Overview

As the Director of Merchandising, you provide leadership in the vision and execution in bringing our products to life. You enable the evolving product line up to succeed by driving alignment between teams while delivering exceptional sales, inventory and margin results. You will lead and foster growth, direction and structure to a high-performing Merchandising team as well as establish key relationships with Channel owners, Finance and Marketing to drive in-season execution across all channels.

What Youll Do

Category and Line Management

• Oversee merchandising categories for Vessis e-commerce, retail, and wholesale business, ensuring well-planned assortments that align with revenue and profitability goals.
• Lead the creation of strategic line plans and category plans that drive future product development and alignment with corporate strategic growth plans
• Designing product gross margin targets to support profitable and scalable products.
• Run yearly pricing analysis, outlining opportunities for profitable growth as well as assuring accurate market positioning
• Maximize product lifecycle performance, and improve sales and customer satisfaction with new and carry-over product offerings through Post-Mortem and Customer Insights reporting.
• Collaborate with the Design, Development, Commercial Channel Teams, and Marketing teams to bring the product line to life.
• Drive and utilize market, customer, and trend research to guide category strategy and identify new growth opportunities.
• Develop timely and accurate assortment strategies that support budgeted sales, margins, and inventory targets while ensuring alignment with promotional strategies.
• Lead the design of promotional plans to achieve sales, margin, inventory management, and profitability goals. Collaborate with key stakeholders to ensure promotional strategies are aligned with the needs of marketing and all commercial channels, including e-commerce, retail, and wholesale. Design promotions that not only drive immediate revenue but also support long-term business growth and brand integrity.
• Serve as an advocate for the merchandising function across Vessis organizational landscape, demonstrating strong business acumen and leadership presence to ensure merchandising priorities are effectively communicated and supported.

Demand & Supply Planning

• Build and continuously update a bottom-up demand plan using appropriate technology and tools, ensuring improved accuracy across new and carry-over styles by leveraging cross-functional collaboration with Product, Marketing, and Commercial teams.
• Liaise regularly with the Brand, Digital, Retail, Wholesale, and Finance teams to update the demand plan and incorporate upcoming marketing and sales initiatives.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to triangulate and refine the demand plan, mitigating risks related to inaccurate forecasting and improving long-term planning.
• Ensure core revenue-driving styles remain consistently in stock, addressing past challenges by developing proactive tracking and collaboration with supply chain partners.
• Collaborate on production planning and sourcing strategies to support seasonal demand surges, product launches, and long-term availability.
• Build strong, trusted working relationships with inventory vendors to ensure product availability and scalable production as Vessi grows.
• Partner with the Product and Distribution teams to implement a cross-functional vendor scorecard system, tracking key metrics like on-time production fulfillment, delivery rates, and defect rates.

Inventory Management

• Manage the inventory order process to enable timely production delivery on time and in full. Liaise with vendors and internal sourcing & production teams on production plans, holding factories accountable to delivery volume and timelines based on changing business needs.
• Determine optimal allocation of inventory between our warehouses, stores, and wholesale partners.
• Forecast and report total inventory on hand, communicating clearly to cross-functional partners regarding risks and opportunities.
• Provide accurate inventory lists to support upcoming promotions.

Who You Are

• 7+ years of experience in merchandising, category management, or a related field within retail or consumer products, 5+ years leading a team
• Proven track record of successful line planning, product lifecycle management, and category growth.
• Strong understanding of product gross margin design and its impact on profitability and scalability.
• Excellent collaboration and cross-functional communication skills, with the ability to refine demand forecasts and synchronize efforts across teams.
• Experienced in developing promotional strategies that balance sales growth and brand value.
• A proactive leader with a continuous improvement mindset and the ability to mentor and develop a high-performing merchandising team.
• Business-savvy, with a deep understanding of how merchandising decisions impact overall company strategy and financial outcomes.

Employment Type:

• Permanent Full-time
• Located at our Head office - 1085 Homer St #500, Vancouver, BC V6B 1J4. Canada
• Hybrid
  

What Youll Get:

• Opportunity to help build an ever-evolving brand
• Competitive salary
• 3 weeks paid vacation
• Professional development opportunities
• Extended health benefits package including an EAP and a $500 annual Health & Wellness Spending Account
• $1000 per year Education Reimbursement
• 40% Family & Friends Discount
• Free Vessi product and 50% Employee Discount