Sr. Director Buying, Women's Footwear (Foot Locker) - Foot Locker

This role is based in St. Petersburg, FL and will be a hybrid role (3 days in the office) *Must be based in or able to relocate to the St. Pete - Tampa area.

The Sr. Director, Buying will be a member of the Foot Locker Women's Footwear, North America buying team. They will oversee and lead a buying team to ensure maximum sales, profits, and productivity metrics through successful assortment-building, inventory management, and gross margin focus, consistent with divisional and company merchandise strategies. 

Strategy Development and Execution:
• Build our brand by understanding our overall corporate goals and pillars and interpreting this vision into short, mid, and long-term merchandising strategies, all while considering unique global and local customer needs.
• Innovate and drive best practices to create a world-class merchandising function that supports the Company’s broader goals of growth and high standards of customer service through superior levels of execution on all fronts.
• Lead the merchandise planning process, creating and implementing seasonal plans that deliver sales volume, margin growth, and inventory turnover while incorporating promotional and markdown strategies. Drive these decisions and strategies through to completion to ensure the achievement of financial plans and forecasts.
Vendor Relationship Management:
• Build favorable external relationships and establish/maintain a solid reputation in the industry.
• Partner and negotiate with vendors on all product-related issues, including assortments, buy quantities, deliveries, and price, to maximize the Company’s profits and surpass established financial goals.
Financial Planning:
• Lead monthly forecasting/statement process, including plan building, budget planning, and revisions as needed. Ensure reporting identifies risks and opportunities to sales and margin plans.
• Keep abreast of industry best practices and monitor financial performance against corporate objectives. Address improvement opportunities.
Marketing Integration:
• Partner with the Marketing team to develop program ideas that support key product investments and drive both consumer excitement and merchandise sell-through. Lead the buying team in the identification of in-store opportunities to tell exciting and commercially relevant product stories, while partnering with Marketing/vendor partners to enlist social/digital media support.
Trend Identification:
• With a strong understanding of the competitive landscape, this role leads the buying team to define and develop the product mix. Monitor and interpret market and consumer trends and activities of competition to identify new opportunities. Communicate regularly with our retail stores to keep a pulse on ever-shifting customer preferences.
• Drive a team to follow social media and sports/fashion content and conduct market travel to identify evolving styles/trends/behaviors within our core consumer segments. Initiate product tests to lead the market in emerging opportunities and look to scale early market entry to a large commercial business as warranted.
People Development:
• Build the capabilities of the team by developing individuals that are qualified to meet current and future objectives and can serve as bench strength for future company leadership.
• Provide honest, objective feedback on individual team members’ strengths and weaknesses, and identify training and on-the-job opportunities for growth and professional development. Lead the department’s annual performance review and Executive Development Review processes.

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in a specialty retail environment (preferred Footwear, athleticwear, sports apparel or similiar categories).
• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Fashion Merchandising, Marketing or equivalency required.
• Career history that combines progressive buying or merchandising roles for branded and/or private label businesses.Footwear and/or athleticwear/sports apparel experience highly preferred.
• Thorough knowledge of merchandising, trend forecasting, buying & distribution, marketing, inventory control, budgeting, financial planning, and personnel supervision.
• Familiarity and comfort level in a customer-service-oriented culture.
• Demonstrated ability to “raise the bar” in terms of performance and revenue growth within a fast-paced environment.
• Proven skills in influencing and negotiating with business partners, both internally and externally.
• Ability to take ownership of decisions and guide and push back in a diplomatic manner, even when faced with dissenting points of view. Encourage creative tension while remaining positive and composed.
• Comprehensive understanding of the financial, strategic, and technical capabilities of the organization.
• Excellent organizational, communication, and critical thinking skills.
• Must be able to identify and resolve problems in a timely manner.

The annual base salary range is $155000 - $165000 / year. This range represents the anticipated low and high end of the salary for this position. This role is also eligible to receive short term incentives that align with individual and company performance. Salary will be determined by the education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the applicant, internal equity, and alignment with market data. Salary is one component of the Foot Locker, Inc. total compensation package, which includes the below.

Foot Locker Benefits:
Employee Discount
Paid Time Off
Medical | Dental | Vision Coverage
401(k) | Roth 401(k)
Stock Purchase Plan
Life Insurance
Flexible Spending Account
Opportunities for Advancement
Tuition Reimbursement for Qualified Courses
Strong Company Culture
Employee Resource Groups