SR MANAGER ASSURANCE & ADVISORY MG

This position is part of the Assurance & Advisory Management Program (AMP), a two-year leadership development program focused on merchandising, marketing, and ecommerce. Upon completion, 75% of associates graduate to other departments, while 25% advance within the department.

About the role

The AMP Senior Manager, Merchandising is responsible for developing and executing multiple, concurrent projects across merchandising functions (Merchandising, Marketing, Ecommerce, Merchandising Services). This includes originating risk-based project opportunities, establishing scopes and timelines, managing stakeholder relationships, overseeing staffing, and reporting results to executive management.

Responsibilities

• Own relationships with business leaders throughout the organization, including identifying key stakeholders and maintaining those relationships (20%)
• Develop and maintain a thorough understanding of key retail processes in merchandising, marketing, and online business units; own risk assessment for these areas, including identifying and prioritizing key risks (15%)
• Develop a pipeline of projects consisting of defined risk management and process improvement opportunities in merchandising, marketing, and online business units
• Lead report-outs of results to business owners and executive management, including the CFO/CEO as required
• Manage scope, objectives, and resources of multiple projects concurrently to ensure on-time delivery of high-quality results (15%)
• Create effective written communications to report results to business owners and executive management, including the CFO/CEO and Board of Directors
• Design tests and analytics to identify and quantify specific process improvement opportunities, including cost-out and risk mitigation (15%)
• Develop talent by supporting the recruitment of strong candidates, leading training courses, and providing on-the-job coaching to managers and staff associates
• Lead change management for all project teams, including establishing a vision for change, building alignment with key business partners, and creating implementation plans that mitigate challenges and ensure sustainability of results (20%)
• Provide performance feedback and career counseling for direct reports on a consistent basis

Requirements

• Must be eighteen years of age or older
• Must be legally permitted to work in the United States
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in a field of study related to the job
• 8 years of work experience
• Project management experience required
• Prior supervisory experience required, including providing performance feedback
• Typically requires overnight travel less than 10% of the time

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior Six Sigma, auditing, or consulting experience; process improvement background
• Prior retail experience
• Strong existing networks (ideally in merchandising) with the ability to establish and maintain relationships at all levels

Skills

• Strong analytics: ability to develop hypotheses about the business and build detailed analytics to test
• Financial acumen: ability to create cost/benefit and other financial analyses to support decision-making and enhance profitability
• Strategic thinking: ability to understand the business cross-functionally and develop strategies to drive value
• Networking: ability to establish and maintain relationships at all levels
• Project management: strong organizational skills with the ability to break down large bodies of work into discrete project plans; ability to set deadlines and oversee execution on multiple projects concurrently
• Talent development: experience managing direct reports (preferably including manager-level directs)
• Communication: ability to develop accurate and compelling written materials to drive alignment and decision-making; experience reporting out to executive management

Working Conditions

• Located in a comfortable indoor area; any unpleasant conditions would be infrequent and not objectionable
• Most of the time is spent sitting in a comfortable position with frequent opportunity to move about
• On rare occasions, there may be a need to move or lift light articles

Position reports to AMP Director with 2 direct reports.