Senior Director, Seasonal and Promotional Merchandising

Come make your difference in communities across Canada, where authenticity, trust and making connections is valued – as we shape the future of Canadian retail, together. Our unique position as one of the country's largest employers, coupled with our commitment to positively impact the lives of all Canadians, provides our colleagues a range of opportunities and experiences to help Canadians Live Life Well®.

At Loblaw Companies Limited, we succeed through collaboration and commitment and set a high bar for ourselves and those around us. Whether you are just starting your career, re-entering the workforce, or looking for a new job, this is where you belong. 

The Sr. Director is accountable for seasonal and promotional planning across Home & Entertainment, Cosmetics, and HABA to support financial objectives. They lead and develop a team, providing direction in seasonal buying, floor mapping, and allocations for the SuperMarket and Hard Discount divisions.  This role requires forward-thinking in promotional strategies, leveraging advanced analytics to improve P&L results. The Sr. Director sets high standards, fosters a results-driven culture, and drives impactful seasonal and promotional floor plans to boost sales, traffic, and brand awareness.  Collaboration with teams such as Merchandising, Marketing, Supply Chain, Divisions and Operations is key. The Sr. Director maintains program documentation, champions process improvements, and uses data-driven insights to guide decisions.

Accountabilities:

• Accountable for seasonal and promotional buying, floor plans and store allocations that support the achievement of the business units budgeted targets
• Partner with merchandising and promotional teams to determine the events/themes required to achieve targets, review program forecasts to ensure its within financial and strategic parameters
• Provide insight in postmortems, analyzes sales and product sell through

• Manage the seasonal models across the Enterprise and the visual merchandising plans
• Liaise with BU teams on new program launches or enhancements, seasonal flips, to ensure clear understanding of objectives and desired execution
• Recommend trade-offs between categories and departments to optimize sales and margin
• Manage the CTO process for franchise businesses
• Manage store allocations of seasonal and promotional buys leveraging data to maximize sell through
• Develop and communicate merchandising direction to respective Operations teams for each retail format across seasonal and promotional floor mapping
• Lead weekly store tours
• Coach, develop and mentor direct reports. This includes explicit consideration of on-the-job training needs for each colleague, arranging appropriate training, providing timely feedback and overseeing colleague development.
• Build strong, collaborative relationships and leverage all key stakeholders to invest in their business for growth ahead of market. 
• Take full ownership of all key decisions and results, has a passion for their business and a desire to develop their team to similar vision
• Attend and participate in other meetings as required
• Other duties as assigned.

Core Competencies:

• Exceptional interpersonal skills in order to effectively source information, influence, obtain approvals, build relationships, and provide sufficient influence to achieve success.
• Strong data management and analytical skills with strict attention to detail and the ability to develop business insights and effectively communicate them to the business.
• Creative problem solver and strategic thinker with a strong work ethic. Highly organized, able to prioritize multiple projects effectively and work independently in a fast-paced environment

Role Requirements:

• 5-7 years of business experience in merchandising, promotions or buying role
• Excellent communicator up, down and across the enterprise
• Strong Financial Acumen and experience managing P&L statements
• A strong understanding of the market and competitive landscape to recognize and capitalize on opportunities
• Proven strength in having a ‘customer lens’ in all decision making process
• Proven ability to develop short and long term plans in line with corporate strategies
• Progressive and innovative: aggressively seeks out opportunities to improve competitiveness and demonstrates an innovative spirit.
• Ability to gather and synthesize customer, competitor and market insight and information
• Strong data management and analytical skills with strict attention to detail and the ability to develop business insights and effectively communicate them to the business
• Creative problem solver and strategic thinker with a strong work ethic
• Proven ability to deliver results in a high-pressure environment with the ability to set priorities and meet challenging deadlines.
• An effective change agent who possesses the influencing skills needed to help the organization adopt new ways of thinking and to embrace more sophisticated business tools
• Ability to coach and mentor direct reports and team with a focus on Colleague Development
• Post-secondary education (university or professionally accredited college) or equivalent experience

Our commitment to Sustainability and Social Impact is an essential part of the way we do business, and we focus our attention on areas where we can have the greatest impact. Our approach to sustainability and social impact is based on three pillars – Environment, Sourcing and Community – and we are constantly looking for ways to demonstrate leadership in these important areas. Our CORE Values – Care, Ownership, Respect and Excellence – guide all our decision-making and come to life through our Blue Culture. We offer our colleagues progressive careers, comprehensive training, flexibility, and other competitive benefits – these are some of the many reasons why we are one of Canada’s Top Employers, Canada’s Best Diversity Employers, Canada’s Greenest Employers & Canada’s Top Employers for Young People.

If you are unsure whether your experience matches every requirement above, we encourage you to apply anyway. We are looking for varied perspectives which include diverse experiences that we can add to our team.

We have a long-standing focus on diversity, equity and inclusion because we know it will make our company a better place to work and shop. We are committed to creating accessible environments for our colleagues, candidates and customers. Requests for accommodation due to a disability (which may be visible or invisible, temporary or permanent) can be made at any stage of application and employment. We encourage candidates to make their accommodation needs known so that we can provide equitable opportunities.  
 
Please Note:
Candidates who are 18 years or older are required to complete a criminal background check. Details will be provided through the application process.