Merchandising Manager, Fashion

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At Zappos, we look for people who will show up as their whole self because we value diversity and inclusion, as well as people who enjoy fun and maybe even a little weirdness. So be sure to check on whether you’re aligned with our company values and culture. If you think you can see yourself delivering WOW as a member of the Zappos family, then check out the job description below!

Company Culture is at Our Core

Our 10 Core Values are more than just words, they're a way of life. We know that companies with a strong culture & a higher purpose perform better in the long run. 
Do our values speak to you?

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

Company Perks: Quick Reference

• Zappos pays 100% of every employee’s medical, dental, and vision benefits.

• Zappos pays 100% of 12 therapy, mental health, or coaching session annually.

• A multitude of benefits and incentives to stay mentally and physically healthy and fit.

• Meaningful assistance programs like professional development, mentoring, and 401k with employer contribution.

• Paid time off for life, vacations, staycations, and rest.

• A generous Zapponian discount program.

• Make an impact through volunteer adventures and other community programs.

• Want to have some fun, too? Yes, please! Enjoy team building, family spirit, and plenty of room to recharge!

Zapponian [noun| employee of Zappos]. You are self-motivated. You think like an entrepreneur, constantly innovating and driving positive change, but more importantly, you consistently deliver mind-boggling results.

Bold [adjective| not afraid of anything]. A role at Zappos is an opportunity to be a part of something different. To go bold. We’re a company that isn’t afraid to take risks and question the status quo. Oh yeah, we like to have fun too.

Perks [noun| the good stuff you get for working hard]. Zappos pays 100% of your medical, dental and vision premiums. Primary care visits, dental exams, eye exams and generic prescriptions are all free. Plus matching 401k, life coaches, orthodontic benefits, and more. And don’t forget, an unlimited 40% Zappos.com discount.

1990s [noun| a decade we love, but no longer live in]. Old school cover letters are so 1990. Want to show us who you really are? Create a video cover letter. A flash mob, a comedic monologue… whatever showcases your passion for Zappos and the work you’d be doing! Videos are not required, but if you create it, we’ll watch it.

Scout [noun| you're a recruiter, too]. As a Zapponian, we’ll ask that you always keep your eye out for great talent to join our family. Consider yourself an extension of the recruiting team, scouting for the best people to grow our company.

Job Overview

The Senior Merchandising Services Manager is responsible for the overall development, direction, coordination, and execution of Merchandising projects and initiatives. This position is also responsible for overseeing the Merchandising Services team. 

Duties

• Collaborating with stakeholders to determine necessary Merchandising projects and initiatives
• Developing project scopes and objectives, involving all appropriate stakeholders and parties to ensure technical feasibility
• Time lining projects from conception to completion to ensure efficient and streamlined project completion
• Developing detailed project/initiative plans to track progress
• Managing budgets associated with projects and initiatives
• Assisting stakeholders with contract negotiation and budgetary decisions
• Researching, interpreting, and reporting data/findings from projects and initiatives to appropriate parties
• Providing leadership, mentoring, training, developmental goals, and performance management to Merchandising Services team members

Required Competencies

Budget Allocation: The process of determining the maximum amount of funding designated to a team, division, or organization.

• Able to manage the overall budget and allocating resources down to divisions, teams, and/or individuals
• Capable of analyzing proposed budget plans and requests for funds
• Understands the process of approving or denying initial plan requests based on presently known data (e.g. not enough funds in the overall budget, deducing that the initiative does not align with the overall strategy, amount needs to be adjusted, etc.)
• Able to offer supporting strategic planning activities, including long range and annual planning and quarterly business reviews
• Capable of planning, developing, and managing central programs budget
• Capable of reviewing Bill of Materials (BOMs) with the line functions for accuracy and submitting all Purchase Orders based on verified inputs
• Capable of monitoring and auditing purchasing activities to ensure compliance and adherence to best practices in procurement activities
• Capable of compiling table of revenues and expenses to show current budget status, incorporating all of the allocated budgets within the cost center of focus
• Able to write justifications for over-run or under-run of budget estimates
• Capable of preparing charts and graphs with company approved software
• Capable of tabulating statistical data for presentation in miscellaneous budget reports
• Able to prepare financial statement showing profit and loss to present to reporting manager or Finance division

Command Skills: The ability to behave confidently and not fear leading or expressing oneself tactfully.

• Relishes leading
• Takes unpopular stands if necessary
• Encourages direct and tough debate but isn't afraid to end it and move on
• Is looked to for direction in a crisis
• Faces adversity head on
• Energized by tough challenges

Contract Management II: The process of managing contract creation, execution, and analysis to maximize operational and financial performance at an organization, all while reducing financial risk.

• Capable of working under the supervision of an Expert Practitioner or Manager
• Capable of contracting activity with moderate to high risk to the business unit
• Capable of reviewing complex solicitations and preparing specialized and/or non-routine response for proposals, bids, and contract modifications
• Capable of overseeing and measuring the fulfillment of contractual obligations
• Capable of utilizing key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor and challenge performance and identify opportunities for continuous improvement
• Capable of developing strategies to address under-performance and compliance failures, including application of contract terms
• Capable of identifying where changes are required, evaluating the impact, and advising stakeholders about the implications and consequences for the business and/or the procurement element of programs/projects
• Capable of negotiating variations and seeking appropriate authorization
• Capable of supporting and engaging with experts and stakeholders to ensure continuous improvements are identified through reviewing and benchmarking processes
• Capable of developing and implementing change management protocols

Critical Thinking: The ability to think clearly and rationally to understand the logical connection between ideas.

• Has an inquisitive nature
• Works to be and remain well-informed
• Open-minded regarding different perspectives
• Flexible in considering alternative solutions
• Is fair when evaluating the opinions of others
• Open to revise views and/or solutions when warranted

Detail Oriented: The ability to focus on specific, intricate aspects of a task, project, or plan.

• Explores the topic or issue and the reasons behind it or related to is
• Proactively plans for correcting any issues
• Has a discerning eye

Developing Direct Reports and Others: The ability to cultivate leadership and grow people within the organization.

• Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments
• Holds frequent development discussions
• Is aware of each person's career goals
• Constructs compelling development plans and executes them
• Pushes people to accept developmental moves
• Will take on those who need help and further development
• Cooperates with the developmental system in the organization
• Is a people builder

Hiring and Staffing: The ability to find, evaluate, and establish a working relationship with future employees, interns, contractors, and consultants.

• Has a nose for talent
• Hires the best people available from inside or outside
• Is not afraid of selecting strong people
• Assembles talented staffs

Initiative: The ability to be sufficiently motivated to commence tasks, projects, and/or plans with little to no direction.

• Motivated by challenges
• Displays self-confidence
• Maintains their self-control and discipline
• Can make decisions independently or for a group
• Sets goals and concentrates on steps to achieve them

Innovation Management: The ability to focus on the development of new products, services, and processes from ideation to realization.

• Is good at bringing the creative ideas of others to market
• Has good judgement about which creative ideas and suggestions will work
• Has a sense about managing the creative process of others
• Can facilitate effective brainstorming
• Can project how potential ideas may play out in the marketplace

Managing and Measuring Work: The ability to establish clear goals and expectations, review progress, and provide timely feedback.

• Clearly assigns responsibility for tasks and decisions
• Sets clear objectives and measures
• Monitors process, progress, and results
• Designs feedback loops into the work

Marketing 101: The fundamentals related to the promotion of products and/or services.

• Understands that all company policies and activities should be directed toward satisfying customer needs.
• Understands that profitable sales volume is more important than maximum sales volume.
• Able to apply following principles:
  • Determine the needs of the business’ customers through market research
  • Analyze the business’ competitive advantages to develop a market strategy
  • Select specific markets to serve by target marketing
  • Determine how to satisfy customer needs by identifying a market mix
• Understands the four key components of a marketing program:
  • Products and Services: Product strategies include concentrating on a narrow product line, developing a highly specialized product or service or providing a product-service package containing unusually high-quality service.
  • Promotion: Promotion strategies focus on advertising and direct customer interaction. Good salesmanship is essential for small business units because of their limited advertising budgets. Online marketing is a cheap, quick, and easy way to ensure that your business and product receive high visibility.
  • Price: When it comes to maximizing total revenue, the right price is crucial.  Generally, higher prices mean lower volume and vice-versa; however, small business units can often command higher prices because of their personalized service.
  • Distribution: The manufacturer and wholesaler must decide how to distribute their products. Working through established distributors or manufacturers' agents is generally easiest for small manufacturers. Small retailers should consider cost and traffic flow in site selection, especially since advertising and rent can be reciprocal: a low-cost, low-traffic location means spending more on advertising to build traffic.
• Understands how to create a marketing strategy and identify customer groups which a particular business can better serve than its target competitors, and tailors product offerings, prices, distribution, promotional efforts and services toward those segments
• Understands marketing requires timely and relevant market information and how to conduct market research
• Understands how to identify trends that affect sales and profitability (population shifts, legal developments, and the local economic situation)
• Understands target marketing and that concentrating efforts on one or a few market segments is the best strategy from small investments. There are two types:
  • Geographical Segmentation: Specializing in serving the needs of customers in a particular geographical area
  • Customer Segmentation: Identifying those people most likely to buy the product or service and targeting those groups

Office Productivity Software Utilization – Working Experience: The knowledge and ability to work with word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation programs.

• Able to utilize word processing software to create and edit documents through the following techniques:
  • Create a new document, enter text, and save it.
  • Open and edit existing documents.
  • Navigate in a document and perform a search.
  • Select and move text.
  • Format characters and paragraphs; work with tabs, indents, margins, lists, breaks, spacing.
  • Use AutoCorrect and Help tools.
  • Create and edit tables.
  • Control page and document appearance.
  • Print documents, envelopes, and labels.
• Able to utilize spreadsheet software to create and edit workbooks and worksheets through the following techniques:
  • Open files and use page setup.
  • Enter, correct, and save data.
  • Use the menu commands.
  • Format cells, rows, and columns.
  • Understand navigation and movement techniques.
  • Use simple arithmetic functions in the formulas.
  • Access Help.
  • Modify a database and insert data from another application.
  • Print worksheets and workbooks.
• Able to utilize presentation software to create and run presentations through the following techniques:
  • Create title and bullet slides.
  • Create Slides in Outline view.
  • Modify slide text and check spelling.
  • Select a template
  • Insert a table.
  • Work with text, drawn objects, and drawing tools.
  • Use ClipArt and WordArt.
  • Create an Organization Chart and use options.
  • Edit a Column Chart.
  • Change text and bullets in the Slide Master and remove objects.
  • Use Slide Show options; add transitions and animation.
  • Run a manual and an animated Slide Show.
  • Work with Notes.
  • Print a presentation.

Peer Relationships: The ability to maintain a friendly or pleasant disposition and connection with colleagues.

• Can quickly find common ground and solve problems for the good of all
• Can represent one's own interests and yet be fair to other groups
• Can solve problems with peers with a minimum of noise
• Is seen as a team player and is cooperative
• Easily gains trust and support of peers
• Encourages collaboration
• Can be candid with peers

Planning: The ability to look ahead towards a goal and lay out steps to achieve it.

• Accurately scopes out length and difficulty of tasks and projects
• Sets objectives and goals
• Breaks down work into the process steps
• Develops schedules and task/people assignments
• Anticipates and adjusts for problems and roadblocks
• Measures performance against goals
• Evaluates results

Project Management: The methodical application of knowledge, skills, and techniques for guiding a project from start to finish.

• Understands the discipline of planning, organizing, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives
• Capable of accomplishing business initiative activities by researching and developing marketing opportunities and plans
• Able to achieve project goals and objectives while honoring the project constraints, typically scope, time, and budget
• Able to optimize the allocation and integration of inputs necessary to meet predefined objectives
• Able to coordinate successful events and programs
• Able to define the set of activities that use resources, such as money, people, materials, energy, space, provisions, communication, and motivation, to achieve the project goals and objectives
• Capable of presenting their information and programs in a variety of ways including print material, classes and individual appointments
• Able to set up workshops that involve experts in the field making presentations regarding health related subjects
• Understands different project management techniques (Waterfall, Agile)
• Able to identify which project management technique will work best on a project-by-project basis

Project Scope: The process of determining and documenting a list of specific project goals, deliverables, tasks cost, and deadlines.

• Able to clearly set project objectives
• Understands the importance of clarifying the projects limitations or parameters and clearly identify any aspects which will not be included
• Able to define the resources needed (e.g., people needed to complete the project, tools, sources, etc.)
• Understands the importance of setting project goals or desired achievements
• Able to break the project out into sub-phases
• Understands importance of setting clear tasks to which the resources can be applied
• Able to evaluate, set, execute, and adhere to a budget
• Able to clearly define the project’s schedule

Relationship Management: A strategy in which a continuous level of engagement is maintained between a business unit and its audience.

• Able to identify the communication needs of each stakeholder group in conjunction with business owners and subject matter experts
• Capable of translating communications/stakeholder engagement strategies into specific tasks
• Understands how to facilitate open communication and discussion between stakeholders, acting as a single point of contact by developing, maintaining and working to stakeholder engagement strategies and plans. (For example, may oversee the organization's promotional/selling activities to one or more clients, to ensure that such activities are aligned with corporate marketing objectives)
• Capable of negotiating with stakeholders at senior levels, ensuring that organizational policy and strategies are adhered to
• Able to provide informed feedback to assess and promote understanding

Sourcing: The process of finding suppliers of goods and/or services.

• Able to research suppliers and markets and maintain a broad understanding of the commercial environment to inform and develop commercial strategies and sourcing plans
• Capable of advising on the business case for alternative sourcing models and on policy and procedures covering the selection of suppliers, tendering, and procurement
• Capable of leading procurement teams, evaluation, and acquisition processes.
• Capable of negotiating with potential partners and suppliers and developing acceptance criteria and procedures
• Capable of drafting and placing contracts
• Capable of liaising with designated supplier(s) and managing and implementing supplier service improvement actions and programs

Strategy Development and Application: The creation and implementation of a high-level plan of action, policy, or guiding principles designed to achieve a major aim or influence decision-making patterns.

• Able to answer the questions: “Where are we going?” and “How are we going to get there?” and create a specific and purposeful path when there are clear answers to these two questions
• Able to create a strategy based on the organization’s core values, mission, and your vision
• Able to determine core competencies and strategic challenges
• Able to develop goals, objectives, and specific strategies to accomplish those goals
• Able to create priorities once objectives are determined
• Able to deploy action plans throughout the organization
• Able to establish a process for aligning day-to-day decisions to the strategic plan

Supporting and Training Staff: The process of improving employee performance by increasing the employee’s ability to perform through learning, changing the employee's attitude, or increasing the employee’s skills and knowledge.

• Possesses knowledge of the business or scope of the employee’s work
• Understands how to maximize company resources and build an efficient and productive workforce
• Able to measure and assess staff training needs
• Able to identify weaknesses and skill gaps
• Understands the importance of facilitating on-going professional development opportunities for staff
• Capable of assessing training needs and identifying means (e.g., classes, mentoring, written materials) to fill skill gaps
• Understands the many different types of training strategies that are available and can decide what is best for the specific area of focus
• Able to provide opportunities for staff to demonstrate leadership skills
• Able to provide clear and meaningful performance evaluation
• Able to encourage the development of skills that increase personal and departmental productivities
• Understands how to elevate or advance participants who are doing well to positions with greater status and have a system to track results and provide relevant data

Time Management: The ability to organize and plan how to divide your time between specific activities.

• Uses their time effectively and efficiently
• Values time
• Concentrates their efforts on the more important priorities
• Gets more done in less time than others
• Can attend to a broader range of activities

Vendor Relations: The method of building and maintaining relationships with an external party that the organization conducts business.

• Capable of building appropriate and effective business relationships
• Able to facilitate collaboration between internal and external stakeholders who have diverse objectives
• Able to take all requirements into account when making proposals
• Able to analyze requirements and advises on scope and options for continuous operational improvement
• Capable of demonstrating creativity, innovation and ethical thinking in applying solutions for the benefit of the customer/stakeholder

Work/Life Balance: The ability to properly prioritize energy between one's career and non-career activities.

• Maintains a conscious balance between work and personal life so that one doesn't dominate the other
• Is not one-dimensional
• Knows how to attend to both and get what one wants from both

Works Well Under Pressure: The ability to deal with unforeseen constraints while working to meet an objective.

• Does not become defensive or irritated when times are tough
• Can be counted on to hold things together during tough times
• Doesn't show frustration when resisted or blocked
• Is a settling influence in a crisis

Written Communication: The ability to convey a message through the use of the written word (e.g. documents, emails, reports.)

• Is able to write clearly and succinctly in a variety of communication settings and styles
• Can get messages across that have the desired effect

Experience

• A minimum of 8 years of merchandising experience
• A minimum of 3-5 years of project management-related experience in a merchandising, procurement, pricing, supply chain, or related field

Education

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

The base pay range for this position is $123,500-140,000 per year ; however, base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. In addition, a full range of medical and other benefits is offered.

The Fine Print

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. Zappos is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa for applicants at this time.

The Zappos Family of Companies is committed to Equal Employment Opportunity regardless of race, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, veteran status, disability, history of disability or perceived disability. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may email us at recruiting@zappos.com or call us at 1.702.943.7777.

To all recruitment agencies: We do not accept unsolicited agency resumes and are not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.