The North Face: Merchandise Manager, Apparel (Global)

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

At The North Face we dare to lead the world forward through Exploration. We were born to Explore, Disrupt and to Lead. We were born to Love Wild Places and to Spark Curiosity. We believe that exploration is a mindset - both on the mountain and off the mountain - and it infuses everything we do. As a community of explorers, we stay curious about new ideas, places, and people. 

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 adventure-loving people, The North Face just may be the place for you.  

To learn more about our values and our culture, visit The North Face Careers or www.thenorthface.com. 

Position: Merchandise Manager, Apparel

What will you do? 

A day in the life of a Merchandise Manager, Apparel at The North Face looks a little like this. 

As part of The North Face Global Merchandising team, you will collaborate cross functionally with regional merchandising teams to consolidate an aligned seasonal global range plan. Informed by consumer and marketplace insights, you will drive segmentation and distribution plans. You will communicate needs with global product management. You will own strategic franchise management plans and product lifecycles of said plans. Curate product assortments to drive full-price sales. Author TNF seasonal brand roadmap with global product and marketing teams. Thorough understanding of the product assortment to the P& L. Drive specific KPI’s to achieve targets (style count, productivity, global adoption %, etc).

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

• Deliver on a Product Merchandising strategy for Apparel Categories that drives growth and revenue in Direct to Consumer, Across Channel and within Accounts while also growing the shared global assortment between all regions.

• Gather market research and interpret opportunities (competitive analysis/comps shops) to align on seasonal opportunities. 

• Apply in-depth knowledge of consumer, marketplace, product, and competitor insights to provide long term vision and framework to seasonal line plans.

• Participate in business planning, targeting, and planning.

• Manage short, mid, and long-term projects while providing regular updates to key stakeholders.

• Ensure clarity of written line plans and briefs reflect marketplace opportunities balanced with brand right business decisions.

• Curate channel assortments and assist in segmentation that provide meaningful points of difference by channel. 

• Participates in cross functional Go-To-Market work stream, ensuring seasonal vision is brought to life instore and online. 

• Driving key initiatives to support the franchise management and 3-year planning.

• Champions a work environment that supports teamwork, inclusion, and respect.

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 5+ years of experience in apparel as a business leader with business driving functions including product management, merchandising, or product development.

The foundation skills you will need in this position are: 

• Fluent in English, any other language is a plus.

• Strong business acumen and understanding of financial metrics and profitability analysis.

• Excellent collaboration skills, including a proven ability to communicate with various levels of management and employees within the organization.

• You must be able to lead and influence others and be comfortable presenting in front of large groups of people.

• Strong ability to inspire and build a mindset and culture of innovation within your team and beyond.

• Superior project planning with an ability to develop and manage multiple timelines and deadlines.

• Proactive approach to identifying the root cause of issues, seeking the best solutions with a values driven commitment to do what is right.

• High degree of agility and adaptability.

• Able to make tough decisions and take calculated risks while hol