferred.

Nice To Haves

Experience with merchandising, planning, ERP, PLM, or related systems preferred.
Experience in branded merchandise, retail, consumer products, apparel, lifestyle products, or a related industry strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, and develop a team of merchandising professionals, creating clear expectations, accountability, and ownership across the team.
Establish team priorities and ensure resources are aligned to the clients, programs, and opportunities with the greatest business impact.
Provide ongoing coaching, feedback, and development to strengthen merchandising capabilities and build future leaders within the organization.
Set goals and performance expectations and hold the team accountable for delivering against client, financial, and operational objectives.
Ensure the team effectively manages multiple clients, programs, product launches, and competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
Build a culture of collaboration, creativity, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Partner with the Director, Global Merchandising on organizational structure, talent planning, capability development, and succession planning for the merchandising team.
Identify opportunities to improve how the team works, including processes, tools, communication, and cross-functional ways of working.
Lead the development and execution of merchandising strategies across assigned clients, programs, and product categories.
Guide the team in building product assortments that reflect client brands, consumer needs, market trends, program objectives, and financial targets.
Establish direction and priorities for seasonal, evergreen, event-driven, and client-specific merchandise programs.
Review and challenge assortment strategies and product recommendations to ensure the right balance of creativity, brand relevance, financial performance, and execution.
Identify opportunities to expand categories, improve product mix, introduce new products, and strengthen merchandise programs.
Ensure merchandising strategies are effectively carried through from initial concept and product development to launch and ongoing program management.
Partner with the Director, Global Merchandising to execute broader merchandising priorities and initiatives across the organization.
Serve as a senior merchandising partner to NBD, Client Services, and key clients.
Participate in client discovery sessions, strategic planning discussions, business reviews, product presentations, and new-business pitches.
Guide the development of client product strategies, assortments, trend presentations, and category recommendations.
Ensure the merchandising team understands each client's brand, consumer, business objectives, and program needs.
Build strong relationships with client stakeholders and provide merchandising expertise and recommendations that strengthen BDA's partnerships.
Partner with Client Services leadership to identify opportunities to grow existing programs and bring new ideas to clients.
Support new-business opportunities by helping develop merchandising strategies and product solutions that differentiate BDA.
Lead the merchandising team's review of sales, margin, inventory, sell-through, in-stock performance, and other key business measures.
Use performance data, client insights, and market trends to identify opportunities and guide merchandising decisions.
Ensure the team understands the financial impact of assortment, product, pricing, and inventory decisions.
Identify opportunities to improve sales, margin, inventory productivity, and overall program performance.
Partner with Merchandise Planning and Purchasing to align merchandising strategies with forecasts, inventory plans, replenishment strategies, and purchasing decisions.
Lead regular business and assortment reviews to evaluate performance, identify risks, and establish actions.
Escalate significant business risks and opportunities to the Director, Global Merchandising and appropriate cross-functional leaders.
Ensure the team follows through on actions and recommendations identified through performance reviews.
Build strong partnerships across NBD, Client Services, Design, Global Sourcing, Merchandise Planning, Purchasing, Operations, Logistics, and Compliance.
Ensure merchandising priorities and product strategies are clearly communicated across functions.
Partner with Global Sourcing on product capabilities, vendor opportunities, costing, lead times, quality, and production considerations.
Partner with Design to ensure product collections and presentations effectively bring client brands and campaigns to life.
Work closely with Merchandise Planning and Purchasing to align assortment decisions with demand, inventory, and purchasing strategies.
Partner with Operations and Logistics to identify and resolve issues that could impact product availability, timing, quality, or client commitments.
Help resolve cross-functional issues and establish clear ownership when decisions or actions span multiple teams.
Represent the merchandising team in cross-functional meetings and initiatives as needed.
Ensure the merchandising team maintains a strong understanding of retail, consumer, apparel, lifestyle, cultural, and promotional merchandise trends.
Identify emerging categories, products, materials, decoration techniques, and market opportunities relevant to BDA clients.
Guide the team in translating trends into relevant product ideas and client opportunities.
Partner with Design and Global Sourcing to bring new products, capabilities, and ideas into BDA's merchandise offering.
Maintain strong knowledge of the competitive landscape and identify opportunities for BDA to differentiate its product solutions.
Attend tradeshows, vendor meetings, market visits, showrooms, and other opportunities to identify and showcase new products and trends.
Encourage the team to continuously bring forward new ideas and challenge existing assortments and approaches.