Sr. Vice President, Product Strategy

General Summary:

The SVP, Product Strategy serves as a visionary and strategic leader, responsible for setting and guiding the creative, product, and merchandising direction across footwear and handbags for our diverse brand portfolio. This role drives the overall product strategy, integrating design and merchandising to build impactful product franchises, capitalize on market opportunities, and ensure long-term growth. By aligning design, merchandising, and go-to-market strategies, this leader shapes a cohesive approach to brand positioning and revenue targets, focusing on a 3-5 year strategy that supports sales and distribution goals. Reporting to the President, Brands, this role is pivotal in ensuring that our brands maintain distinct identities, meet consumer expectations, and achieve sustainable growth.

Reports to: President, Brands 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Strategic Product and Merchandising Leadership: Connects design and merchandising insights, drives seamless product strategies that support business and growth objectives. Builds and expands product franchises that reinforce brand equity and generate long-term revenue streams, ensuring relevance and consistency across seasons. Defines and refines pricing architecture across brands, balancing competitive positioning with profitability.
Design Direction: Provides strategic leadership to design team, ensuring product designs align with broader merchandising and brand strategy.   Determines vision and direction, sets priorities, drives innovation and differentiation across product lines to enhance brand identity and market positioning.  
Market & Consumer Insights: Conducts and synthesizes market research, consumer insights, and industry trends to anticipate, capitalize on and drive change. Analyzes product performance and competitor offerings to make data-driven adjustments to the product mix and ensures alignment with category priorities. 
Cross-Functional Partnership & Alignment: Champions change and challenges the status quo to encourage product, marketing, and sales teams to ideate and provide new ways to improve product design, brand positioning, and go-to-market strategies. Presents product design concepts, strategies, and performance insights for all brands to relevant cross-functional partners and executive leadership, articulating the strategic value and competitive advantage of our collections.
Team Leadership: Recruits, develops, and retains top talent, fostering a culture of creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration. Establishes clear workflows and best practices for efficient project execution across multiple brands, promoting a high-performing, innovative team environment.

Required Skills and Competencies:

Required Skills:
•    Creates competitive and breakthrough strategies that show connection between vision and action
•    Extensive experience in senior leadership roles within the fashion industry, with a strong background in market driven product strategy 
•    Proven creative vision with strong strategic thinking skills to translate brand positioning and consumer insights into commercially successful design concepts 
•    Understanding of footwear design principles, materials, construction techniques and manufacturing processes
•    Demonstrated experience in leading and inspiring teams, with excellent communication, collaboration and interpersonal skills
•    Results oriented mindset with a focus on delivering high quality, commercially successful product offerings 
•    Takes on new opportunities and tough challenges with a sense of urgency, high energy and enthusiasm
•    Demonstrates resiliency and persists in accomplishing objectives; rebounds from setbacks and adversity

Competencies
STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP – Deliberately communicates overall business strategy and connects it to the work of the functional team. Anticipates future trends and implications accurately. Leverages market knowledge to anticipate, capitalize on and drive change. Articulate credible pictures and visions of possibilities that will create sustainable value. Creates competitive and breakthrough strategies that show a clear connection between vision and action. Is willing to champion an idea or position despite dissent or political risk. Tackles tough issues, sharing sensitive messages or unpopular points of view effectively. Influences inside and outside of functional area for positive impact on business performance. Owns the development of successors and individuals who have potential for further development. 

LEADING & MOTIVATING – Serves as a champion and driver of DSW Values and culture. Attracts and selects the best talent to meet current and future business needs. Motivates and inspires others through rewards, authentic connections and meaningful re