Director Merchandising UK&I

• Proven experience in sporting goods industry (ideally in sales, merchandising or DTC function) with further proven experience leadership experience.
• Educated to degree level in business studies and distinctive analytical skills
• Excellent intuitive understanding of the sporting goods business, the competitive environment and future trends in the industry.
• Needs strong process management, communication & influencing skills
• Visioning, Proactive/Entrepreneurship, Organisational awareness, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities, Strong team player, presentation skills, business analytics and quantitative skills, customer knowledge and consumer relevance.
• The role requires UK and overseas travel.

Please note that this role will start in January 2026.

The Director Merchandising UK&I leads the merchandising strategy, optimizes product mix, and drives sales to achieve financial targets. This role involves collaborating with key stakeholders, managing product assortments, and providing market insights to inform future brand strategies.

Merchandise Strategy / Business Visioning.

• Develop short/mid-term sustainable growth plans in line with global/regional product directives, collaborating with key Wholesale and Retail stakeholders to develop and optimize the Area product assortment X-divisionally.
• Lead and drive the process and overall sign off for delivering the optimum Area assortment to market to drive sell-through and reach financial targets.
• Reviews area assortments to optimize product efficiency and market opportunity while maximizing brand experience across categories, channels & accounts.
• Use consumer and geographical insight to set targets and sign off range by Division/ area  & DC channel based on Sales Plan - Brand Direction - Product Flow- Pricing strategy.
• Influence and execute global tools and processes to streamline best business practice.
• Utilise internal systems to review previous season PO’s, sales and performance, and provide the Merch Team with clear guidance on future season key metrics.

Delivering KPIs

• Develop and drive an Area Merchandising plan to deliver against agreed Area KPIs and objectives, while guiding local implementation in the area.
• Manage and deliver accurate forecasting within deadlines and targets.
• Oversee inventory management to ensure forecasts and buy plans are adjusted as necessary and aligned to company goals

X-Functional / X-Divisional Alignment

• Collaborate with area functional heads, to coordinate activities against agreed and aligned financial targets and other global, regional and area strategic goals.
• Work with counterparts from other areas to ensure X-Divisional alignment within the region.

Influence Future Product

• Analyze, interpret and consolidate consumer insights of area.
• Drive collaboration with global / regional BU, RCC & GTM so UKI insights and market needs are front of mind and incorporated into global range planning.
• Take ownership of communicating and adherence of Corporate Calendar key milestones.
• Provide consumer, competitive and distribution qualitative and quantitative feedback as input to future brand strategies.
• Ensure the UKI Merch Team have excellent product, market and competitor knowledge through regular store visits and key strategic account meeting participation

Team Development

• Create the future by building a team of experts and which is the go-to for all aspects of UKI (and international as relevant) product and consumer trends.
• Inspire- Motivate- Educate the Area Merchandising Organizations in developing a team which benchmarks industry standards and skillsets.
• Develop Succession Planning discipline to maintain an all-time effectiveness of the Merchandising organization.
• Contribute to Regional Merchandising and General Management to continuously develop a sustainable Merchandising organization model that integrates with Corporate Strategies.