Job Postings From Our Member Companies Title:
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT

Post Date
10/24/2017

Expiration Date
11/20/2017

Details:
American Meadows
Available: Immediately (July 2017)
Commitment: Full-Time
Reports to: President

WHO WE ARE

At American Meadows, we like to say that we Do Good Through Gardening. Our primary focus is to be great at providing home gardeners with the products and knowledge they need to succeed. We work to accomplish this by combining top-quality products, a staff that’s passionate about what we do, the latest in technology and proven direct-to-consumer methods. If that sounds intriguing, read on...

OUR CHALLENGE

Gardeners work very hard for results that often do not arrive for months or even years. We want to inspire and inform customers while also closing the sale. We are always looking for ways to offer the right products to customers in the ways they want to learn and shop.

WHO YOU ARE & WHAT YOU’D DO

The ongoing growth of our company relies upon a balanced three-legged stool with Marketing, our Web Group and Product each playing a critical role in driving our success. You have the experience and appetite to take the latter leg and define greatness. You have measurable business acumen as well as proven leadership and management skills. You do well in growing and sometimes resource-challenged environments, yet you also have the experience to bring the next level of structure and planning to our organization. You are constantly pushing yourself, your team and our entire organization to improve our offering to ensure that we’re a leader in direct-to-consumer gardening.

ACCOUNTABILITIES & SUCCESS MEASURES:

The following chart reflects how you’d spend your time and the measures of success:

Management and Leadership - Priority (1) - Time (25%)

Accountability:
• Oversee a growing team (currently +/-5) of passionate gardeners working to deliver on our product and company goals.
• Serve as a member of our Leadership Team tasked with both defining and executing against our strategies while addressing obstacles impeding growth and building organizational support.
• Promote a ‘merchandising’ culture throughout the organization rooted in product, customers, competitors, performance, and priorities.
Success Factors:
• Complete all AMI-mandated management tasks, such as weekly check-ins, quarterly reviews, etc.
• Provide product, merchandising, and trend insight to help Leadership Team set company priorities, growth strategies, and competitive responses.
• Ensure the broader organization has a shared understanding of business initiatives, key segments / items, and Category performance.
• Successful addressing of cross-functional issues and constraints that may result from business decisions.
• Create a very cohesive and productive relationship among other LT members.
• Acquisition: Build the strategy and executional plan to deliver enough new customers to meet goals.
• Retention: Work to constantly improve the percentage of existing customers who place multiple orders with us.
• Continuously develop/refine operational systems.
• Build a culture of constant improvement and the ability to achieve.
Business Planning - Priority (2) - Time (35%)

Accountability:
• Build annual plan for product sales, gross margin, inventory, and shipping revenue to support company sales & profit goals. Work with others to combine with visit, conversion and AOV and build overall targets.
• Develop Category strategies to achieve 3-year company growth plans that leverage industry expertise, sales data, customer insights, supplier partners, and relentless monitoring of competitors to ensure we have the products our customers and future customers
• Strengthen our product, price, & inventory position by building and maintaining our supplier network.
• Help to maintain and improve category management tools and underlying data (assortment planners, demand models, etc.). Lead ad hoc analysis to support item & business planning.
Success Factors:
• Achieve company’s revenue and gross profit goals per category and in aggregate.
• Creation and maintenance of forward-looking plans that incorporate market opportunities, customer needs, competitive landscape, core capabilities, and financials to set category priorities, strategic initiatives, and growth targets.
• Negotiation of supplier pricing that supports both our brand/customer needs and delivers upon our margin goals.
Seasonal Execution - Priority (3) - Time (40%)

Accountability:
• Oversees seasonal Line Reviews to ensure teams are focused on the right segments / items, appropriate inventory strategies & data-driven forecasts are in place, and cross-functional teams are aligned to achieve performance targets.
• Manages product calendar and operational execution to ensure we hit season set dates and key milestones.
• Responsible for overseeing product strategy, assortment planning, and execution for 25 Categories encompassing ~4K SKUs (and growing!).
• Oversees monthly rolling forecast process to project sales, margin, inventory, and units at the category-level to inform business and P&L decisions.
• Oversees pricing and promotional planning, execution, and results. Works with the leadership team to quantify promotional impact (sales, margin, marketing effectiveness, inventory management, brand trust, and operating costs) and test strategies to become less reliant on event pricing.
Success Factors:
• Completion of Line Reviews on time and successful adherence to our product calendars.
• Maintain current forecasts to assess risks around gaps to plan, and identify strategies to address over / under-performing segments.
• Meet seasonal goals for revenue, gross margin, product disposal and other KPI’s.
• Monitor competition and react to marketplace pricing requirements to achieve both sales & margin targets.


Qualifications:
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
• Bachelor's Degree minimum.
• 5+ years of proven experience in a multi-channel, direct-to-consumer environment.
• Proven track record in B2C and/or B2B product/merchandising management required.
• Ability to demonstrate past success in developing and executing to a budget.
• You must be able to show that you’ve played a crucial role in profitably growing an organization through traditional and/or online initiatives.
• High degree of competency within all phases of project management, e.g. issue and risk identification and management, change management, tracking dependencies and milestones, communication of overall project status.
• Ability to prioritize and multitask while meeting deadlines each day. Uses good judgment in making decisions as part of a dynamic group of professionals working towards a variety of goals.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Team-minded individual who handles deadlines, is self-motivated and looks to grow their skills while fostering a collaborative and enjoyable work environment.
• Willingness to ‘do what it takes’ to contribute to the success of a small, growing business.
• We’re gardeners – you should be too!
The position will offer a salary commensurate with experience and an excellent benefits package. This role has direct reports.

Interested parties are to send Step 1 (mandatory) and a resume.

** Step 1 is simple: In a few short paragraphs, tell us about managing a product assortment. How does what you’ve done relate to our industry and what challenges do you anticipate in getting up to speed? This is not intended to be a writing assignment, rather a chance for you to initiate an informed conversation about the core elements of this role.

American Meadows is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE). Qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status. If you need assistance or an accommodation during the application process because of a disability, it is available upon request. The company is pleased to provide such assistance, and no applicant will be penalized as a result of such a request.

Please use the link below to applyhttps://www.americanmeadows.com/jobs


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Employer:
American Meadows

Website:
http://www.americanmeadows.com/