Vice President, Chief Merchant buy buy Baby at Kirkland's, Inc.

Responsible for building merchandising, global sourcing and visual merchandising strategies to drive consumer adoption, retention and revenue. Develops financially sound business plans that move the retail business forward, improving sales, turns, and gross margins. Responsible for converting insights from sales behavior analysis into actionable insights to achieve our objectives. Uses these insights to develop/execute category strategies, create and update category measurements and targets, and to aid in decision making for all tactical efforts of the team at the customer level, including product assortment, merchandising, pricing and promotion. Reviews and approves business strategies and financial plans to create contextually relevant products for our customers.

• Identify the long-term strategic merchandising and product direction
• Create a strategic merchandising plan to drive multi-channel commerce and ensure overall success of business
• Ensure high levels of customer satisfaction via communications, advanced planning, and the successful execution of the product strategy
• Review category strategy to ensure current trends are capitalized upon throughout the Store
• Develop pricing and margin strategies
• Develop a merchandising process plan that outlines key merchandising deliverables by season, as well as critical meetings and shared deliverables across the business
• Ensure that process and timelines put organization in a position to be fully prepared in advance of each season. Drive team to meet defined deliverables and key dates on an on-going basis
• Present concepts to vendors/product developers. Collaborate and seek feedback on ideas and products
• Create and maintain a balanced and diversified global sourcing strategy
• Perform frequent and thorough follow-up with Buyers and Merchandisers to ensure proper purchasing and allocation corrections
• Mentor, educate and develop staff
• Champion and demonstrate a commitment to The Brand House Collective values

• Bachelor’s degree in Merchandising/Marketing or equivalent and 10+ years merchandising experience; Masters/MBA preferred
• OR combination of equivalent and applicable experience and education
• Experience in the baby category and established relationships with baby vendors is preferred
• Highly collaborative, creative and innovative business mentality
• Strong analytical, organizational, and leadership skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build effective relationships across the organization and with external partners.
• Strong skills in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Ability to attend and participate in meetings as required.
• Ability to work at a computer for extended periods of time.
• Ability to travel as needed.