Job Title: Director of Visual Merchandising - Retail
Department: Retail
Reports to: SVP of Walmart Account Management and Training
Location: New York
Status: Full-Time
Salary: $120,000-$135,000
Note that the salary range is representative of total earning potential and actual pay will be based on skills, experience, and geographic location.
Who is Winston?
A leading agency in the retail industry, Winston Retail Solutions not only provides retail merchandising and demo support, but a full suite of services including creative design and marketing, client account training, project management, tailored technical resources, and top-notch client service. Our passionate, talented, and hard-working team is responsible for retail presentations for top fashion, image, and lifestyle brands. As a fun and invigorating organization, we look for employees who are energetic and ready to influence the industry by working with apparel, footwear, and accessories brands. If you’re ready to jump into an exciting career in the world of retail, we’re ready to work with you!
Click To Apply: https://careers.winstonretail.com/jobs/13340?lang=en-us
Job Summary
The Director of Visual Merchandising leads a Visual Team to execute client initiatives at the highest level. Responsible for cross-functional collaboration, the Director of Visual Merchandising will report to the NY Office at least 2x per week to meet with the Visual Team and other stakeholders as needed.
Job Duties
Execute the visual merchandising initiatives and recognize potential exceptions to further drive a better consumer journey and client sales.
- Use current tools from the client to train talent and elevate the training content and its impact.
- Drive the VM team to execute the initiatives to a higher level and maintain the momentum.
- Recommend new ways of merchandising to influence the tools for future improvement of merchandising initiatives.
- Present ideas in the most influential way with Senior Management to elevate merchandising of future initiatives.
- Lead Winston and the client’s visual merchandising initiatives and execution to drive a sales lift in both apparel and accessories as well as a sales lift in retail locations we provide support for all categories.
Collaborate with the Retail Division team to drive our hiring and training of personnel for our retail projects to continually reduce turnover and ensure each project is staffed with passionate, reliable, and committed talent.
- Review and enhance the job descriptions for each role on the VM team.
- Assist the recruiting team in identifying exceptional talent for each project as requested.
- Develop processes for the VM team as needed.
- Manage a VM team to develop training curriculums for each project to inspire talent throughout the projects and monitor the success of the field team execution.
- Manage the VM Directors to effectively cascade the trainings to those visual managers who are in remote markets that manage select Walmart retail locations.
Collaborate with the SVP of Account Management and Training for our brand business to develop best practices and leverage learnings to be applied to the Walmart and Retail Divisions.
- Work to understand how the brand training team builds and implements their training to best execute client directives in the field.
- Meet regularly with the SVP of Training to share ideas and understand recent changes to processes and operating standards for the Training Team.
- Ensure the field team can work seamlessly between brand and retail projects by taking a holistic approach to talent with aligned documents, language, and operational/training.
Work cross-functionally with the SVP of Creative and the team to meet Walmart project requirements and develop tools as necessary.
- Ensure communication, process development, training tools, and approach are thoroughly strategized, consistent, and timely for a seamless process from Winston to Walmart and the field teams.
- All other work-related duties as assigned by management.
Education and Experience
- 4 year or advanced degree in Marketing, Retail Management, or General Business
- 5-7 years of experience in a leadership role at retail
- Proven experience leading management teams to drive visual merchandising consistency across all soft lines in multiple regions or stores to drive results
- Experience with creative applications in various retail fixture and non-fixture environment and understand the process to drive the physical execution at retail
- Experience leading complex teams
- Experience executing the customer journey for brands and retailers designed by others (Walmart or Winston)
- Experience leading and driving large cross-functional communication successfully
- Experience developing content and writing training materials for field teams to easily follow and execute successfully
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Effective cross-functional and interpersonal written and verbal communication skills
- Proficient in Microsoft Office suite including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint coupled with strong presentation skills
- Willingness to learn new proprietary systems
- Ability to travel to 10+ locations a month
- Professional, energetic, and influential demeanor both internally and externally
- Understanding of creative and/or design environment language tools and merchandising value
- Enthusiasm and ability to visualize an environment or marketing/merchandising project rooted in a client’s personality, driving the consumer experience and elevating the brand’s presence
- Must be strategic, resourceful, and proactive in a reactive environment
- Excellent relationship-building and influencing skills
- Ability to raise relevant issues, drive for solutions, and influence client deliverables under limited time constraints
- Can quickly sense what will help or hinder accomplishing a goal for a client and internal teams
- Excellent analytical skills and attention to detail
- Ability to manage multiple projects successfully
What’s In It For You? (Benefits)
- Health Insurance (medical, dental, vision)
- 401k
- Employee Discount program
- Wellness program
- Pet Insurance
At Winston, we are ALL IN!
At Winston, we celebrate our diverse talent and unique skill sets, embracing change to grow stronger together. Our goal is to ensure every member of the Winston community feels valued, respected, and heard daily, including our applicants. As an equal opportunity employer, we consider all qualified candidates without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic. We also uphold fair employment practices concerning citizenship and immigration status.
