Senior Merchant, PINK - Apparel

Victoria's Secret•New York, NY

45d

About The Position

The Senior Merchant helps to develop and drive a category of business strategies and seasonal assortment plans based upon a detailed knowledge of the brand, intimate understanding of the customer, and studied appreciation of the competition and overall marketplace. They critically evaluate the assortment and reacts to in-season performance/trends and translates to future seasons. The Senior Merchant demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the connection between financial strategies and related merchandise objectives. The position collaborates directly with various cross functional teams including but not limited to design, merchandise planning, demand & deployment, production, stores operations, and visual presentation, to ensure execution of the accurate brand vision and category goals. The Senior Merchant must possess strong leadership skills as they are ultimately responsible for driving cross-functional communication and for motivating the team to be customer-focused, curious, and team oriented in their work. The Senior Merchant supports the Leader in prioritizing workload and plays a supportive role in training merchandising talent within the company. This role owns at least one category within the business.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Fashion Merchandising, Business Administration or relevant area
5-7 years of experience in merchandising and 2+ years of management experience
Strong understanding of vertically integrated retail operations
High intelligence with a true entrepreneurial risk mentality, strong analytical and strategic thinking skills
Acute sense of brand and customer intimacy
Acute eye for product and trend with proven talent to envision and interpret fashion trends
Proficient in conflict management and problem-solving
Exceptional ability to bridge and enhance cooperative working relationships
Strong organizational skills
Ability to multi-task and prioritize
Demonstrated ability in communication, presentation, negotiating and influencing skills
Ability to lead and inspire with unquestionable integrity and trust
Systems and computer proficiency (MS Office, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel)

Responsibilities

Lead and demonstrate strong cross-functional partnerships with clear and accurate communication
Lead and influence solutions-based thinking, conflict resolution and productive dialogue in cross functional and merchandising meetings
Begin to develop leadership presence and cast positive leadership shadow
Demonstrate ability to layer strategic thinking and business ownership on top of business execution
Relationship building by demonstrating corporate culture & values of diversity, equity, inclusivity, open-mindedness, collaboration, and positive intent
Lead and demonstrate company values of Love the Customer, Passion with Purpose, Better Together, DEI is Everything
Consistently react with urgency while comprehending overall strategy
Consistently demonstrate an ability to turn customer insight into actionable recommendations as it relates to assortment strategy
Translate and apply customer and competitive patterning insights into actions that will drive the business and assortment forward
Remain curious about the customer to better understand their current demands and seek to learn more through store travel and taking on the customer lens
Partner across merchandising categories to connect dots on larger, total brand trends and patterns
Understand the customer's lifestyle by staying on top of trends, social media, and pop culture as it specifically relates to the customer, in stores or wherever they are
Drive customer insight strategy via the internal teams and external focus groups
Responsible for executing the seasonal financial plan into a product assortment while preserving brand position and brand image
Consistently demonstrate an ability to turn product insight into actionable recommendations as it relates to assortment strategy
Accountable for key meeting prep with sample availability, style & color ranking, deck preparation, and ad hoc requests and analysis, always staying agile and flexible
Responsible for ongoing trend analysis and reporting, inclusive of competitive landscape & competitive patterning
Drive development of a robust testing agenda to identify and unlock future growth opportunities
Accountable for sales and margin targets for their category(s) of business
Develop roadmap and lineplan architecture by season and align with Planning partners in lineplan reviews to present to Senior Leadership
Ensure price-value relationship is in line with customer expectation
Understand product trends and historical data at the category level in order to manage in-season opportunities
Actively participate and influence in costing meetings by floorset
Select, train, coach, retain and develop a diverse team to ensure effective performance and growth through consistent on-the-job training
Demonstrate capability to cultivate and promote talent within Merchandising
Manage yourself as well as your team (i.e., handling high pressure situations, proactive problem solving, positive leadership shadow, maintaining healthy relationships across the organization)
Actively give, seek and take action on feedback to and from all levels to enable growth and development in role
Minimum of one direct report