Director EMEA Footwear Merchandising – Brooks Sports Inc – Amsterdam

Who We Are:

At Brooks, we believe a run can change a day, a life, the world. Everyone who works here is a key part of our obsession to make the best running gear on the planet.We want our business — which also happens to be our passion — to be a place where everyone feels welcome and comfortable being themselves. Our company culture defines us, bonds us together, and drives our success. We live this culture daily through our brand values: Runner First, Word is Bond, Champion Heart, There is no “I” in Run, and Keep Moving. This means we always solve for the runner, do what we say we will, give it our all, are generous with our humanity, and find a way to keep moving every day, because joy is kinetic.

Are you ready to help create something extraordinary?

Your Job:

The Mission of the Global Footwear Merchandising team is to optimize the product mix and go to market strategy with the focus on delivering the right product at the right time across the globe. They have the responsibility of curating a global product assortment based on local market insights and data, runner data, seasonal trends, use of color application, and MRAs (Merchandising Runner Assortments) that broadens consumer reach, and maximizes article efficiency and regional alignment to meet the expectations of the business.

The Director, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) Footwear Merchandising leads the creation and ensures seamless execution of the cross functional strategy for EMEA Footwear Merchandising. Position aligns with the Global Merchandising strategy and partners with the EMEA Sales Director, EMEA Marketing Director, and EMEA Demand Planning to optimize volume forecasts, intro dates and regional allocations to deliver upon EMEA business goals and objectives.

As the Director, EMEA Footwear Merchandising, you will lead the team that drives regional brand and business Footwear assortment and color SKUs to meet regional growth goals. You will directly manage the EMEA Footwear Merchandising team providing leadership, coaching and direction to ensure career development and execution of department deliverables.

Your Responsabilities:

• People Leadership:
• Demonstrate strong people leadership skills rooted in Connect principles.
• Promote Brooks’ Core Cultural Values: Responsible for team culture and keep a pulse on morale to proactively address any concerns.
• Create the EMEA Footwear Merchandising organizational design to align with business strategy and objectives.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive environment that empowers every individual to contribute fully.
• Oversee and support career-development planning, coaching, and training of staff and foster a culture of learning, personal development, curiosity, and innovation.
• Model leadership behavior across the organization.

• Strategic Planning and Execution:
• Lead 1–3-year Strategic Planning for EMEA Footwear Merchandising to define the regional merchandising strategy that delivers on regional unit, revenue and GMROI targets.
• Drive long-term planning with Footwear Leadership to build teams, frameworks and systems that best support key initiatives, programs, and projects.
• Develop EMEA Footwear Merchandising vision and strategy aligning with organizational priorities, enabling and facilitating the organization’s business objectives, and ensuring senior stakeholder buy-in.
• Understand the company business strategy and translate strategy for EMEA Merchandising Footwear into functional plans and guide execution.
• Partner with EMEA Managing Director and other Regional Directors to contribute to the building of holistic 1-3 year strategic plans for the EMEA region.
• Compile relevant opportunities and build effective business proposals to gain buy-in and secure resources to make plans actionable.

• EMEA Footwear Merchandising Leadership:
• Own regional merchandising strategy and plan that supports business and channel needs, including co-leading (with Demand Planning) the process to build article and SKU level forecasts.
• Responsible for regional MRA strategy plan that supports business and channel needs (in partnership with Sales and Marketing).
• Play a critical role in driving regional brand and business by ensuring Footwear assortment and color SKU offering delivers on regional forecast deliverables.
• Lead efforts for cross functional buy-in with sales and marketing of the regional strategic assortment.
• Inform and collaborate with the Footwear department leadership to solve all product issues, challenges, and opportunities.
• Ensure creation of necessary content and sell-in tools to support overall GTM preparedness in EMEA.
• Conduct strategic pre-line and other meetings with focus retail accounts to be the product voice for the region, support sell-in and pre-sell future product stories/direction.
• Lead Footwear presentations at GTM meetings, country-level sales meetings and media events.
• Collect and organize product-related feedback and market insights to the Global Footwear team.

• Cross- Functional Influence and Alignment:
• Co-lead the regional Footwear calibration team with the EMEA Sales Director and EMEA Marketing Director to ensure execution of the regional seasonal go-to-market strategy.
• Ensure regional article level forecasts ladder up to regional revenue targets by partnering with the EMEA Sales Director and Demand Planning Management on forecast modeling.
• Partner with regional Market Supply Planning team to ensure merchandising strategies align with inventory planning.
• Collaborate on and champion enterprise cross functional initiatives representing Footwear Merchandising in order to influence stakeholders and drive team POV throughout the process.
• Influence cross functional leaders and align strategies across departments and programs to create alignment across key stakeholders to drive the regional business strategies.
• As a proactive business partner, build trusted relationships with other leaders at Brooks, and lead or support cross-functional projects as needed.
• Own and lead EMEA Product Review and communicates monthly product changes to demand planning team.

• Innovation:
• Own and lead regional DNA and evolution by providing feedback and driving regional SMU strategies to support our growth.
• Promote continual process improvement and actively contribute to a culture of innovation, excellence, and accountability.
• Stay current with industry trends and innovation in the Footwear Merchandising space and be a thought leader across the organization.

• Accountability :
• Lead the development and management of the annual department budget (subject to EMEA Managing Director approval).
• Accountable for regional product readiness that delivers regional business needs.
• Demonstrate extreme enterprise accountability in managing EMEA Footwear Merchandising
• Apply Brooks requirements around budget planning and capex documentation to garner resources necessary to evolve the team to meet business objectives
• Align financial, people and business resources to functional roadmap priorities.
• Lead the team and hold them accountable to delivering regional go-to-market strategy.
• Anticipate, communicate and proactively manage opportunities and challenges for Footwear Merchandising.

Your Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree (B. A. or B.S.) from four-year University preferred, preferably in business, marketing or fashion merchandising. M.B.A. preferred Equivalent years of experience can be considered in lieu of degree(s).
• 10+ years of experience in merchandising, sales, or product management in the athletic or outdoor industries.
• 7+ years of experience in directing, managing and developing high performance teams.
• 4+ years’ experience in Footwear Merchandising.
• High level of merchandising and product acumen.
• Ability to lead and develop a first in class merchandising team and platform.
• Proven ability to conduct and/or analyze research related to product, classifications, market/competitors, consumers and channels of distribution.
• Proven leadership capabilities to supervise a team and lead strategic business objectives with a proven ability to prioritize workload and manage short term and long-range projects.
• Strong Leadership experience to align strategy and manage team performance including the ability to mentor, inspire, and influence others within a work group.
• Demonstrated ability to develop highly productive relationships with individuals and teams that are made up of diverse disciplines and cultural backgrounds resulting in effective working relationships across the company.
• Curious and open-minded; always up for a challenge, inventive and creative. Ability to challenge the status quo- always looking at improving our people, products and processes while also displaying a willingness to dive into the details.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, demonstrating effective listening through concise, clear verbal and written communication.
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to work in a fast paced, changing environment, anticipating and resolving problems in a timely manner.
• Ability to anticipate how a decision made can affect our customers, our partners, our products or other departments’ operations and/or morale; “connecting the dots.”
• Demonstration of innovation and initiative – always looking at improving our products and processes while also displaying a willingness to dive into the details and help out wherever necessary.
• Embraces and lives the Brooks values!

By submitting this application, you expressly make the following representations and warranties and give your consents as described below:

Brooks Sports, Inc. collects your personal data for the purposes of managing Brooks Sports, Inc.’s recruitment related activities as well as for organizational planning purposes globally. Consequently, Brooks Sports, Inc. may use your personal data in relation to the evaluation and selection of applicants including for example setting up and conducting interviews and tests, evaluating and assessing the results thereto and as is otherwise needed in the recruitment processes including the final recruitment.

Brooks Sports, Inc. does not disclose your personal data to unauthorized third parties. However, as a global corporation consisting of multiple affiliated companies in various countries, Brooks Sports, Inc. has international sites and Brooks Sports, Inc. uses resources located throughout the world. Brooks Sports, Inc. may from time to time also use third parties to act on Brooks Sports, Inc.’s behalf. You agree to the fact that to the extent necessary your personal data may be transferred and/or disclosed to any company within Brooks Sports, Inc. group of companies as well as to third parties acting on Brooks Sports, Inc.’s behalf, including also transfers to servers and databases outside the country where you provided Brooks Sports, Inc. with your personal data. Such transfers may include for example transfers and/or disclosures outside the European Economic Area and in the United States of America.

At Brooks, we celebrate diversity & equity. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment, and encourage people of all backgrounds, perspectives, experiences, and skills to apply. Brooks is proud to be an equal employment opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, the presence of a sensory, physical or mental disability, medical condition, military status, marital status, pregnancy or child birth, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, political ideology, or any other non-merit based factors.

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