The North Face:
Global Merchandising Director Job in Alameda, VT

At The North Facewe dare to lead the world forward through Exploration.

The North Face is the premier exploration company in the world. Founded in the counterculture of Berkeley, CA in 1966 we have a long and storied legacy of enabling exploration, protecting our planet, and creating iconic and technically advanced product.

Our culture is born from the spirit of the Explorer and infuses everything we do. We love wild places. We spark curiosity. We dare to disrupt. We create communities. And we lead with integrity. We are a community of explorers and are constantly looking for new ideas, places and people to connect with.
We take great pride in our ability to facilitate exploration for our employees and partners. By joining The North Face family, you will be offered the opportunity, tools and environments to more deeply explore the world around you and make meaningful, lasting connections. You will also be working on a team with a mission to protect our planet for generations to come.

The North Face is part of VF Corporation who guidespowerful brands that are fueled by insights and innovation that put us at the heart of our consumers lives. Many of our brands lead their respective categories, and some have risen to iconic status.

While our VF company and brands are diverse, we work together within a One VF culture to capitalize on our greatest opportunities for long-term performance. Across our company, a collaborative, global mindset differentiates our products and the unique experiences we provide to our consumers. It all adds up to a lasting competitive advantage built on harnessing the power of our differences to achieve great things together, all while positively impacting the lives of hundreds of millions of people and the world.

Global Director ofMerchandising: Become the Newest Member of The North Face!

The Global Merchandising Director leads a world class merchandising function for the market leader, combining art and science to deliver against brand and business goals. Create consumer focused compelling assortments across channels, tiers and categories. Success for this role relies a high caliber individual to deliver vision, understanding, partnership and technical excellence whilst maintaining a team ethic with passion and energy. Partner cross functionally to optimize our brand and business potential.

How You Will Make a Difference:
Leadership for direct/indirect reports and cross functional partnership to drive sustainable growth
Partners with Merch Planning Director to ensure global Merch Financial Plans translate into commercially relevant 3 year line plans
Reconcile regional Merch financial plans, assortment plans & line plans at key milestones to ensure alignment
Partner with regional Territory merch teams, Creative Director, Marketing Director and GM to ensure territory vision and value proposition are being upheld while maintaining brand DNA
Owns Global Segmentation strategy by Consumer, Territory, Channel & Tier level to create necessary distinction for sustainable growth
Achieve seasonal global alignment goals via identification of strategic global merchandising opportunities
Develop global pricing strategy to achieve top down territory margin targets provided by global planning
Signs off global SKU counts & productivity to targeted goals while balancing region, channel and account specific needs
Understand competitive global markets and ensure assortment and categories properly position North Face to grow and gain market share. Ensure line plan efficiently expresses global vision, while maintaining regional relevance.
Owns Market back info process to ensure channel insights are captured ahead of future season line planning
Owns Global Lifecycle management and Flow
Signs off Global Line plan for own area of business and interfaces with Global product director
Mentor/Coach for global merchandising excellence

Skills for Success:
Years of Related Professional Experience:
8+ years of experience in branded merchandise/development, retail buying or product design/development; experience in Outdoor Industry, apparel/footwear a plus.
5+ years in management including leading a team
International experience a plus.

Educational/ Position Requirements:
Bachelor of Arts: Merchandising, Product Management, Business preferred.
Strong communication skills both verbal and written, strong cross functional collaboration skills required.
Strong presentation skills, proven ability to influence in front of accounts.
Strong understanding of assigned Marketplace, including regional differences and across diverse channels of distribution.
Ability to lead and play an integral role within a broader team, connects the department and individual expectations to the company vision; confidence and presence to lead a diverse team.
Proven skills in selecting talent and developing others.
Strong organizational skills and the ability to juggle multiple priorities and deadlines.
Ability to work with others as part of cross-functional team, build consensus, and achieve results across variety of distinct groups.
Experience in product forecasting, statistical modeling, and/or strategic planning.
Strong working knowledge of apparel merchandising design and/or sales.
Strategic leader with proven ability to achieve/exceed.

Special Physical and/or Mental Requirements:
Global travel: 25%