Director, Merchandising

INTRODUCTION

At Burberry, we believe creativity opens spaces. Our purpose is to unlock the power of imagination to push boundaries and open new possibilities for our people, our customers and our communities. This is the core belief that has guided Burberry since it was founded in 1856 and is central to how we operate as a company today.  

We aim to provide an environment for creative minds from different backgrounds to thrive, bringing a wide range of skills and experiences to everything we do. As a purposeful, values-driven brand, we are committed to being a force for good in the world as well, creating the next generation of sustainable luxury for customers, driving industry change and championing our communities.

JOB PURPOSE

The position of Director of Merchandising will strategically develop and execute merchandising strategies across categories, guaranteeing local needs while aligning to the global brand strategy and achieving top line sales and profitability targets. They will coordinate the activities and efforts across all Women's categories to ensure a cohesive strategy is carried through in order a seamless client experience. They are the  voice of the women's department with key partners in the region and in HQ.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Buying/Planning/Stock Management:

•    Travel to Paris/ London (4x per year) for the seasonal buy campaigns, acting as the America’s expert for all Women’s categories

•    Assort all product lines, in alignment with HQ guidelines, ensuring the needs of the region are met to deliver on planned financial targets for the season. Strategically lead the team and ensure opportunities and challenges within the collection are quickly identified and addressed

•    Build a 360 strategy around the product and ensure both short and long term vision are in place

•    Build budget for the department encompassing product strategy, go to market, deliveries, space allocation, training and in season activities

•    Work with Planning to develop by stores plan by subcategories and plan receipts by door by category ahead of market. Evaluate store performance against those plans.

•    Prepare weekly and ad hoc reporting, analysis, hind sighting, and resulting action plans leveraging financial data and qualitative product feedback gathered from stores to support sale

•    Analyze sales and stock to maximize efficiency, perform consolidations to support trend and drive sell through, secure in season replenishment via accurate forecasting in partnership with planning in the region and HQ

•    Act as a true partner to stores, providing strong support via frequent communication, quick follow up and regular store visits to ensure they have all needed tools and product to drive success

•    Partner with Demand Planning & Logistics both locally and at HQ level to complete financial forecasts, evaluate sales and stock levels by store, and ensure product is being moved efficiently between the warehouse, stores and e-commerce

Product Training:
•    Partner with the Retail Excellence & Go-To-Market/ HQ teams to deliver seasonal product trainings, highlight key investments, support product launches and help facilitate styling sessions

Market and Product Analysis:
•    Regularly visit key markets to gain an understanding of regional client nuance and needs, trends, competitor offerings and price positioning. Collect and coordinate feedback activities and ensure regional needs are shared with HQ on a regular basis

Visual Merchandising:
•    Partner with Visual Merchandising Team for collection launches, floor sets, store openings and window planning activities ensuring the needed product for each event is available while guaranteeing that top investments are impactfully displayed to achieve sell through targets
•    Plan window/looks coverage during the buy campaigns to ensure strong seasonal brand messages 

Cross Functional Partnerships:
•    Form highly productive working relationships with key stakeholders including HQ Retail Merchandising and Planning, regional Retail and CE, Marketing and  Visual Merchandising, Supply Chain

PERSONAL PROFILE

•    Strong understanding of the luxury market with an elevated eye for product and experience buying and managing all women’s product categories with Director level presence
•    Experience managing direct reports with an expectation of excellence and a strong coaching mindset
•    Demonstrated experience leading and developing effective teams
•    Excellent analytical ability, high retail math proficiency, and planning experience with knowledge of by product line forecasting and OTB management
•    Highly proficient in Excel and Powerpoint with strong working knowledge of Board, Power BI, Anaplan, SAP, and Business Objects
•    Ability to successfully handle multiple projects, manage deadlines and deliver highly accurate results in a fast-paced environment
•    Detail oriented, highly organized, keen sense of urgency, and comfortable navigating “grey area” and regularly evolving directives
•    Passionate about the Burberry brand and keenly aware of the competitive landscape

Education and experience required: 

•     Bachelor’s Degree 
•    Minimum 6-8 years at Manager level with previous retail buying experience in a luxury multi-store environment
•    Women's RTW experience required with Shoes and Accessories experience highly preferred

FOOTER

Burberry is an Equal Opportunities Employer and as such, treats all applications equally and recruits purely on the basis of skills and experience.

Posting Notes: USA || New York (US-NY) || New York || MERCHANDISING & PLANNING || AMERICAS - MERCHANDISING || n/a ||