Director, Merchandising Strategy & Operations - Remote Job Listing at Harbor Freight Tools in Calabasas, CA (Job ID 1382519)

Description

The Director of Merchandising Strategy and Operations is responsible for helping define, prioritize, and drive the Merchandising department's highest-impact initiatives, while ensuring resources and budget are aligned to support the department's fiscal-year objectives. This role partners closely with the EVP of Merchandising and senior merchandising leaders to establish department priorities, KPIs, OKRs, and operating plans, and to ensure investments are directed toward the initiatives that matter most.
The Director serves as a strategic operator and financial steward for the department, translating strategic priorities into executable plans, aligning headcount and discretionary spending, and ensuring initiatives are properly funded and resourced. This role leads to complex, cross-functional special projects and drives operational rigor across merchandising.
In addition, the Director leads and develops a team of highly experienced strategy and operations professionals who support major initiatives, drive efficiencies, and act as force multipliers for the organization. The role requires strong leadership, structured thinking, financial acumen, and the ability to influence senior stakeholders.
Overall, the Director is accountable for ensuring that Merchandising priorities, resources, budget, and execution remain tightly aligned with broader company goals.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Partner with the SVP of Merchandising and senior leaders to define and operationalize the department's strategic priorities, KPIs, OKRs, and fiscal-year focus areas 10%
• Own the development, management, and tracking of the Merchandising department's operating budget, ensuring spend is aligned to strategic priorities and delivers measurable value 10%
• Lead annual and in-year planning processes, including budget planning, headcount planning, and initiative funding decisions 5%
• Drive department-wide strategic initiatives and special projects requiring a high level of strategy, structure, and project management, often spanning multiple functions 10%
• Align resources across initiatives, balancing headcount, external spend, and timelines to ensure focus on the highest-impact work 5%
• Partner with Finance to monitor budget performance, forecast risks and opportunities, and support variance analysis and corrective actions 5%
• Own the operating rhythm for the department, including prioritization frameworks, initiative tracking, executive reporting, and escalation of risks and trade-offs 5%
• Lead, develop, and mentor a team of senior strategy and operations professionals responsible for driving complex initiatives and operational improvements 15%
• Establish governance, processes, and decision frameworks to improve execution discipline, financial rigor, and efficiency across the Merchandising organization 5%
• Develop and maintain analytical tools and dashboards to track progress against strategic initiatives, KPIs, financial targets, and budget adherence 5%
• Identify and deliver opportunities to improve cost efficiency, eliminate redundancy, and redeploy resources toward higher-value initiatives 5%
• Conduct regular reviews of major initiatives to assess progress, ROI, risks, and outcomes, and recommend course corrections as needed 5%
• Manage and reprioritize workloads across initiatives to reflect changing business needs, budget constraints, and leadership direction 5%
• Assess systems, tools, and processes to ensure scalability and cost-effectiveness as the merchandising organization and business continue to grow 5%
• Serve as a trusted thought partner to senior leaders, providing clear insights, financial perspective, and structured recommendations to support decision-making 5%

• Staff supervision and development: Yes
• Decision making: Supports and collaborates on process development and resolves problems; provides data for decision support; provides consultation or expert advice
• Travel: Up to 25%
• Flex Designation: Anywhere

• Minimum: 4 Year / Bachelors Degree            
• Required: Bachelors' Degree, preferably with a Business major or related field; MBA preferred

• Minimum of 10 years of relevant experience required
• Minimum 6 years of people leadership experience required
• Minimum of 2 years of management consulting, strategy, or business operations experience

• Experience (Required)
• Previous experience managing and leading others is preferred
• Project management and retail experience preferred
• Skills (Required)
• Skilled problem solver who can communicate urgency and influence others while remaining calm and collected
• Strong leader of people
• Ability to synthesize complex information into a high-level strategic message and interpret business factors into recommended solutions
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and demonstrated interpersonal skills
• Excellent time management and planning skills, organized with the ability to multitask, exceptional follow-up skills and able to meet deadlines
• Strong attention to detail and a high aptitude for problem solving
• Highly analytical, with desire to make data-driven decisions
• Results-oriented and self-starter, able to execute and carry out strategy and operational plans with limited direction
• Self-starter, can take limited direction and run with a project
• Willingness to “roll up your sleeves” to get the job done
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint (Tableau a plus)

• Corporate - Remote - General office environment requiring ability to: *Stand, walk, sit for extended periods of time . *Speak and listen to others in person and over the phone and video conferencing. *Use keyboard and read from computer screen and reports. *The ability to lift up to 15 lbs.

• Must be able to perform this job safely in accordance with standard operating procedures and good manufacturing practices, without endangering the health or safety of self or others.