Vans: Senior Manager Retail Marketing and Visual Merchandising

Now that you’ve found the job description, what’s next?

Vans is the original brand rooted in the authentic lifestyle of skateboarding. We are driven by our mission to inspire and empower everyone to live “Off The Wall” – embracing the youthful spirit of freedom, non-conformity, and relentless progression. Yesterday’s “Off The Wall” moment is today’s new normal, and at Vans, we believe in constantly outdoing ourselves. Together with our communities across the globe, our vision is to push culture forward because we believe that the pursuit of progression never ends. We are constantly inspired by the future generation of positive catalysts within our community.  

So, before we get to the job details, take a minute to learn a little more about us – our values and our culture. If you can see yourself working side-by-side with a team of people who think and live “Off the Wall,” Vans just may be the place for you.

To learn more about our values and our culture, visit Vans Careers or www.vans.com.

What will you do?

As Vans’ Senior Manager of Retail Marketing and Visual Merchandising for North America, you will play a pivotal role in evolving our consumer experience across our retail locations and formats. We are seeking a creative leader with extensive experience in Retail Store Visual Merchandising (VM) who will obsess consumer insights, understand shopping behaviors and journeys, and enhance and elevate the DTC retail experience, while ensuring brand synergy and consistency across consumer touchpoints.

This role requires a strong understanding of the retail landscape, consumer trends, and brand positioning as well as the ability to collaborate cross-functionally. Leading a team of retail marketing, experience, and visual merchandising professionals, you will immerse yourself in the business and constantly look for opportunities to evolve the way we tell our brand and product stories to fuel demand, via new and returning consumers.

Let’s break down that day-in-the-life a bit more.

• Develop, drive, and own the DTC Retail Marketing vision and strategy for stores, brand, and all product categories to fuel business growth and brand equity across Vans’ Americas Owned & Operated Stores and Outlets.

• Build, drive, and monitor Americas retail marketing plans and tools related to store openings, store re-fits, traffic driving initiatives, windows, 4-wall marketing, and visual merchandising; from strategic planning to execution of key strategies/initiatives.

• Lead, manage, and evolve the retail marketing organization by providing the team with clear vision, coaching, and motivation to support VF/Vans values and objectives.

• Plan and manage Americas retail marketing and store visuals budgets to align with strategic priorities, while maximizing efficiency and return on investment.

• Work closely with Brand Management, Media, Digital Marketing, and Creative to ensure that campaigns, plans, and tools are aligned across all channels.

• Partner with Global Retail Marketing lead and EMEA/APAC Retail brand teams to leverage knowledge and share best practices globally.

• Collaborate with cross-functional leaders including Americas VP, Retail Operations and Senior Director, DTC Merchandising to deliver best-in-class consumer experience and achieve business goals.

What do you need to succeed?

We all have unique skills that we bring to work and celebrate every day. For this role, there are foundation skills you’ll need to succeed and excel. Additionally, while formal education in a related field is great to have, we are most interested in your 10+ years of experience and professional achievements. 

The foundation skills you will need in this position are:

·       Extensive experience in Retail Store Visual Merchandising (VM) is required.

·       Strong strategic thinking, with the ability to develop and execute a comprehensive, integrated retail marketing strategy.

·       Data-driven decision making: Utilize data insights and analytics to make informed decisions and optimizations regarding strategies, tactics, and engagement.

·       Creativity and Inspiration: Passion for creativity, innovation, and problem-solving. Leads from a place of curiosity, continuous learning, and evolution.

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