About Grocery Outlet:
Our Mission: Touching lives for the better
Our Vision: Touching lived by being the first choice for bargain-minded consumers in the U.S.
Our Values & Behaviors: Achievement, Diversity, Entrepreneurship, Family, Fun, Integrity & Service
About the Team:
Our Purchasing team’s mission is to provide bargain-minded customers with the deepest discounts on quality and branded products. In many ways our team is the heart of the organization- building and maintaining vendor relationships and providing solutions for our supplier partners and independent operators. Our buyers are empowered with speed, flexibility, and freedom while their passion and creativity embody the art of closeout buying. Successful members of our team are motivated to exceed annual comp sales, thrive in a collaborative environment, have an entrepreneurial spirit, and be motivated by relationship building.
About the Role:
The Senior Director, Merchandising – Alcohol Beverage & Health & Beauty is responsible for leading the strategic direction, financial performance, assortment strategy, vendor partnerships, and team leadership across the Alcohol Beverage and Health & Beauty categories. This leader will drive sales growth, margin expansion, and customer value while building a high-performing, accountable merchandising organization.
This role requires a strong merchant mindset, deep analytical capability, cross-functional leadership, and the ability to balance strategic planning with operational execution. The Senior Director will play a critical role in accelerating category performance, expanding opportunistic buying capabilities, and strengthening supplier partnerships. This role reports to the Chief Merchandising & Purchasing Officer.
Responsibilities Include:
Category Strategy & Financial Performance
- Own category P&L performance across Alcohol Beverage and Health & Beauty.
- Drive improvements in: sales growth, gross margin, inventory productivity, promotional effectiveness and market share and customer penetration.
- Develop and execute category strategies that align with customer needs, competitive positioning, and company objectives.
- Identify growth opportunities through assortment optimization, pricing strategy, innovation, and trend analysis.
Merchandising Leadership
- Lead all merchandising activities including: Assortment planning, pricing and promotions, vendor negotiations, category reviews and product lifecycle management.
- Ensure merchandising decisions are customer-centric and data-driven.
- Balance core assortment stability with opportunistic buying opportunities.
Opportunistic Product Strategy
- Accelerate opportunistic product sourcing and execution to drive differentiated value and margin enhancement.
- Leverage everyday assortment and supplier relationships strategically to maximize opportunistic buying leverage.
- Partner with suppliers to identify incremental deal opportunities and improve overall economics.
- Build repeatable processes to improve speed, agility, and execution.
Supplier & Vendor Management
- Establish strong strategic partnerships with key suppliers.
- Ensure clear ownership and accountability for supplier relationships.
- Lead holistic vendor negotiations across assortment, pricing, promotional funding, and opportunistic purchases.
- Drive accountability with suppliers around service, innovation, profitability, and execution.
Team Leadership & Organizational Development
- Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing merchandising team.
- Create a culture grounded in: accountability, ownership, collaboration and continuous improvement.
- Ensure clear roles, responsibilities, and performance expectations across the organization.
- Evaluate organizational structure and talent to ensure the team is positioned for growth and execution excellence.
Cross-Functional Leadership
- Partner closely with: Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing, Finance and Store Operations.
- Drive alignment around category priorities, inventory flow, promotional execution, and customer experience.
- Champion a “One Team” operating mindset across the business.
Leadership Expectations
- The Senior Director is expected to embody and operationalize the company’s merchandising principles:
Customer Centric
- Put the customer at the center of all decisions.
- Deliver compelling value, assortment, and quality.
One Team
- Build strong cross-functional partnerships.
- Drive alignment and collaboration across teams.
Curiosity
- Challenge conventional thinking and seek continuous improvement.
- Stay informed on trends, competitive dynamics, and customer behavior.
Accountability
- Own results and hold teams accountable to performance expectations.
- Drive urgency, follow-through, and execution excellence.
About The Pay:
- Base Salary Range: $180,000 - $205,000 Annually
- Annual Bonus Program
- Equity
- 401(k) Profit Sharing
- Medical, Dental, Vision & More!
- Final compensation will be determined based upon experience and skills and may vary based on location.
About You:
- Bachelor’s degree required; MBA preferred.
- 10+ years of progressive merchandising or category management leadership experience.
- Strong experience in Alcohol Beverage, Health & Beauty, grocery, or related retail categories preferred.
- Proven track record of delivering sales and margin growth.
- Strong negotiation and supplier management experience.
- Demonstrated success leading and developing teams.
- Strong financial, analytical, and strategic planning skills.
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-accountability environment.
Measures of Success:
- Sales and gross margin growth.
- Improvement in inventory productivity and promotional effectiveness.
- Expansion of opportunistic product contribution.
- Strong supplier performance and partnerships.
- Team engagement, development, and accountability.
- Cross-functional execution and operational alignment.
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