Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organisation:

Responsible for maximising the sales, profitability & brand equity of the Israel organisation by building and leading the merchandising strategy for the Israel market.

Key Responsibilities:

• Shape and lead the Isarel Merchandising strategy for all the DTC channels.
• Deliver financial targets including Net sales, Sell through, standard margin.
• Own, lead and implement the end-to-end planning, buying, range management and GTM strategy for all categories with Israel BU/CTC team direction.
• Accountable for end-to-end category responsibility (including Open-To-Buy (OTB) plan pre-season product planning, option planning, range planning, forecasting, including handover to Demand Planning)
• Maximize new & in season business opportunities by understanding and executing on respective channel potentials
• Constantly monitor Industry developments in their category and cascade intelligence to the organisation.
• Interface with key stakeholders including Marketing, Visual Merchandising (VM), Store Operations, Supply Chain, Logistics, on-site merchandising, CRM and eCom acquisition team
• Drive innovation across the function in terms of process automation and optimisation to improve availability across channels
• Provide fact-based category input and feedback for internal/external stakeholders.
• Execute the continuous improvement of all merchandising systems and tools to suit world class merchandising practise.
• Market visits as needed and advised by the business (expected ratio office/travel is 80%/20%).
• Role model the leadership framework.

Key Relationships:

• BU Directors (category merchandising), CTC (Concept-to-Consumer), , Director Franchise, Director eCom & Business Development.
• Director Marketing activation eCom and Own Retail Stores.
• Retail Directors
• Demand Planning, Supply Chain, Procurement and Logistics team
• Finance/Controlling
• Relevant Global Teams – Merchandising, CTC.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Leadership and influencing skills
• Detailed knowledge of Merchandising, ranging, forecasting & budget planning.
• Ability to work effectively within a team environment and under pressure
• Strong analytical and communication skills
• Good knowledge of range segmentation and merchandising plan for eCommerce channels.
• Strong trading mindset, with an entrepreneurial flair to maximize business opportunities.
• Fluent in English and other language(s) is an advantage

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

• University degree, ideally in business with marketing and sales focus- MBA a plus
• Total of 8 years’ experience with minimum 5+ years’ leadership / directorial / head of dept experience of core buying &merchandising function preferably in a retail organization, with broad-based experience working with fashion franchises, vertical and multichannel retailers. Experience working with a Sporting Goods retailer is preferred.
• Multi-store and eCom experience essential
• Functional awareness of store operations, Visual Merchandising, Marketing Activation, Human Resources, Finance, Supply Chain and Logistics
• Experienced in working with internal stakeholders and external agencies to establish efficient and scalable processes
• Experienced in working cross functional within international organization