Director Merchandising Pacific

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organisation:

Lead and optimize the sales, profitability, and brand equity within our Emerging Markets organisation by developing and executing a strategic merchandising plan.

Key Responsibilities:

• New leadership layer to shape and lead the Pacific Merchandising strategy for both Concept and Value store channels, a growing network of +50 stores.

• Deliver key financial targets including Net Sales, Sell-through, Standard Margin, Inventory (IDL), and Operating Margin.

• Drive the pre-season planning and Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy for all categories in alignment with the Emerging Markets Business Unit (EM BU) and Concept-to-Consumer (CTC) team.

• Oversee end-to-end category management, including Open-To-Buy (OTB), pre-season product planning, option planning, range planning, and forecasting.

• Maximize both pre-season and in-season business opportunities by effectively understanding channel potentials.

• Continuously monitor industry trends, providing strategic insights and intelligence across the organization.

• Collaborate effectively with key internal stakeholders, including Marketing, Visual Merchandising, Store Operations, Supply Chain, and Logistics.

• Lead innovation and continuous improvement initiatives, enhancing process automation and product availability across channels.

• Provide actionable, data-driven category insights to internal and external stakeholders.

• Ensure best-in-class merchandising practices by optimizing systems, tools, and processes.

• Maintain optimal Weeks of Stock (WOS) across all retail locations.

• Conduct market visits as required (office/travel ratio approximately 80%/20%).

• Demonstrate leadership consistent with our leadership framework and foster a unified ONE EM team mindset.

Key Relationships:

• BU Director and Category Managers (Category Merchandising)

• Omnichannel Activation and Visual Merchandising

• Retail Back Office and Retail Stores

• Retail HUB

• Demand Planning, Supply Chain, Procurement, and Logistics teams

• Finance and Controlling

• Global Merchandising Teams

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Exceptional leadership and influencing capabilities

• In-depth knowledge of merchandising, range planning, forecasting, and budgeting

• Strong analytical and communication skills

• Collaborative team player, capable of working effectively under pressure

• Proficiency in range segmentation and merchandising strategies, including eCommerce channels

• Entrepreneurial mindset with a strong commercial acumen to leverage business opportunities

• Fluency in English required; additional languages advantageous

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

• University degree in Business, Marketing, Sales, or related fields; MBA preferred

• Minimum of 10 years’ experience, with at least 5 years in senior leadership/directorial roles in merchandising/buying within retail environments

• Proven experience in fashion franchises and vertical/multichannel retail; Sporting Goods retail experience is highly desirable

• Essential experience managing multi-store operations and eCommerce platforms

• Broad understanding of store operations, Visual Merchandising, Marketing Activation, HR, Finance, Supply Chain, and Logistics

• Demonstrated success working with internal stakeholders and external agencies to develop efficient, scalable processes

• Experience effectively collaborating across international, cross-functional teams