Director, Merchandise Initiatives

About

Bloomingdale's makes fashion personal and fun, aspirational yet approachable. Our mission is to guide and inspire our customers to make style a source of creative energy in their lives. We will always strive to make Bloomingdale's like no other store in the world. Across all brand touchpoints-from Bloomingdales.com to our newest small store concept, Bloomie's-everyone plays a critical role bringing our mission to life. Our inclusive culture promotes diversity of background, thought and opinion. Regardless of position, we believe all colleagues have a voice and access to share their thoughts with every level of leadership. Our colleagues are passionate, driven, entrepreneurial and collaborative, while having a lot of fun along the way.

Job Overview

The Director of Merchandise Initiatives will be a trusted advisor, operational partner, and thought leader to the Chief Merchant. This person will facilitate decisions and ensure priorities are executed with precision, facilitate effective cross-functional collaboration, and drive alignment across a fast-paced merchandising organization. This role is ideal for someone who thrives in a dynamic environment, is a natural problem solver, and has experience managing complex projects in retail or consumer-driven businesses.

Essential Functions

• Strategic Planning & Execution
  
  
  
  • Drive the Chief Merchant's strategic agenda, aligning short- and long-term priorities across merchandising categories, marketing, digital, stores and external partners.
  • Manage strategic projects from inception to completion, ensuring timelines and deliverables are met.
  • Identifying areas of improvement across the organization and making actionable recommendations.
  • Providing hands-on support to transform ideas into reality and monitor their progress.
  • Steering strategic business initiatives from genesis to fruition.
  • Pinpointing and addressing core issues within business processes.
  
  
• Operational Leadership
  
  
  
  • Prepare market prep, pitch decks/presentations, and reports for internal and external stakeholders, including the executive committee.
  • Lead and streamline recurring team meetings, including business reviews, strategy meetings, and offsites.
  • Act as a gatekeeper and prioritize incoming requests to the Chief Merchant, ensuring focus on what matters most.
  
  
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
  
  
  
  • Serve as a liaison and foster effective communication and alignment between the Chief Merchant/merchandising and other functions such as Marketing, Digital, Stores, external partners and Macy's.
  • Support the onboarding and development of key merchandising leaders.
  
  
• Special Projects & Communications
  
  
  
  • Lead and support special projects on behalf of the Chief Merchant, often involving confidential or sensitive business topics.
  • Draft key communications, galvanize resources and influence teams ensuring alignment to the merchandising vision.
  • Perform other duties as assigned
  
  

Qualifications and Competencies

• Educations/Experience:
  
  
  
  • Bachelor's Degree from a 4-Year College or University
  • 7-10 years of related experience
  
  
• Financial Business Acumen: Ability to understand and analyze financial aspects to make informed strategic decisions.
• Change Management: Comfort and effectiveness in leading teams through change ensuring successful adaptation.
• Leadership:
  
  
  
  • Capability to lead through influence, fostering collaboration and building trust with a focus on achieving results.
  • Excellent leadership, facilitation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work across functional lines at many levels.
  
  
• Communication Skills:
  
  
  
  • Effective communication with candor, valuing open debate to bring the best ideas to life.
  • Practices open and continuous communication, values keeping others informed, effectively presenting information in a clear, concise manner.
  
  
• Visionary Thinking:
  
  
  
  • Ability to be a forward thinking and innovative leader with a vision to drive transformative strategies.
  • Ability to think creatively, strategically, and technically and to connect the dots between multiple complex processes and systems
  
  
• Physical Requirements:
  
  
  
  • Requires prolonged periods of sitting, with occasional standing.
  • Occasionally requires walking, bending, reaching, hearing and talking.
  • Continuous use of computers and other office equipment.
  • May require lifting/moving up to 25 lbs.
  
  
• Ability to work a flexible schedule based on company needs