Sr. Director, North America Regional Merchandising

KEEN Footwear•Portland, OR

3d•$186,000 - $195,000

About The Position

The Sr. Director, North America (NA) Regional Merchandising leads and executes the regional go-tomarket merchandising vision, strategy, and assortment plans. As well leads the product and merchandising go to market efforts of the North America outside team. This role is responsible for leading and delivering product strategy and segmentation plan, assortments that delight and inspire fans and enable the business to execute against the brand and business goals with our partners in North America.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Business, Merchandising, Product, related field, or equivalent experience.
Ten (10) or more years progressive experience in merchandising, product creation, and/or retail; experience in footwear preferred.
Any equivalent combination of experience and education which clearly indicates the ability to perform the essential functions of the position may substitute on a year for year basis.
Demonstrated strong leadership experience and the ability to drive results in a fast-paced matrix environment.
Strong knowledge of footwear landscape and consumer insights.
Strong understanding of KEEN regional fans, competitors, trend, and market insights.
Strong organizational, analytical and time management skills.
Strong verbal, written, and presentation communication skills with an ability to communicate at all levels of the organization.
Knowledge of global and regional hybrid performance and style trends with the ability to translate into commercial concepts.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications (Outlook, Excel. Power Point, Word)
Results orientation that is balanced between both long-term objectives and short-run performance.
Ability to successfully communicate cross-culturally as part of a global brand and merchandising team.
Ability to independently utilize resources to increase knowledge.
Ability to lead and influence people in support of overarching business and category goals.
Ability to travel domestically and internationally as required.

Responsibilities

Leads, develops, and executes the regional merchandising strategy plan and vision that supports long-term and in-season brand and business strategic initiatives. Drives business results and profitable product metrics in region.
Provides go-to-market expertise and execution for the North America (NA) product and merchandising integrated GTM initiatives and execution in region.
Provides NA consumer expertise to ensure strong point of view around product development around the NA consumer and marketplace targets.
Delivers a thoughtful regional, seasonal analysis that drives the global & regional briefing process by summarizing the findings of competitive market, online marketplace expertise, brick & mortar expertise.
Engages and collaborates cross-functionally with product teams to plan and lead the creation of innovative, commercial and brand-enhancing regional assortments designed for targeted regional KEEN fans that deliver revenue, MSRP, margin, profitability, productivity, color/material guidance, construction, lifecycle targets, franchise management, channel segmentation plans, and other metrics as required. Directs regional fan and channel needs with specific inline and regionally driven styles as required by the business including but not limited to SMU’s, limited editions, collaborations, exclusive product, etc.
Drives the management of blended pricing and margin model and for the gross margin (merch margin) of the seasonal line. Works cross-functionally throughout the seasonal product process to bring a cohesive, cross merchandised, fan-focused line with compelling global and regional stories each season.
Partners with sales management and key accounts to develop a distinctive, effective, and brand-appropriate distribution merchandising strategy by channel. Leading product and merchandising account-based meetings.
Monitors new product introductions and carryover product to ensure health of planned launch and/or lifecycle. Continuous improvement focused on SKU efficiency, margins, and global assortment alignment.
Works with the finance department on product, unit and margin forecasts and analysis by season, category, gender, and style. Participates in long range planning and annual budget development.
Acts as a product champion, presenting in pre-lines, sales meetings, key accounts, influencers and visiting editors as required with commercial and regional efforts.
Provides strategic direction, mentorship, and inspiration to direct reports on the regional Merchandising team.
Serves as a member of the NA regional leadership team.