Senior Director, Global Merchandising, Womens & Mens Footwear

About the Role

Coach is a global fashion house founded in New York in 1941, inspired by the vision of Creative Director Stuart Vevers and the inclusive spirit of our hometown. As the Senior Director, Global Merchandising, Footwear, you will serve as the lead merchant for the Footwear category globally. Reporting to the VP, Global Merchandising, you will translate the brand's creative vision into compelling merchandising strategies and assortments that drive consumer engagement, growth, and profitability across channels and markets.

This role partners closely with Design, Product Development, Planning, and Business Unit teams to develop and execute global product strategies balancing brand vision, consumer demand, and commercial objectives. You will drive category direction from concept through commercialization, ensuring product assortments meet the needs of a diverse global consumer while supporting financial goals and strengthening the brand's market position.

Responsibilities

• Product Strategy & Category Leadership
  • Lead the global merchandising strategy for the Footwear category, translating creative direction into commercially viable product assortments that support brand and business objectives.
  • Develop short- and long-term category strategies that drive growth, productivity, and market relevance across all consumer segments, channels, and regions.
  • Partner with the VP, Global Merchandising to define category priorities, opportunities, and strategic initiatives that support broader brand goals.
  • Partner closely with Design to shape seasonal product concepts, key narratives, silhouette strategies, and assortment architecture.
  • Influence category direction by balancing consumer insights, marketplace trends, competitive intelligence, and financial objectives.
  • Ensure a cohesive global product vision while addressing regional and channel-specific opportunities.
• Assortment Development & Commercialization
  • Lead the creation and refinement of seasonal assortments across all distribution channels, ensuring alignment to brand positioning and category strategies.
  • Drive line architecture, style counts, product segmentation, pricing strategies, and assortment flow to optimize category productivity.
  • Partner with Product Development throughout the product creation process to ensure product execution meets quality, margin, costing, and timeline objectives.
  • Present category strategies and seasonal assortments to senior leadership and key stakeholders, building alignment and driving decision making.
  • Ensure disciplined management of the line throughout the development process, continually evaluating opportunities, risks, and assortment productivity.
• Business Partnership & Market Insights
  • Partner with Business Unit Merchandising and Buying teams to understand regional business needs, customer preferences, and market opportunities.
  • Influence and align global and regional assortment strategies while maintaining a consistent brand vision.
  • Analyze consumer trends, market dynamics, and competitive landscapes to identify opportunities for growth and product innovation.
  • Develop actionable insights through hindsight reviews, sales analysis, market research, and business unit feedback.
  • Collaborate with Planning and Finance partners to drive category sales, margin, and inventory objectives.
• Business Performance & Analytics
  • Monitor and analyze category performance, productivity, and key business metrics to inform strategic decision making.
  • Drive recommendations related to assortment optimization, pricing strategies, product segmentation, and category expansion opportunities.
  • Partner with Planning, Finance, and Costing teams to establish pricing architectures, margin targets, and financial objectives.
  • Translate data and insights into clear business recommendations that support growth and profitability.
• Cross-Functional Leadership
  • Act as a key liaison between Merchandising, Design, Product Development, Planning, Marketing, Visual Merchandising, and regional Business Units.
  • Foster strong relationships across functions to ensure alignment throughout the product creation and commercialization process.
  • Influence stakeholders across a highly matrixed organization while balancing creative and commercial perspectives.
  • Champion a consumer-centric and product-focused approach to decision making.
• People Leadership
  • Lead, develop, and inspire a high-performing merchandising team.
  • Foster a culture of accountability, creativity, collaboration, and continuous learning.
  • Provide coaching, mentorship, and development opportunities to build organizational capability and support succession planning.
  • Develop future merchandising talent while encouraging innovation and strategic thinking.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 12+ years of merchandising, buying, or product strategy experience within footwear, accessories, luxury, fashion, or lifestyle brands. Prior footwear experience is a must.
• Proven experience leading a global product category from concept through commercialization.
• Strong experience partnering with Design, Product Development, Planning, and regional Business Unit teams.
• Deep understanding of global merchandising, assortment planning, pricing architecture, and product lifecycle management.
• 5+ years of people leadership experience with demonstrated success developing talent and building teams.
• Experience operating within a complex, matrixed, global organization.
• Strong commercial orientation with a demonstrated ability to drive profitable growth while maintaining brand integrity.

Preferred Qualifications

• Exceptional product sensibility and strong merchant instincts with a passion for footwear and product creation.
• Ability to translate creative vision into compelling and commercially successful assortments.
• Strong understanding of global consumer trends, competitive markets, and category dynamics.
• Advanced analytical and financial acumen, including retail math, pricing strategy, margin management, and productivity analysis.
• Ability to synthesize data, market insights, and consumer feedback into actionable business strategies.
• Strong communication, influencing, presentation, and storytelling skills.
• Effective partnership skills with the ability to influence across creative and commercial functions.
• Proven ability to balance strategic thinking with operational excellence.
• Demonstrated leadership capability with a track record of building and developing high-performing teams.

Core Competencies

• For All Employees
  • Courage: Provides direct, complete, and actionable feedback; addresses problems quickly and directly.
  • Creativity: Generates new and unique ideas; connects unrelated concepts; adds value in brainstorming.
  • Customer Focus: Dedicated to meeting expectations of internal and external customers; uses customer insights for improvements.
  • Dealing with Ambiguity: Comfortable with change, uncertainty, and risk; acts without needing full information.
  • Drive for Results: Consistently exceeds goals; bottom-line oriented; pushes self and others for results.
  • Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to diverse individuals; builds rapport and constructive relationships; uses diplomacy and tact.
  • Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly; analyzes successes and failures; experiments to find solutions; enjoys new challenges.
• For People Managers
  • Strategic Agility: Anticipates future trends and consequences; creates competitive and breakthrough strategies.
  • Developing Direct Reports and Others: Provides challenging tasks; holds development discussions; supports career goals; builds talent.
  • Building Effective Teams: Fosters team morale and spirit; encourages open dialogue; defines success collectively.

Pay

Base Pay Range: $190,000.00–$220,000.00

Benefits

• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• 401(k)
• Paid paternity and maternity leave
• Commuter benefits
• Disability insurance
• Tuition assistance