Senior Director of Merchandising and Retail

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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