Buying Manager

Job Summary:

From toys to apparel, books to games, and much more, Disney Consumer Products, Games and Publishing (CPGP) brings our company’s products, through stories and characters, to markets worldwide. With a portfolio of renowned franchises including Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, 20CS and National Geographic, our efforts to deliver innovative and experiential products, designed to entertain and inspire, is industry leading and category shaping.

The Buying Manager leads a team of Associate Buyers and Assistant Buyers to drive the assortment strategies across a range of departments to enhance storytelling and support channel specific needs. Accountability for multiple categories and brands across all consumer segmentations and Channels. This individual will have a detailed knowledge of the brand landscape across multiple product categories, intimate understanding of consumer centric Omni-Chanel businesses, and an overall sense of the marketplace globally. This individual will critically evaluate the assortment and understand brand and item performance, while leveraging hindsight and learnings to inform future seasonal direction. This individual will demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the connection between financial objectives and related merchandise objectives.

This posting is a talent pool for upcoming roles within Consumer Products, Games & Publishing.

Responsibilities: Areas of Strategic Oversight Include:
Under the leadership of the Senior Manager, Buying drive assortment strategy by category across brands. Curate the global range to meet the financial goals of the regional channels. Position the assortment across consumer demography capturing new audiences and drive incremental growth. Ensure regional commercialization of the cross-brand assortment. Identify new areas of growth to unlock opportunities and drive incrementality.

Pre season

• Advocate for regional needs by providing a comprehensive quarterly product brief to the O&O strategy organization. Include regional commercial needs for the best expression of our brands and experience to build equity in shopDisney, flagship stores, and 3rd party marketplaces Be the expert on the regional landscape - actively participate in competitive and trend shopping and stay abreast of macro, micro, and consumer trends, across all channels and regional markets Build assortment strategies for your categories that meet regional needs for revenue, margin, and audience growth. Strategically manage assortment breadth, depth, and refresh rates Responsible to deliver price value ratio using market data within assortment plans Demonstrate financial acumen at category level to deliver strategies for growth Ensure Planning team alignment on rankings, retails and buys

Develop Commercial Strategy

• Manage the communication to the eCommerce Site Merchandising and omni-channel Marketing teams on merchandise initiatives to meet revenue, site and buzz-worthiness objectives
• Develop and communicate product flow cadence, including newness and flow strategy from launch through exit lifecycle
• Establish relationships with relevant vendors, regional partners to deliver appropriate assortments as needed to supplement the global assortments
• Represent the region to O&O, GPC and commercial & marketing partners to drive the commercial strategy for your categories

In Season

• React to in-season performance/trends and hindsight performance and learnings to inform future seasons Work with commercial teams to manage in season performance for assigned categories to maximize results driving revenue and margin along with audience acquisition and conversion targets Analyze business performance by item, business, and franchise; manage product lifecycle, test new strategies where needed to fuel the business Execute commercialization strategy with cross functional partners for assortment and site execution. Manage the administrative functions of the buying process to include item set-up, ensure vendor set up, sample management, purchase order management

Develop high performing teams and bench to support organizational growth needs

• Lead your team of direct reports Lead by example as a key change agent, create a culture that fosters teamwork, and innovation while driving accountability to results Act as a role model by coaching and teaching team members with regular feedback Build a strong collaborative environment and foster cross-functional partnerships to drive results

Basic Qualifications:

• 5+ years of progressive experience in Product Merchandising, specialty retail and product assortment strategy Experience leading and developing high performance teams Experience in curating a global product line that is both globally leveraged and locally relevant Experience in Merchandising for vertical specialty retail environment Demonstrated ability to identify market trends to maximize value creation throughout the trend cycle Demonstrated ability to manage revenue creation while maintaining brand integrity. Strong working knowledge of the omni-channel marketplace globally Strategic thinker with the ability to drive execution against a financial plan Strong interpersonal skills and ability to influence a diverse audience including experience working with external partners and business owners to bring product and assortments to the market Successful experience working, and thriving, in a highly matrixed company structure Collaborative and effective management style Strong Team Player – The ability to build & foster collaborative partnerships across functions & departments within The Walt Disney Corporation Well-developed communication skills Ability to work across multiple time zones with flexible schedule as needed

Required Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Merchandising, Business, Finance, Retail Management, or related fields preferred