Vans: Director, Brand Strategy

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?

A day in the life of a Director, Brand Strategy at Vans looks a little like this.

Reporting to the Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer, helps lead the development of Vans’ long-term growth strategy by establishing KPIs, and driving the actions behind those leading indicators. Conducts consumer, channel, competitor and category research to drive decision-making and achievement of short and long-term financial goals. Manage global brand dashboards, presentations and deliverables to VF Corporate.

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

·       Guide the implementation of VF's strategic planning to develop and evolve the brand’s global strategy, including market research, consumer segmentation, competitive analyses, benchmarking, and collaborative decision making with brand leadership to inform strategic choices and contextualize current performance.  

·       Identify growth opportunities: Analyze industry category and adjacent business opportunities with crossover to Vans consumer. Use market information to identify opportunities, build financial models, make recommendations to senior management and assist with senior-level decision-making for Vans’ strategic plans.  

·       Lead 5yr LRP for Global Vans brand – process, financial model, functional deliverables.

·       Partner with brand leadership to create, activate, and monitor the development of the strategy, including annual planning (V2MOM), and ensure plans tie tightly to annual financial targets and budgets. 

·       Maintain the dashboard of strategic priorities and V2MOM achievements for the senior management team.   

·       Manage global brand reporting to VF leadership, including presentations for quarterly business reviews. Provide information and answer requests for Corporate Investor Relations. 

·       Lead strategic cross-functional initiatives designed to drive sales growth, margin improvement or expense reduction that support the delivery of brand and business goals.  Plan and execute strategic and financial-based projects initiated by senior management focused on issues impacting the business now and in the future.  Research complex issues and create solutions to drive company performance. 

·       Mentor and direct staff to develop and deliver personal objectives tied to timely, operationally effective, and profitable business strategies. 

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:

·       Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance or related field; MBA strongly preferred 

·       Demonstrat