Director of Visual Merchandising

Director of Visual Merchandising at Big 5 Sporting Goods Director of Visual Merchandising at Big 5 Sporting Goods in Los Angeles, California Posted in about 4 hours ago.

Type:

full-time

Job Description:

Position Overview:

The Director, Visual Merchandising is responsible for building and leading Big 5's visual merchandising function and translating merchandising strategy into a clear, productive, and easy-to-shop store experience. This role owns the physical expression of the Zone Offense. The Director partners with DMMs, Buyers, Planning & Allocation, Stores, Marketing, Ecommerce, and Operations to translate each Zone's defined store footprint into effective adjacencies, fixtures, capacity, navigation, presentation standards, and seasonal storytelling. The goal is to help customers quickly find what they need, understand their choices, and trust that Big 5 offers the right product, at the right value, in-stock and easy to shop. The Director must balance customer experience, product clarity, operational simplicity, and commercial opportunity. DMMs and Buyers retain accountability for sales, gross margin dollars, inventory productivity, and space productivity. The Director, Visual Merchandising is a key partner in enabling those outcomes by ensuring the store environment supports the assortment strategy and by identifying where presentation, capacity, adjacency, or space allocation may be limiting performance. Key Responsibilities Visual Merchandising Strategy Build and lead the visual merchandising strategy for Big 5 stores. Translate merchandising priorities into scalable store presentation standards. Create a practical operating model for how Visual Merchandising partners with Buying, Planning & Allocation, Stores, Marketing, Ecommerce, and Operations. Ensure visual direction consistently reflects customer need, product role, price-value architecture, seasonal relevance, and business priority. Develop simple tools, principles, and standards that stores can execute consistently. Zone Offense & Plan to Space Own the physical expression of the Zone Offense across the store. Partner with DMMs and Buyers to translate each Zone's standard square footage into category adjacencies, fixture requirements, product capacity, navigation, and presentation standards. Help ensure assortment breadth, inventory depth, and product presentation are realistic for the available selling space. Use customer behavior, store feedback, execution quality, and business performance to recommend where Zones, categories, or presentations should expand, contract, move, or change. Partner with Planning & Allocation to align presentation capacity with inventory flow, replenishment, and in-stock priorities. Create repeatable Zone standards that can flex appropriately by store size, customer, climate, and market. Customer Experience & Store Navigation Make stores easier for customers to shop, navigate, and understand. Improve product adjacencies by activity, customer mission, category, and seasonal relevance. Develop signage, wayfinding, and presentation principles that help customers make faster, more confident purchase decisions. Identify friction points in the store experience and lead cross-functional solutions. Ensure store presentation supports customer value, product clarity, and visibility of key in-stock items. Product Presentation & Storytelling Partner with Buying teams to understand product features, benefits, use cases, quality, durability, and price-value positioning. Create presentation standards that clearly communicate why a product matters and how it solves the customer's need. Support an intuitive value ladder through clear product comparison and customer-facing communication. Elevate priority categories, brands, seasonal stories, and high-opportunity products without adding unnecessary complexity. Partner with Marketing and Vendor Strategy & Partnerships on vendor assets, product education, seasonal moments, and campaign support. Commercial Partnership & Space Productivity Partner with DMMs, Buyers, and Planning & Allocation to improve the productivity of each Zone's defined store footprint. Use sales and gross margin dollars per square foot, conversion indicators, inventory visibility, customer behavior, and store feedback to inform visual recommendations. Identify where fixtures, capacity, adjacency, navigation, or presentation may be limiting category and Zone performance. Provide clear recommendations while maintaining DMM and Buyer accountability for merchandise P&L, sales, gross margin dollars, inventory productivity, and space productivity. Ensure visual solutions support profitable growth while remaining practical and sustainable for stores. Test, Learn & Scale Build test-and-learn into the visual merchandising operating model. Pilot new presentation concepts, adjacencies, signage, fixtures, category layouts, and seasonal stories. Define clear hypotheses and success measures with Merchandising, Planning, Stores, and other partners before each test. Measure customer response, execution quality, operational feasibility, and commercial impact. Refine concepts quickly and scale proven ideas without waiting for a fully finished store concept. Support flagship tests, remodels, reimagined store concepts, and priority store initiatives. Store Standards & Field Execution Create store prototypes, presentation guides, planograms where appropriate, fixture standards, signage hierarchy, and seasonal changeover tools. Build communication and training materials that are simple, visual, and practical for store teams. Partner with Stores and Operations to ensure standards reflect labor, fixture, space, and execution realities. Establish a regular store-review process to assess execution, customer experience, and improvement opportunities. Build credibility with field teams by combining high standards with operational practicality. Team & Process Leadership Build the Visual Merchandising function, team, capabilities, operating cadence, and ways of working. Clarify decision rights and handoffs across Visual Merchandising, Buying, Planning & Allocation, Stores, Marketing, Ecommerce, and Operations. Develop team talent and build a culture of customer focus, product curiosity, speed, and disciplined execution. Spend significant time in stores observing customer behavior, evaluating execution, and learning from field teams. Decision Rights Visual merchandising strategy and standards Physical expression of the Zone Offense Category presentation principles and product adjacencies Fixture, capacity, navigation, wayfinding, and signage standards Seasonal storytelling and presentation direction Visual direction for test stores, remodels, and priority concepts Store communication and execution tools related to product presentation Visual recommendations on space allocation, with final commercial ownership retained by DMMs and Buyers Measures of Success Owned Outcomes Store shopability and customer navigation Product presentation clarity and consistency Execution quality and store adoption Zone, fixture, capacity, and presentation standards Speed and quality of testing, learning, and scaling Simplicity and scalability of visual tools and concepts Cross-functional alignment and field credibility Influenced Outcomes, in Partnership with Merchandising Sales and gross margin dollars per square foot Conversion and customer engagement Category and Zone productivity Inventory visibility, sell-through, and in-stock presentation Performance of tested concepts Required Experience & Qualifications 10+ years of progressive visual merchandising, store experience, retail design, merchandising, or product-presentation experience, including at least 5 years leading teams or enterprise-scale programs. Bachelor's degree in visual merchandising, retail design, architecture, marketing, merchandising, or a related field preferred; equivalent relevant experience will be considered. Proven experience building scalable visual standards across a multi-store retail environment. Strong understanding of customer navigation, product presentation, category adjacencies, signage, fixtures, store capacity, and field execution. Experience translating assortment and merchandising strategy into store prototypes, Zone standards, presentation guides, or planograms. Working knowledge of retail space productivity and the ability to use sales, margin, inventory, and customer-behavior data to inform recommendations. Ability to influence commercial outcomes while maintaining clear accountability with DMMs, Buyers, and Planning & Allocation. Strong product curiosity and ability to understand product features, benefits, quality, durability, and value. Experience partnering with Merchandising, Stores, Marketing, Operations, Planning, Ecommerce, and external vendors. Proven ability to test concepts, measure results, refine quickly, and scale successful programs. Sporting goods, outdoor, footwear, apparel, fitness, or active lifestyle experience preferred. Leadership Expectations Put customer value first. Make the store easier to shop. Know the product. Plan to space. Move with speed. Test, learn, and scale. Build practical tools stores can execute. Challenge legacy presentation habits. Partner effectively across functions. Communicate clearly. Spend time in stores. Translate strategy into action. Salary The annual base salary range for this position is from $150,000 - $170,000. The range provided includes the base salary that we expect to pay for the role. Offered base salary will be dependent on factors including the scope and complexity of the role, candidate's related work experience, and subject matter expertise. Equal Employment Opportunity Big 5 Sporting Goods is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. Employment decisions are based on merit, qualifications, and business needs, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic as defined by applicable law. California Consumer Privacy Act Notice at Collection