Visual Merchandising Lead - JAPAN

Job purpose:

As the Visual Merchandising Lead, you will deliver visual merchandising strategies to enable market leading retail and training experiences, layouts, fixture placement, product presentation, display & brand excellence initiatives that reinforce the brand vision.

Key responsibilities and accountabilities:

• You lead to localize window creative to each store and work on controlling the quality and cost with vendor, report to APAC and HQ.

• You are accountable for driving global consistency of VM excellence within retail, wholesale and key account to maximize sales, profit and global brand positioning.

• Your VM concept strategies are informed by global marketplace and key consumer trends.

• You collaborate with the Merchandising and Marketing teams to deliver Local VM directives that support the global and APAC product framework and assortment structure.

• You deliver monthly directives that detail floor layouts, product presentation and marketing strategies that reinforce our brand vision

• You partner cross-functionally to bring seasonal direction to life at retail, while providing feedback to the Merchandising, Allocations, Marketing and Store Design teams on how we can evolve

• You use your knowledge of the outdoor industry and retail experience, you inspire and drive continuous improvement in our retail spaces

• You lead to train and coach store-VM for maintaining our VM standard

• You own the VM planner that informs the content and delivery of VM training workshops to stakeholders within retail and wholesale to drive awareness of VM excellence and deliver best in class VM.

• You provide the context and project manage the evolution and development of VM tools, technology and processes that drive functional efficiencies and transparency.

• You oversee VM operations for new store openings and new season launches, and you evolve the workflow to drive budget and resource efficiencies for future projects. 

• You carry out in season market visits to educate the store teams on the four pillars of VM, providing motivating and constructive feedback to hold the store teams accountable for championing a premium retail experience.

• You are invested in the growth and development of the VM team, and you provide coaching and mentorship to accelerate a high-performance culture.

• You are responsible for the VM budget, ensuring the VM department is a profit center contributor. 

• You own the VM calendar, ensuring the department is aligned cross functionally and delivers on critical business stage gates.  

• Upholding Fair Labor Association’s Workplace Code of Conduct and Principles of Fair Labor and Responsible Sourcing, throughout the Arc’teryx supply chain

 Are you our next Visual Merchandising Lead?

• You have a college degree/diploma in Visual Merchandising, Art & Design, Marketing or Business Management.

• You have 8+ years of visual merchandising experience with outdoor or sportswear apparel,

• You have experience managing a budget with strong organizational skills.

• You have excellent planning, organization and project management skills and the ability to multi-task and meet deadlines.

• You are passionate about visual merchandising with an eye for detail and are keen to progress with a career in retail.

• You are enthusiastic and creative with a flair for design and color with an interest in popular culture and current trends.

• You have strong analytical, communication, and presentation skills.

• You have a strong understanding of the active apparel market within the outdoor industry, and the key outdoor activities we make product for.

• You demonstrate the ability to work well across diverse teams and departments to establish consensus or drive solutions.

• You are proficient in Microsoft Office 365 and experience with Photoshop and Illustrator. Experience with CAD / Vectorworks is a plus

• You are willing and able to travel as required (new store openings, new season launches, trade shows, key vendor meetings, core consumer events, etc.)

• You are proactive in identifying the root cause of issues and developing solutions.

• You remain highly flexible and adaptable when faced with ambiguity.

• You effectively balance autonomy and collaboration with the ability to work with minimal supervision.

• You inspire breakthrough thinking and continuous improvement.

• You seek the best (sometimes not the easiest) solutions, with an unwavering commitment to do what is right.

• Fluent in Japanese and business level in English

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