Vice President, Divisional Merchandise Manager

About the Role

The Divisional Merchandise Manager (DMM) will lead merchandising strategy, manage business performance, vendor relations, assortment decisions, and guide team development for a specific division at Big 5 Sporting Goods. This role is responsible for the division’s product vision and collaborates with Planning & Allocation to achieve sales, gross margin dollars, inventory efficiency, turnover, SKU optimization, and inventory management.

The ideal candidate is customer-centric, highly product-focused, financially disciplined, and agile in decision-making. The DMM will refine Big 5’s merchandising processes by crafting focused assortments tailored to each store zone's footprint, enhancing product value, strengthening vendor partnerships, and making the shopping experience easier and more appealing.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee overall business performance in the assigned division, meeting key metrics such as sales, gross margin dollars and rate, inventory productivity, turn, sell-through, and markdown goals.
• Collaborate with Planning & Allocation to develop financial forecasts, manage open-to-buy budgets, assess inventory risks, and enforce disciplined inventory decisions.
• Proactively identify business risks and opportunities and convert insights into decisive actions.
• Conduct regular business reviews with clear analysis, defined action plans, and accountability tracking.
• Ensure category strategies align with customer needs, product value, sales potential, gross margin opportunities, inventory tactics, replenishment logic, and exit strategies.
• Design the assortment strategy considering categories, classifications, vendors, pricing tiers, and store clusters.
• Plan product allocation for each zone to fit store square footage standards, balancing customer choice, inventory depth, merchandising needs, and productivity.
• Develop and implement a Good / Better / Best product architecture where applicable.
• Streamline assortments by cutting duplication, eliminating low-performing SKUs, and investing in high-impact products.
• Utilize metrics like sales, gross margin, inventory, and turn per square foot to optimize space allocation.
• Ensure assortments are tailored to customers, activities, stores, and markets.
• Critically evaluate product quality, durability, value, features, and competitive landscape.
• Discover and pilot new products, brands, categories, and testing opportunities that enhance customer relevance and profitability.
• Spend time in retail locations to observe customer behavior, store execution, merchandising presentation, and assortment gaps.
• Lead vendor strategy coordination, enhancing relationships to improve product access, profitability, marketing support, exclusivity, and expansion.
• Make vendor meetings strategic, focusing on customer needs, product distribution, marketing, and growth potential.
• Assess vendor performance to guide decisions on growth, maintenance, reduction, or exit.
• Negotiate with vendors for improved product value, storytelling, availability, and support.
• Manage pricing strategies and promotional activities collaboratively with Planning, Marketing, and Finance to reflect customer value, market competition, quality, margin expectations, and brand alignment.
• Minimize ineffective promotions and lead markdown strategy with an emphasis on inventory risk mitigation and business sustainability.
• Provide leadership, coaching, and growth opportunities for Buyers and merchandising teams, fostering a culture of accountability and agility.
• Encourage deep business understanding among team members to enable insightful performance discussions and decision-making.
• Set clear expectations for store visits, vendor engagement, assortment rationale, and interdepartmental communication.
• Create succession plans and strengthen talent pipelines within the division.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Planning & Allocation, Visual Merchandising, Marketing, Stores, Ecommerce, Logistics, and Operations to align strategies and enhance execution across supply chain, store footprints, campaigns, and digital initiatives.

Decision-Making Authority

• Set category and classification strategies.
• Develop assortment frameworks.
• Prioritize vendors.
• Drive product selection and SKU rationalization.
• Recommend pricing and promotions.
• Determine buying strategies with Planning collaboration.
• Manage store distribution and space allocations within footprint standards.
• Lead markdown and product exit decisions.
• Direct product storytelling priorities and testing initiatives within the division.

Success Metrics

• Improved sales and gross margin dollars.
• Higher gross margin rates and inventory efficiency.
• Increased turn and sell-through rates.
• Markdown effectiveness and SKU productivity enhancement.
• Optimized sales and gross margin per square foot.
• Strong in-stock positions on priority items.
• Enhanced vendor productivity and support.
• Focused and relevant assortments.
• Clear and consistent store execution.
• Elevated team capability and accountability.
• Agility in testing, learning, and scaling innovations.

Qualifications & Experience

• Over 10 years in merchandising and buying roles within multi-category or omnichannel retail, including at least 5 years managing buyers or category teams.
• Bachelor’s degree in merchandising, business, finance, or a related discipline preferred; equivalent relevant experience accepted.
• In-depth knowledge of retail math including merchandise financial planning, gross margin management, inventory and space productivity, markdowns, turnover, and open-to-buy controls.
• Demonstrated success in developing customer-focused assortments that meet sales, gross margin dollars, and inventory productivity targets.
• Experienced in negotiating with vendors and shaping category/vendor strategies.
• Strong product evaluation skills regarding quality, durability, use cases, and price-to-value ratio.
• Proven leadership ability to drive change with clear communication, speed, and accountability.
• Excellent communication skills to collaborate effectively across multiple departments such as Planning, Stores, Marketing, Ecommerce, Finance, Logistics, and Operations.
• Experience in sporting goods, outdoor, footwear, apparel, fitness, or active lifestyle sectors is preferred.

Leadership Expectations

• Prioritize delivering customer value.
• Maintain deep knowledge of products.
• Take ownership of business outcomes.
• Operate decisively and swiftly.
• Implement a test, learn, and adjust mindset.
• Challenge existing assumptions constructively.
• Focus on developing team talent.
• Use data analytically without overreliance.
• Engage regularly with store environments.
• Build strong vendor and internal partnerships.
• Effectively translate strategic goals into actionable plans.

Compensation

This role offers an annual base salary ranging from $190,000 to $200,000. Final salary is determined based on the candidate's experience, expertise, and role complexity.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Big 5 Sporting Goods provides equal employment opportunities without discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any protected characteristic under law. The company fosters a respectful and inclusive workplace culture.

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