Job Description
Director of Merchandising
Remote
Who We Are
Maisonette is an online marketplace for high quality baby and kids products across every category; from apparel to gear to toys and home decor. Founded by two moms in 2017 with the goal of helping modern families raise the next generation, Maisonette carries over 1000 unique brands from around the globe, providing relevant, high quality product at every price point, and expert-led content tailored to every stage of parenthood.
More about Maisonette:
- We are a fast-growing venture-backed start-up primed to become the dominant single-destination player in the kid’s market.;
- Our vision and business performance resonates with investors; we’ve completed multiple rounds of funding from top-tier investors including NEA, Thrive Capital and G Squared.;
- Our board of directors consists of leaders across the fields of tech, e-commerce, and fashion.; They include Co-Founder of Lumi Labs, Inc., and former President and CEO of Yahoo! Inc Marissa Mayer, Co-Founder & CEO at BRANDED Pierre Poignant, and General Partner at NEA, Tony Florence.;
We have a diverse, collaborative, and experienced executive team hailing from Vogue,Jet.com, Casper, Birch Box, Rent the Runway, Industrious, and Retail Me Not.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
We’re passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. Companies that are diverse in age, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity, and perspective are proven to be better companies. More importantly, creating an environment where everyone, from any background, can do their best work is the right thing to do. We look forward to interest in our roles from all walks of life. Please see our diversity report for more information.
What We Need
A key stakeholder in setting our merchandising strategy and vision for the marketplace brands, and vision across all future and current categories (play, apparel, gear, home, accessories, beauty) and future and current segments (baby, toddler, kids, pre-teen, teen). The role requires both vision for the long term merchandising strategy/assortment as well as ability to execute and drive growth in the near term, and will help to drive topline company growth and margin in addition to other annual goals.
What You’ll Do
- Own development and execution of marketplace merchandising strategy, with ability to tie it to overall company objectives; seek alignment on strategy from VP of Merchandising
- Own the strategy and drive assortment growth, with a POV on where (categories, product types, price points, etc) growth should come from
- Understand and clearly articulate how merchandising strategy drives business goals, setting key KPIs for all buyers to manage to
- Have a solid understanding of the children’s market – who competitors are across each category – identifying moats we can create for each
- Passion for children’s space with an understanding of what parents need at different life stages with ability to pivot across categories and understand differences among each
- Leverage data to build cases for the initiatives that are core to marketplace success. Work with cross-functional leaders to garner buy-in and align on prioritization of requests.
- Have strong understanding of vendor terms and vendor value proposition, with view of how we build value for both vendors and ourselves overtime
- Be a champion for building vendor community, with view of how to best service vendors and drive strong vendor NPS
- Develop strategy with team for exclusives/collaborations and outline business value of such partnerships; partner with marketing team to bring them to life
- Help to prospect and close top vendor accounts in conjunction with buyers
- Develop organizational structure that scales overtime, developing understanding of technology needs, outsourcing needs, etc.
- In partnership with Merch Ops, identify and build processes, practices, tooling and partnerships to automate and scale the merch team’s operations to drive efficiency and effectiveness
- Develop direct reports to utilize business intelligence tools to better inform their decision-making and strategy
- Provide stretch opportunities for buyers and senior buyers to lead key cross-functional initiatives
- Coach direct reports on developing and empowering their junior merchants
- Partner with Finance, Planning, and GMV squad to ensure marketplace forecasts aligns with company budget and goal
- Drive the MD and Promotional strategy in partnership with Marketing and Finance
- Act as a cross functional leader between Merch and other teams on key initiatives
About You
- Bachelor’s Degree
- 10+ years of retail merchandising buying experience, ideally in a cross category e-commerce or retail organization
- Analytical thinker and strategic problem solver
- Ability to partner with and influence vendors/cross-functional partners
- Knowledge of retail landscape, trends and the digital marketplace
- Natural merchant, with eye for Maisonette’s uniquely curated assortment and an aesthetic point of view
- Ability to understand analytics and data driven strategies
- Clear, collaborative communicator; ability to streamline and synthesize copious information for various audiences
- Entrepreneurial, intrinsically motivated, enthusiastic, and adaptable
- Ability to effectively manage a broad team of buyers across all product categories
- Ability to prioritize among myriad and shifting priorities
- Ability to balance long-term strategic thinking with day-to-day tactical execution
- Personal passion for and perspective on consumer products within the children’s space