Director Merchandising Operations

The Job

The Director of Merchandising Operations is responsible for leading, defining, building and maintaining the strategic direction of Ace Hardware’s Category Management, Enterprise Pricing, Store Planning, Store Environment, Merchandising Operations, Product Content Management and Merchandising Analytic Departments. The teams work in unison with Ace Hardware’s Merchandising teams to deliver comprehensive retail programs that align with Ace’s value proposition and fuel the economics of the store model and the corporation.

What you’ll do

Strategic Direction of the Merchandising team

• This position is 1 of 3 key leadership positions within the Merchandising department. They are involved with all key decisions within the department (budget, IT projects, org structure, strategic planning, setting priorities, etc.).

Team Leadership & People Development

• Build Merchandising team to support the strategic vision of the dept.
• Build a culture of creative curiosity that will drive actionable insights based on robust analytics
• Build a pipeline of top performers that will grow both within the team and feed other Ace Corporate teams
• Create opportunities for team to continually develop through individual training, team training and industry seminars

Enterprise Pricing & Profitability

• Develop and own end-to-end Enterprise Pricing Strategy, enabling effective and dynamic management of cost and price from Ace purchase price down to the consumer retail
• Partner with Finance and Merchandising leadership to define and manage to corporate and retailer profitability targets for each department, ensuring it ladders up to overall enterprise profitability targets

Category Management

• Lead all micro and micro space aspects of our retail product and placement recommendations. Ensure we drive sales per square foot greater than $250.

Product Content Management

• Lead the strategic direction of our Product Content Management (PCM) department. Ensure our search, evaluate and ordering tools are world class.

Merchandise Operations

• Direct all process and project management efforts within the Merchandising team. Work to continuously improve efficiency of the teams by developing, deploying and training to effective SOP’s.

What you need to succeed

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Finance, Marketing or related field
• 15+ years of merchandising and/or retail experience
• Strong visionary, strategic and analytical leadership skills
• Proven ability to build complete capability from ground up, including definition of strategy, organization, technology and process
• Proven ability to lead and manage teams through complex business capabilities
• Ability to communicate effectively verbally and written to all levels of corporate and retail management, from Board of Directors down to Ace Retailers and their associates
• Ability to develop relationships and credibility with individuals at all organization levels
• Proven project management experience
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications (e.g., Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Word)

We want to hear from you!

When most people think of career opportunities with Ace Hardware, they often think of the helpful cashiers and sales associates at their local store. However, have you also considered the people behind the scenes who select, promote, ship and process the invoices for more than 75,000 products? Maybe you haven’t, but we’d like you to. Because together we help our customers take care of their homes. Come find out why a career with the Ace Hardware Corporation is one of America’s best kept secrets.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Ace Hardware Corporation and its subsidiaries are committed to a policy of promoting equal employment opportunities. The company recognizes the importance of diversity and leveraging the skills and talents of all people to the mutual advantage of each individual and the organization. The company is committed to the prevention of employment discrimination related to race, religion, color, sex (including sexual harassment), gender identity, national origin, age, marital status, disability and military or veteran status, sexual orientation or any other action covered by federal or applicable state/local laws.