Merchandise Director
AMain Sports & Hobbies · Chico, CA · 3 days ago
RemoteRemoteMarketingFull-time
About the role
The Director of Merchandising leads the strategic transformation and day-to-day operation of AMain.com's merchandising, product content, third-party marketplace, and visual merchandising functions. This role is accountable for re-architecting the legacy Copywriting department into two purpose-built teams—Product Data and Merchandising—and elevating Photography into a true Visual Merchandising discipline.
Organizational Design & Transformation
- Department transformation: Lead the transition of the existing Copywriting department into two distinct, purpose-built functions: a Product Data team focused on catalog quality and a Merchandising team focused on commercial outcomes.
- Visual merchandising evolution: Reimagine the current Photography function as a Visual Merchandising team responsible for product imagery, lifestyle and video assets, and on-site visual storytelling.
- Roles & RACI: Redefine roles, responsibilities, workflows, and decision rights across all four teams; document new SOPs and handoffs with E-Commerce, Inventory, and Marketing.
- Change management: Lead the people side of the transformation—communication, coaching, role mapping, and retention—so the change lands well with the existing team.
- Org build-out: Partner with HR on leveling, comp structure, and career paths for the newly defined functions.
Product Data & Catalog Management
- Data standards documentation: Build and maintain a product data style guide — title formula, description requirements, required attributes by product type, and image standards.
- Data quality & governance: Own product data quality, taxonomy, attribution, and cross-channel content standards across AMain.com and third-party marketplaces.
- PIM strategy: Set the long-term Product Information Management strategy and operating model; partner with IT/Engineering on tooling decisions and integrations.
- New item onboarding: Establish and hold SLAs for time-to-publish on new items, ensuring accurate attribution and complete content at launch.
- Catalog completeness: Drive measurable improvements in coverage of required attributes, imagery, copy, and category mapping across the existing catalog.
ONSITE MERCHANDISING
- Site experience: Drive performance of category pages, PDPs, search, navigation, and on-site recommendations to grow conversion, AOV, and attach rate.
- Promotional execution: Plan and execute on-site promotions, hero placements, and category storytelling that align with inventory position and margin goals.
- Test & learn: Build a disciplined merchandising test-and-learn agenda with the E-Commerce team to continuously improve commercial outcomes.
- Measurement baseline: Establish baseline metrics for category conversion rate, search conversion rate, zero-result rate, and filter usage. Every merchandising decision after that is evaluated against these baselines.
Third-Party Marketplaces
- Channel leadership: Oversee the Manager of Third-Party Marketplaces and set strategy across Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and other relevant channels.
- Listings & content: Own listing quality, content syndication, A+/Enhanced Brand Content, and channel-specific merchandising standards.
- Channel economics: Partner with Finance and Inventory on channel margin, fee management, and FBA/MCF/3PL allocation decisions.
- Growth & expansion: Identify and prioritize new channel, program, and geographic opportunities aligned with AMain's strategic plan.
Visual Merchandising
- Creative standards: Set and enforce creative standards for product photography, lifestyle imagery, and video across the catalog and brand.
- Studio operations: Drive studio throughput, shot productivity, and cost-per-asset; build the production calendar against new-item flow and merchandising priorities.
- Brand alignment: Align visual output with brand strategy, category positioning, and the broader site experience.
- Shot list standard: Define a required shot list per product type — white background hero, front-on, scale reference, in-use/lifestyle, and what's-in-the-box. The goal is images that answer customer questions before they ask them, not just consistent angles.
Qualifications
- 8-10+ years of e-commerce merchandising experience with progressive leadership responsibility
- 3+ years leading multi-team or multi-function organizations at the manager-of-managers level
- Demonstrated third-party marketplace experience (Amazon, eBay, Walmart, or comparable channels), including listings, content, and channel economics
- Hands-on experience with PIM systems, product data governance, taxonomy, and attribution
- Proven success leading organizational change: redesigning roles, evolving teams, and managing the people side of transformation
- Strong commercial and analytical fluency; comfort owning a P&L or P&L-adjacent KPI set
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Merchandising, Supply Chain, or related field (or equivalent experience)
- Experience managing vendor relationships and negotiations
- Strong analytical and financial skills
- Advanced Excel proficiency
- Excellent communication and presentation skills
- Strong project management and organizational abilities