Sr Director Merchandising

Job Description

Essential Function:

Provides senior leadership for a progressively broad merchandising scope, leading teams of merchants responsible for building customer-focused, trend-right assortments that drive sales, margin, inventory productivity, and category growth across channels. Sets strategic direction across buying, product selection, pricing, promotions, vendor partnerships, and lifecycle management while advancing process improvement, cross-functional alignment, and special projects that strengthen execution, simplify ways of working, and deliver a compelling Sally customer experience. This position is a hybrid role reporting to our support center at Legacy West in Plano Texas.

Primary Duties:

Team Leadership & Merchant Development
Provide senior leadership to merchant teams, setting clear direction across category strategies, business priorities, and financial goals. Develop merchant leaders, strengthen team capability, remove barriers, and build a high-performing culture focused on accountability, collaboration, customer relevance, and continuous improvement.

Assortment & Category Strategy
Set the strategic direction for customer-focused assortment and category plans across assigned areas of responsibility. Guide merchant teams in translating customer needs, market trends, competitive insights, financial targets, and growth opportunities into relevant, differentiated assortments that support sales, margin, inventory productivity, and a consistent Sally experience across store and digital channels

Cross-Functional Partnership & Execution
Lead cross-functional alignment with Planning & Allocation, Marketing, Ecommerce, Store Operations, Merch Finance, Product Development, Visual Merchandising, and vendor partners to ensure category strategies are executed with clarity, speed, and accountability. Influence priorities, resolve barriers, manage risks, and support process improvements and special projects that strengthen launch execution, promotional planning, lifecycle management, and the overall Sally customer experience.

Business Ownership & Performance Management
Provide senior-level ownership of business performance across assigned categories, including sales, margin, inventory health, turns, open-to-buy, and SKU productivity. Use data, customer insights, and financial performance to guide merchant teams, identify risks and opportunities, shape corrective actions, and ensure category strategies deliver against business goals.

Trend, Innovation & Market Leadership
Lead merchant teams in identifying emerging trends, customer needs, assortment white space, and new growth opportunities across assigned businesses. Translate market, vendor, competitive, and performance insights into strategic recommendations, innovation ideas, and special projects that strengthen Sally's assortment relevance and customer experience.

Vendor & Brand Partnership
Provide senior guidance on vendor and brand partnerships to support innovation, exclusivity, cost and margin improvement, supply continuity, education, promotional support, and long-term category growth. Ensure merchant teams build productive partnerships that align with Sally's customer, financial, and brand priorities.

Financial Planning & Department Support
Lead merchant partnership with Merch Finance and Planning & Allocation to support open-to-buy, receipt planning, budgeting, forecasting, and key financial deliverables. Use financial insights to guide smart buying decisions, improve planning discipline, support process improvements, and enable strong category execution.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Merchandising, Marketing, Supply Chain, or related field preferred.
• 2+ years of progressive experience in retail merchandising, buying, category management, product development, or related retail environment preferred.
• 7+ years of leadership experience, including leading merchant teams and developing merchant leaders.
• Proven ability to set assortment and category strategy across a broad scope of business, with accountability for sales, margin, inventory productivity, open-to-buy, and category growth.
• Strong understanding of retail buying processes, including assortment planning, open-to-buy, receipt planning, pricing, promotions, product lifecycle management, vendor partnerships, and branded/private label development.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional initiatives, process improvements, and special projects that improve execution, simplify ways of working, and support business priorities.
• Strong financial acumen with the ability to use data, customer insights, and performance trends to guide business decisions and influence outcomes. Strong leadership, communication, and influencing skills with the ability to work effectively across senior leaders, merchant teams, cross-functional partners, and vendors.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office with strong Excel skills; experience with PIM, Smartsheet, open-to-buy tools, and merchandising systems preferred

Competencies and Attributes:

• Strategic merchandising leader with the ability to set direction, connect business priorities to category strategies, and guide teams through complex decisions.
• Strong customer and business mindset, with the ability to balance customer needs, trend relevance, financial goals, inventory productivity, and long-term category growth.
• Proven ability to lead, coach, and develop merchant talent while building accountability, collaboration, and strong team effectiveness.
• Strong analytical and financial judgment with the ability to use data, customer insights, and performance trends to influence smart buying decisions.
• Effective communicator and cross-functional partner with the ability to influence senior leaders, merchant teams, vendor partners, and key business stakeholders.
• Change leader with the ability to simplify ways of working, improve processes, lead special projects, remove barriers, and drive execution with clarity and accountability.
• Strong negotiation and partnership skills, with the ability to build productive vendor and brand relationships that support innovation, margin improvement, exclusivity, and category growth.

Working conditions & physical requirements

The typical working environment is in the support center office, and the work is sedentary. Typically, the associate may sit comfortably to do the job. However, some tasks and activities may be walking, standing, bending, carrying light items such as papers, files, books, and small parts, driving an automobile to a store location, etc. These activities are not frequent and do not require significant physical demands to perform the work.

While involving everyday risks or discomforts, the work environment is designed with standard safety precautions. These precautions, typical of offices, meeting and training rooms, retail stores, residences, or commercial vehicles, include using safe work practices with office equipment, avoiding trips and falls, observing fire regulations and traffic signals, etc. The work area is adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated, ensuring the safety and comfort of our associates.

Benefits:

We offer a competitive salary and outstanding benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, life Insurance, paid vacation and sick days, paid holidays, tuition reimbursement and 401(k) with company match. In addition, associates of SBH may take advantage of our in house salon with complementary services and a varied selection of food options at our corporate campus. Also, featured at our corporate campus, is both a Sally Beauty and CosmoProf Professional onsite store, where associates enjoy a great merchandise discount!

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