VP Merchandising, Collision & Mechanical Part

CarParts.com•Long Beach, CA

49d•Onsite

About The Position

CarParts.com is seeking a VP of Merchandising to lead assortment and vendor/buying strategy for Collision and Mechanical Parts. The Collision category, representing 70% of revenue with 80,000 SKUs, requires precision at the SKU level and strategic category management. The Mechanical category involves governing a partner relationship and setting category strategy and commercial targets. This role reports directly to the COO and is a senior operating voice on product assortment and market performance. The ideal candidate is data-driven, enjoys deep analysis of SKU-level data, and can manage both a large, complex hardlines assortment and a partner-governed category. The role involves building and leading a merchandising team for Collision and overseeing a smaller function for Mechanical, with accountability for category P&L outcomes.

Requirements

10+ years of progressive merchandising, category management, or buying leadership experience.
Direct responsibility for large, complex, hardlines assortments of 40,000+ SKUs.
Demonstrated experience managing long-tail catalogs with deep fitment/part-number complexity and low-velocity/high-SKU-count assortments.
Proven track record building and executing assortment strategy.
Strong vendor negotiation and management background.
Experience governing a category or vendor relationship through a third-party, drop-ship, VMI, or fully-funded partner model.
Experience factoring seasonality into assortment and buying decisions.
Comfortable and effective operating at the SKU level, genuinely enjoying digging into granular sales, margin, and inventory data.
Experience analyzing and acting on channel-level performance differences.
P&L ownership experience for a business unit or category of meaningful scale.
Advanced proficiency with data and analytics tools (Excel/Tableau/SQL or similar) sufficient to interrogate SKU-level data directly.
Strong analytical and strategic thinking abilities.
High ownership and urgency.
Collaborative cross-functional operator.

Nice To Haves

Automotive aftermarket, collision/body parts, or hard-parts experience highly preferred.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end assortment strategy for the ~80,000-SKU Collision Parts catalog, defining logic by part type, vehicle coverage, and price tier.
Build and maintain the long-tail strategy for Collision Parts, identifying strategically necessary SKUs versus dead weight.
Own seasonality planning across the Collision Parts category, anticipating demand swings and translating them into buying and inventory decisions.
Continuously evaluate competitive gaps, new part numbers, new vendors, and new categories to inform assortment expansion or contraction.
Own the buying decision for Collision Parts, including what to source, from which vendor, and when, setting and defending the buying rationale SKU-by-SKU.
Own vendor relationships and negotiations for Collision Parts in partnership with sourcing/procurement.
Partner with Demand Planning/Inventory and Pricing on purchase quantities, timing, replenishment cadence, and price-point strategy for Collision Parts.
Operate at the SKU level for Collision Parts, identifying what's selling, what isn't, and why, across the entire catalog.
Build and use reporting and processes to track velocity, sell-through, margin, and return rate at the individual SKU level for Collision Parts.
Identify and diagnose channel-level performance differences for Collision Parts and adjust assortment, pricing, or placement accordingly.
Proactively flag and act on accelerating and decelerating trends within the Collision Parts category, articulating the reasons.
Drive SKU lifecycle management end to end for Collision Parts, including introduction, growth, maturity, decline, and rationalization/exit.
Set category-level assortment strategy, commercial targets (revenue, margin, availability), and priorities for Mechanical Parts.
Approve additions, exits, and assortment scope changes within the Mechanical catalog, while the partner executes sourcing, funding, and fulfillment.
Ensure Mechanical assortment strategy aligns with overall company strategy, brand standards, and competitive positioning.
Co-own governance of the Mechanical business with the VP of Sourcing, participating in scorecards and business reviews.
Serve as an escalation point for Mechanical category performance issues, determining root causes and driving resolution.
Maintain a dedicated point of ownership for Mechanical category oversight, sized for a partner-governance model.
Represent Mechanical Parts performance in reporting to the COO and executive team.
Report on Mechanical category health, including growth, margin, availability, and partner performance issues.
Own the Collision Parts category P&L, budget, and forecast, including top-line growth, margin, and inventory health.
Own the Mechanical Parts category P&L outcomes, focusing on top-line growth and margin.
Lead regular performance management cadences with the team and cross-functional partners for both categories.
Report category performance to the COO and executive team with a clear, data-driven point of view.
Build, lead, and scale a merchandising team for the Collision catalog.
Maintain a smaller, dedicated Mechanical category governance function.
Set the standard for analytical discipline on the team, instilling a daily practice of analyzing performance.
Recruit, coach, and develop category management talent.
Partner closely with the COO, Finance, Marketing, and E-commerce/Marketplace teams.
Work hand-in-hand with Demand Planning/Inventory and Pricing teams.
Partner closely with the VP of Sourcing on the strategic partner relationship for Mechanical Parts.
Partner closely with Data Science to build and refine performance models.
Partner with the CEO's Technical Advisor and the Catalog team on fitment data quality and catalog structure.
Represent Collision and Mechanical Parts in company-wide strategic planning, budgeting, and executive reviews.
Serve as a key advisor to the COO and executive team on the health and direction of both categories.