AVP, Merchandising - VS Beauty

Description Your Role:

Victoria's Secret is one of the best beauty companies in the business, and an integral part of the best lingerie brands in the world. Here's your chance to be part of our amazing team." 20 Fragrance Foundation Awards, 4 fragrances in the top 15 and The #1 fragrance in America. The Associate Vice President, Merchandising inspires the merchant team to develop a merchandising/commercialization strategy that is incorporated into the annual business plan. They are the brand builder and editor who owns the realization of the strategic view of the line.

Your Impact:

Strategy Directs and oversees the execution of the Beauty Merchandising strategy to meet the beauty business unit/company-wide profit and growth goals for the year Leads the merchant team to develop businesses that embody a category-wide merchandising perspective and correctly anticipate the next key item and creates distortion to optimize the potential of that future trend Help fuel the product innovation pipeline working closely with Product Development, Innovation, Design & Sourcing teams on identifying hero products of tomorrow Leverages retail experience and expertise in intimately understanding the brand, the competition, the target customer, the brand-specific product & category trends, financial ramifications of merchandising decisions, and is effective at building consensus to move ideas forward Leads the merchandising team in its role to collaborate with Product Development, Design, Merchandise Planning and Visual teams to manage the merchandise for the company by developing, distorting and merchandising product consistent with the Brand which consistently and predictably drives sales and profits Collaborate with VS Intimates team to ensure Beauty is strongly integrated into the broader brand messaging each season Directly influences the category teams in translating customer, competitor and merchandise knowledge into action Builds Revenue Creates a compelling vision for beauty merchandising in the future, recognizing its implications for the critical initiatives of the business Conceptualizes and communicates short and long-range beauty merchandise strategies that support the business' brand position Understands and remains sensitive to the target customers' purchasing trends, attitude, lifestyle and aspirations Leads the team to find innovative ways to manage business that will increase opportunities for inventory control, improved margins and decreased markdowns Leads the team to develop assortment roadmaps to achieve financial goals and to maximize volume, based on concept and theme Influences their merchant team to develop financial plan, budget scenarios and merchandise models to establish and deliver sales, gross margin and profit objectives Shops the market to identify and analyze trends while always staying abreast of competitor's product selection strategies Builds Talent Exemplary leadership skills to lead and inspire merchant and cross functional teams: Adjusts leadership style to meet the needs of different individuals/teams, flexing to be evaluative, analytical, supportive and encouraging as appropriate Demonstrates ownership and accountability for succession management and top talent development, meets regularly with direct reports to assess development progress and ensures talent gaps are resolved to support business growth strategies Creates open channels of communication among the category teams to inspire them to deliver product consistent with strategic objectives Directs customer and competitive patterning activities Builds Organizational Capability Influential collaborative leader with cross functional partners (Product Development, Design, Product Innovation, Sourcing, Merchandise Planning) to create consensus on the annual product development roadmap & direction Promotes open channels of communication with Merchandise Planning and Allocation on historical and current sales analyses in order to determine key item base, breadth of selection and effective product allocation Directs team on best approach to maximize customer impact and guides them in providing product information to Marketing for visual presentation, creative advertising and promotional plans Click here for benefit details related to this position.