Job Description

The Opportunity

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the Vice President, Merchandising will serve as a key member of the executive leadership team and play a pivotal role in shaping the next chapter of Calgary Co-op's evolution. This is a highly visible, succession-track role positioned at a critical inflection point for the organization, where merchandising has been identified as a central lever for transformation and growth.

The Vice President will be accountable for the entire product proposition across Calgary Co-op's food formats - Co-op, Community Natural Foods, and Co-op Convenience stores at the gas stations - defining what the organization sells, at what price, presented how, and with what story. This means redefining merchandising strategy toward a more focused, data-driven, and customer-centric approach: strengthening private brands, optimizing category strategies, and ensuring alignment with Calgary Co-op's distinct positioning around premium quality, local sourcing, and community impact.

This leader will also elevate the capability, financial rigor, and ambition of the merchandising function - bringing vision, inspiration, and clarity to a team that is ready to evolve. Priorities include embedding a stronger culture of data and financial discipline, introducing more rigorous planning processes, and creating feedback loops that improve execution, reduce inefficiencies, and enhance the in-store experience. This role will appeal to a strategic, forward-looking leader energized by transformation and motivated to shape the future of a purpose-driven, community-owned retailer.

Key Responsibilities

Merchandising Strategy & Transformation

• Own the product strategy for the Food division, developing a forward-looking merchandising vision that repositions Calgary Co-op as a differentiated, member-centric retailer.
• Lead the shift from a largely tactical approach to a strategic, data- and insight-led model that prioritizes fewer, higher-impact initiatives through a test-learn-measure-scale approach.
• Champion modernization of merchandising practices, leveraging data, technology, and emerging tools to enhance decision-making and performance.
• Identify and close structural margin gaps across the portfolio, leveraging synergies across Food banners.

Private Label Strategy & Growth

• Define and execute a private brand architecture that increases penetration, strengthens margin, and reinforces differentiation, including continued evolution of banners such as Cal & Gary's and Founders & Farmers.
• Oversee end-to-end private label program design - assortment architecture, product development, sourcing, pricing, and in-store activation.
• Ensure private label storytelling is clearly linked to Calgary Co-op's brand promise around local sourcing, quality, and community impact.

Category Management, Assortment & Commercial Performance

• Lead category strategy development across all core business lines, aligned to target customer segments and enterprise priorities.
• Drive SKU rationalization and assortment optimization, improving sales productivity, margins, and inventory efficiency.
• Establish disciplined merchandise financial planning, including performance management across sales, gross margin, shrink, and inventory turns.
• Ensure promotional strategy, pricing architecture, and space allocation reflect member expectations and margin contribution.

Food Experience & Customer Value Proposition

• Elevate Calgary Co-op's food offering by building a more compelling, contemporary, and differentiated food experience.
• Translate consumer insights and emerging food trends into merchandising programs that drive engagement, loyalty, and basket growth.
• Strengthen Calgary Co-op's position as a destination for high-quality, locally sourced food through curated assortment and in-store storytelling.

Cross-Functional Integration & Execution Excellence

• Drive alignment between merchandising and operations for seamless execution of category strategies at store level.
• Implement processes that capture and respond to store-level insights, reducing inefficiencies such as overstocking and shrink.
• Partner closely with supply chain, marketing, and store operations to ensure cohesive planning and consistent execution.

Team Leadership & Capability Building

• Build, mentor, and inspire a high-performing merchandising team, elevating capability, accountability, and strategic thinking.
• Foster a culture of curiosity, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Provide clear direction, prioritization, and coaching to ensure alignment with enterprise objectives.
• Operate as a collaborative, values-driven leader who is comfortable in a cooperative, member-owned model and its governance and stakeholder accountability.

Vendor Strategy & External Partnerships

• Develop and maintain strategic vendor relationships that support Calgary Co-op's values, cultivating local and regional suppliers for innovation and differentiation while maintaining competitive discipline within national accounts.
• Lead sourcing strategies that balance quality, cost, and reliability while supporting brand positioning and financial objectives.

Executive Leadership & Enterprise Contribution

• Act as a key member of the executive leadership team and the primary advocate for merchandising in enterprise strategy and decision-making.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to deliver a compelling, consistent, and differentiated customer experience across all formats and channels.
• Represent Calgary Co-op externally with key partners, suppliers, and the broader retail community.

Ideal Experience

Enterprise Merchandising Leadership

A genuine merchant who is curious about product, passionate about delivering for members, and energized by the shop floor - owning the P&L levers of buying, margin, shrink, and promotional effectiveness. Brings 10-15 years of progressive experience in senior merchandising roles within complex, multi-category retail environments, ideally including grocery and fresh. Has operated as a strategic leader at the enterprise level, shaping merchandising vision, influencing executive stakeholders, and elevating team capability.

Private Label Strategy and Merchandising

Has built or significantly scaled private label programs as a core driver of differentiation, margin expansion, and customer loyalty. Brings a thoughtful approach to program design, product development, and storytelling that links private label to a broader brand promise, along with a track record of assortment optimization and SKU rationalization that improves inventory productivity and drives sales and margin performance.

Integrated Merchandising & Operational Alignment

Has successfully bridged merchandising and store operations to create integrated planning processes, strong feedback loops, and shared accountability for execution - reducing waste, improving in-store execution, and breaking down silos to deliver a consistent customer experience.

Customer-Centric Food Experience & Retail Innovation

Brings a strong orientation toward food merchandising, with experience creating differentiated, high-quality grocery experiences that resonate with discerning customers. Exposure to best-in-class or specialty retail environments is highly valued, along with the ability to translate food trends, local sourcing, and experiential retail into compelling in-store and omnichannel experiences.

Education

Undergraduate degree required; an advanced degree is preferred.

Critical Leadership Capabilities

Driving Results

• Works to achieve business goals while overcoming obstacles and planning for contingencies.
• Shows a strong sense of urgency about reaching targets.
• Checks the quality of their own and others' work against required standards.
• Reviews performance and progress regularly to ensure the team is achieving results.
• Tests whether goals are sufficiently challenging and implements corrective action based on deviations.

Collaborating and Influencing

• Invites and uses the opinions and perspectives of others.
• Engages people in dialogue to gain commitment and bring them on board, linking their perspective to the intent.
• Adapts their approach to the audience, anticipating impact and preparing for possible resistance.
• Resolves conflicts by discussing individual issues with each person, checking understanding on both sides.
• Takes initiative to build and maintain relationships.

Leading People

• Builds highly functional, collaborative teams and fosters a great working environment.
• Identifies and leverages individual strengths and potential within the team.
• Engages the team in discussions about their development, longer-term strategy, and how they can contribute.
• Gives team members ownership within their areas of responsibility, setting clear expectations and holding them accountable while providing guidance and growth opportunities.
• Removes barriers and provides resources to enable team success.
• Invites the team to recommend solutions, discuss challenges, and generate new ideas.

Other Personal Characteristics

• Retailer at Heart: A genuine shopkeeper with a customer-centric mindset.
• High Integrity: A clear commitment to the highest standards of professional and personal conduct, holding others to the same standard.
• Strong Intellect: Mental flexibility, creativity, conceptual ability, and judgment - equally comfortable with strategic issues and detailed tactical execution.
• Well-Developed EQ: A good listener with outstanding interpersonal skills and a natural, effective consultative style, able to navigate complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
• Positive Attitude: An infectious, can-do attitude that energizes the organization.
• Self-Confident, Ego in Check: Comfortable with ambiguity, driven more by the success of the venture and their peers than by personal profile.
• Innovative: Proactively generates creative solutions and stays open to different approaches.
• Servant Leader: Puts the needs of employees first and helps people develop and perform to the best of their abilities.