US Merchandising Manager PLT

PURPOSE OF ROLE

Reporting directly to the Merchandising Director, the US Merchandising Manager will support the Head of Merchandising and merchandising function to ensure that strategic KPI’s are implemented and achieved. You will form strong working relationships cross functionally and aligned to key stakeholders in the business.

You will demonstrate a collaborative, organised, and strategic mindset, always looking for opportunities to push both the merchandising function and wider business forward. Alongside the Head of Merchandising, you will be responsible for the effective delivery of sales, stock and profit targets to achieve the brands overall financial goals.

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

High Level Scope:

· Work closely with the Head of Merchandising to create, translate and implement the product strategy. Contribute to the strategic planning and management of all department ways of working and critical path activity

· Drive revenue and profit growth, analysing and forecasting sales, stock and profitability for all designated product areas to drive the overall business and financial goals

· Demonstrate a detailed and data lead focus on inventory management and building an optimised US facing assortment

· Reviewing all designated product areas monthly/seasonal/annual budgets. Contribute to the shape of monthly WSSI and budget reviews, managing upwards effectively

· Guide & develop teams and agree department strategies that enable growth

· Actively support teams in reviewing risk and opportunity and overall trading performance – shaping actions to translate and execute the right trading decisions

· Track trend and demand movements, highlighting inventory risk and formulating ideas for promotional activity, and potential linked marketing opportunities

· Monitor and maintain buying margin and gross profit margin. Formulate and implement strategies to drive the highest levels of BIM

· Identify tools/software to enable more efficient ways of working and remove duplication in manual workload associated with operating separate stock pools

· Working collaboratively with buying counterpart, identify US market facing product opportunities across sizing, pricing and sourcing

· Maintain/establish positive relationships across the supply base

· Effectively deputise and carry out all meetings in the absence of the Head of Merchandising

· You will be required to travel as part of fulfilling this role and may need to flex your working hours on occasion to accommodate meetings and communicate effectively with your US stakeholders

Key Deliverables:

· Operate as strategic business manager, overseeing the teams and their processes, demonstrating best practice. Foresees future risk and suggests possible solutions

· Promotes business development. Continually reviews processes and systems within the department and makes recommendations for changes to support business goals and growth. Pre-empts the need for and manages change – supporting teams throughout the process.

· Offers advice and helps find solutions to issues encountered by the teams, acts as a trouble-shooter

· Assists in building a strong team with a focus on attracting, growing and nurturing future talent

· Is a role model for a high-performance culture and demonstrates positive leadership attributes

· Assists in developing the skills of the team, identifying training needs and highlighting gaps in skill set and succession planning

· Provides individual support to new Merchandiser and Junior Merchandisers, ensures a full induction is provided and adequate support given during probation period

· Encourages effective teamwork, demonstrates maturity, resilience, and high levels of self-awareness

· Actively motivates the team, giving recognition and praise. Deals with people issues promptly and appropriately

· Builds effective and open relationships with all members of the merchandising and buying team

· Establishes a collaborative working relationship with buying counterpart, liaising and working with on a daily/weekly basis

· Delivers key information at the right time, to the right people, and presents at high level meetings as requested