Director, Merchandising

Join Pinch A Penny

Looking to work for the best in the industry? Since opening its first store in 1975, Pinch A Penny, A POOLCORP Company, has become the largest franchised retail pool, patio and spa company. This first store evolved into a full-time, full-service retail pool supply store offering everything needed to operate and enjoy a swimming pool or spa. With our rapid growth we have been able to hire over 300 employees from Marketing directors, sales associates to machine operators and maintenance mechanics. We are proud to serve our community and be an employer of choice. We believe in recognizing our employees for their hard work and encourage work-life balance.

Why join PINCH A PENNY? Pinch A Penny, a POOLCORP Company is the premier destination for all your swimming pool and backyard needs. With over 300 stores and expanding, we are the nation's largest swimming pool retail, service, and repair franchise. Our relentless dedication to excellence drives us to bring people together through the joy of pools, spas, and the backyard experience. Join us on this exciting journey as we continue to grow, innovate, and set new standards in the swimming pool industry.

You want benefits? You've got it! Our generous benefits package includes:

• Medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage with flexible spending accounts and wellness programs
• 401 (k) with generous company match
• Eligible for paid time off and 8 paid holidays (NOTE: PTO increases with tenure!)
• 100% employer paid life insurance and long-term disability insurance
• Paid parental leave
• Fully funded tuition education programs
• Employee stock purchase plan
• Excellent career advancement and training opportunities to support your career growth
• Employee discounts and much more!

Location: Pinch A Penny Administration - 6385 150th Ave N., Clearwater, FL 33760 (on-site)

Job Summary

Pinch A Penny is hiring a hands-on merchandising leader to modernize and build out merchandising, purchasing, and inventory management across its 300+ franchise locations. The role owns system-wide merchandising strategy, vendor purchasing/management, inventory planning and replenishment, and store ordering support, with a focus on improving processes, aligning execution across functions, and providing strong franchisee support. The ideal candidate is an operational "builder" with strong merchandising judgment, analytical skills, and disciplined execution.

Responsibilities

• Merchandising & Assortment Strategy
• Leads merchandising strategies across core retail categories to improve sales, margin, inventory productivity, and franchisee profitability.
• Builds and develops a high-performing team focused on ownership, execution, continuous improvement, and franchisee support.
• Analyzes sales trends, customer behavior, and seasonal demand to optimize assortments, pricing, and promotional effectiveness.
• Identifies opportunities for bundled solutions, private label expansion, category growth, and differentiated product offerings.
• Partners with Marketing and Operations to support promotional execution, seasonal merchandising, and the in-store customer experience.
• Purchasing, Inventory & Replenishment
• Leads the purchasing team responsible for vendor purchasing, replenishment, inventory planning, and store ordering support.
• Builds and maintains reporting, KPIs, and dashboards covering inventory productivity, category performance, and replenishment execution.
• Improves inventory turns, fill rates, forecasting accuracy, replenishment discipline, and overall inventory health across the system.
• Supports franchisees with merchandising initiatives, inventory planning, promotional execution, and store ordering.
• Works closely with Supply Chain and vendors to improve inventory flow, purchasing execution, and product availability.
• Vendor & Supplier Management
• Develops and manages strategic vendor and supplier relationships across key merchandise categories.
• Partners with vendors on promotional planning, new product introductions, assortment optimization, private label expansion, and opportunities to improve product differentiation, pricing, and category performance.
• Holds vendor partners accountable to fill rates, lead times, service levels, and operational performance, leveraging sales and inventory data to support purchasing and inventory planning decisions.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in business, supply chain, merchandising, or a related field or equivalent practical experience.
• 7+ years of experience in merchandising, purchasing, inventory management, merchandise planning, category management, retail operations, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated analytical fluency, including proficiency with inventory/ERP and demand-planning systems and advanced Excel or BI tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau).
• Strong analytical, operational, and problem-solving capabilities.
• Strong communication, organizational, and cross-functional leadership skills.
• High level of ownership, accountability, and follow-through.
• Builder mentality with a willingness to operate hands-on in a fast-moving environment.
• Experience in multi-unit retail, franchise, specialty retail, home improvement, hardware, automotive aftermarket, pool/spa, or adjacent industries (preferred).
• Experience standing up or modernizing merchandising, purchasing, or inventory functions in a scaling organization (preferred)

Bilingual, military, military spouses and veteran applicants are strongly encouraged to apply! We understand the uniqueness of hiring military personnel and veterans and will support him/her in the time of duty or with the transition into new civilian professions.

All offers to external candidates for employment are contingent upon the successful completion of pre-employment drug testing and background verifications before employment is finalized.

POOLCORP, including all its subsidiaries, is a drug-free company and Equal Opportunity Employer – By Choice. The company understands, respects, and values diversity – unique styles, experiences, identities, ideas, and opinions – while striving to be inclusive of all people. This commitment is critical to our success as a global company as we seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool. Hiring and promotional decisions are based solely on the qualifications required for the job to be filled.