Director, Category Management- Personalization

Overview

The Director, Category Management- Personalization leads the Jibbitz product line function for Crocs, the industry-leading casual footwear brand specializing in comfortable, fun, innovative and irreverent product lines crafted to surprise and delight our millions of loyal Crocs fans and future Crocs fans. The Director, Category Management- Personalization is responsible for the integration of consumer, market, channel, assortment, and sales data to drive the Jibbitz vision via seasonal product stories and facilitate alignment on business and product strategies. In this role, you will take the lead in defining and establishing product vision, strategies and seasonal concepts for the globe for your category. You’ll be responsible for identifying trends and opportunities based on analysis of product, consumer, and competitors. You will develop initiatives and line plans crafted to reach Crocs’ seasonal goals, revenue/margin targets, and long-term strategic goals. You will use market knowledge to provide clear product direction to the design team and work cross-functionally with the product creation team to develop product lines, meet key dates, and achieve sales, margin, and corporate objectives.

What You'll Do

• Build long-term and in-season strategic planning initiatives.
• Delivery of a thoughtful seasonal analysis to advise the briefing process, summarizing the findings of competitive market shopping, online research, store visits and trade publication reviews through the Crocs product filter and consumer target.
• Lead the seasonal product briefing process by Category Management.
• Acquire and use global consumer, competitor, trend and market insights to build collections that support Crocs’ franchises, future vision and target markets/consumers.
• Align and empower the Product Creation Team (PCT) to deliver product lines with compelling stories for both new and carryover styles that drive healthy growth.
• Continuous improvement on SKU efficiency, margins, regional alignment.
• Plan and brief innovative and brand-enhancing product lines designed for specific consumers, providing revenue, MSRP, margin, profitability, productivity, color/material guidance, construction, lifecycle targets, and channel segmentation plans.
• Execute against global product lifecycles strategies and planned distribution channels.
• Support channel and consumer targets with a commercial and brand-building product line.
• Support regional and channel needs with specific styles as required by the business.
• Support the successful sell-in and sell-through of the seasonal product line via close collaboration with design, development, commercialization, merchandising, marketing, retail, planning, and sales to ensure market success.
• Manage and monitor new product introductions and carryover product to ensure the health of planned launch and/or lifecycle.
• Support go-to-market strategies via consumer-focused packaging, product training information, systems/product data accuracy, and other product tools as needed.
• Deliver aligned and appropriate inline and SMU’s (special make-ups) that meet brand requirements (margin, consumer, stories, etc.).
• Support prelines, sales meetings, and other sell-in activities as required.
• Work effectively and deliver results in a lean, entrepreneurial, and global environment.

What You'll Bring to the Table

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of progressive global experience in product creation and/or merchandising; footwear experience preferred.
• Validated increased revenue accountability.
• Proven leadership and people/process management skills.
• Strong organizational and analytical skills.
• Demonstrates ability to independently use resources to increase knowledge.
• Demonstrated experience and success with strategic planning and business planning.
• Shown ability to successfully work in a highly cross-functional matrix environment.
• Knowledge of international fashion/trends with the ability to translate into commercial concepts.
• Strong organizational, analytical and time management skills.
• Outstanding oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally as required.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications (Outlook, Excel. Power Point, Word).

#LI-MB1