Senior Director, Business Strategy - Merchandising Acceleration

Position Summary

As the Senior Director, Merchandising Acceleration, you’ll lead the Walmart U.S. Entertainment Council and the enterprise activation of cultural moments that matter most to customers. Sitting at the intersection of merchandising, strategy, marketing, digital, and ecosystem growth, this role brings teams together to turn major entertainment franchises, tentpole events, fandom moments, and partner opportunities into coordinated programs that drive customer impact and business results. You’ll also shape broader enterprise strategic initiatives with studios, publishers, and other strategic suppliers, building partnerships and scalable activation models that unlock new revenue, deepen customer engagement, and create value beyond the product. Success requires strong strategic thinking, commercial judgment, executive influence, and the ability to move complex opportunities from vision through execution. This is a highly visible leadership role on the newly formed Merchandising Acceleration team within the Walmart U.S. Entertainment, Toys and Seasonal division. Designed for a builder and intrapreneur, this role will help transform activation initiatives into a scalable growth engine for Walmart.

What you'll do

• Lead the activation strategy for Walmart's highest-profile merchandising initiatives, bringing together cross-functional teams to execute seamlessly against major cultural and fandom moments.
• Build and strengthen strategic relationships with world-class partners, including leading entertainment studios, creating programs that generate long-term value for both Walmart and its partners.
• Develop next-generation merchandising strategies that align teams across merchandising, eCommerce, marketing, operations, W+, Vizio, and other business functions around a shared vision and execution plan.
• Identify opportunities to simplify and streamline processes, improve organizational alignment, and create repeatable activation models that accelerate speed to market and deliver strategic differentiation.
• Translate large, complex business opportunities into executable roadmaps with clear priorities, milestones, success metrics, and executive-level communication.
• Influence senior leaders across multiple organizations, ensuring alignment, accountability, and successful execution.
• Evaluate emerging customer trends, industry shifts, and competitive opportunities to inform future merchandising and commercial strategies and enterprise partnerships.
• Lead high-impact, high-visibility initiatives from concept through execution while balancing multiple priorities across a dynamic portfolio.

What you’ll bring

• Experience leading large-scale merchandising, retail strategy, or business transformation initiatives within a complex enterprise environment.
• A strong merchandising foundation with an understanding of how products, promotions, customer experiences, and cross-functional execution come together to bring programs to market.
• Demonstrated success leading highly visible, cross-functional initiatives that require influencing executive stakeholders and diverse business teams.
• Exceptional strategic thinking paired with the ability to dive into execution details when needed.
• Proven ability to build trusted partnerships internally and externally, creating alignment across organizations with competing priorities.
• Strong executive communication skills with the ability to simplify complexity, tell compelling business stories, and drive decisions.
• Experience managing ambiguity, identifying opportunities where others see obstacles, and creating structure that enables execution.
• A customer-first mindset and passion for creating innovative retail experiences that connect Walmart with customers in meaningful ways.

Additional Compensation

• The annual salary range for this position is $130,000.00 - $260,000.00
• Additional compensation includes annual or quarterly performance bonuses.
• Additional compensation for certain positions may also include : Stock

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Statistics, Social Science, Communications, or related field and 7 years’ experience in retail merchandising, operations management, or related area OR 9 years’ experience in retail merchandising, operations management, or related area.
• 3 years’ supervisory experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Masters, Masters: Computer Science, Masters: Supply Chain, Masters: Transportation