Senior Director of Merchandising and Retail

Senior Director of Merchandising and Retail Operations Our client is seeking a strategic, commercially driven Senior Director of Merchandising & Retail Operations to lead enterprise merchandising strategy across a dynamic, multi-store grocery footprint. This is a high-impact leadership opportunity for a senior grocery executive who thrives at the intersection of category management, pricing, promotions, supplier relationships, retail execution, and customer experience. You will influence the vision for how products are selected, priced, promoted, displayed, and experienced in-store—while delivering measurable growth in sales, margin, inventory productivity, and customer loyalty. The ideal leader brings deep grocery expertise, strong P&L accountability, and established relationships with national brands, third-party vendors, local NYC suppliers, merchants, and emerging product partners.

Senior Director of Merchandising and Retail Operations Role:

• Set and execute the enterprise merchandising and retail operations strategy, aligning assortment, pricing, promotions, and in-store presentation with company growth and profitability objectives.
• Lead category management, assortment planning, space optimization, promotional strategy, and pricing decisions across key grocery and food retail categories.
• Own category-level P&L performance, driving revenue growth, gross margin improvement, inventory turns, shrink reduction, and overall inventory productivity.
• Build a compelling, differentiated product assortment that balances trusted national brands, private-label opportunities, local NYC vendors, specialty suppliers, and emerging products customers want to discover.
• Develop and maintain high-value relationships with third-party vendors, distributors, suppliers, merchants, brokers, and local New York City food partners.
• Lead vendor negotiations to secure competitive costs, promotional funding, favorable terms, exclusive products, trade support, and long-term joint business plans.
• Identify local and regional product opportunities that strengthen store-level relevance, support community connections, and differentiate the customer experience in the NYC market.
• Partner with Operations and Store Leadership to ensure flawless execution of planograms, endcaps, seasonal programs, signage, displays, and promotional events.
• Use customer insights, market trends, competitive intelligence, loyalty data, and sales analytics to localize assortments and uncover new revenue opportunities.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Supply Chain, Marketing, Finance, Store Operations, and senior leadership to improve availability, speed to market, promotional performance, and operational execution.
• Create retail standards that elevate visual merchandising, product presentation, store conditions, and the overall in-store shopping experience.
• Recruit, develop, coach, and retain a high-performing merchandising and retail operations team.

Senior Director of Merchandising and Retail Operations Background Profile:

• 5+ years of progressive grocery, food retail, or specialty retail merchandising experience, including senior-level leadership across a multi-store environment.
• Proven experience leading grocery merchandising strategy, category management, pricing, promotions, assortment planning, and retail execution.
• Demonstrated ownership of category or business-unit P&Ls, with a consistent record of increasing sales, gross margin, inventory turns, and profitability.
• Strong knowledge of grocery categories, consumer food trends, supplier dynamics, promotional planning, and competitive retail strategy.
• Experience negotiating with national brands, distributors, brokers, third-party vendors, local suppliers, merchants, and independent food vendors.
• Established familiarity with the NYC grocery, specialty food, restaurant, or local vendor landscape is highly preferred.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to translate retail, customer, and financial data into practical merchandising decisions.
• A collaborative leadership style with the ability to influence store teams and cross-functional partners at every level of the organization.
• Exceptional negotiation, communication, relationship-building, and team-development capabilities.
• A customer-first mindset and passion for building a more relevant, exciting, and profitable grocery experience.

Features and Benefits of Client:

• Competitive base salary and performance-based bonus incentive plan
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Generous paid time off
• Supportive, collaborative, and growth-oriented leadership culture
• Opportunity to make a visible impact on merchandising strategy, retail operations, and customer experience