Job Abstract

About the company

Albertsons Companies is at the forefront of the revolution in retail. With a fixation on raising the bar with innovation and building belonging through our culture, our team is rallying our company around a unique purpose: to create joy around each table and inspire a healthier tomorrow for every community.

We have served Southern California for over 100 years since 1906. Today, we operate 330 retail stores under the Albertsons, VONS, and PAVILIONS (AVP) banners. Since our early beginnings, we have catered to best serve our customers and benefit the communities in which we serve.

We remain innovators today, providing curbside pickup services and micro-fulfillment centers to deliver high-quality, fresh products in a faster and more convenient way. We are the largest buyer of California produce in the state with deep roots in the community going back decades with local growers. We remain committed to helping nourish our neighbors in need through food banks and hunger relief organizations.

The Southern California (SoCal) Division is part of the Albertsons Companies family of stores. At SoCal AVP, we believe in the power of people. Our mission is to be the leader in cultivating an inclusive workplace where every associate feels safe, valued, and inspired to unleash their full potential both personally and professionally.

Bring your flavor!

Building the future of food and well-being starts with you. Join our team and bring your best self to the table.

What you will be doing

The Director of Center Store Merchandising leads a team of sales managers and department specialists to create plans and drive sales and profit in the center store merchandising department for Albertsons and Vons in Southern California. You will be responsible for leading the strategic direction of Center Store Merchandising including Grocery, Frozen, Dairy, NOSHE, and GM/HBC, ensuring department plans stay aligned with the Division’s overall strategies as well as with the strategies produced at Corporate Merchandising. This alignment includes ensuring the successful execution of Corporate Merchandising, Division, and Department business initiatives, programs, and plans and meeting or exceeding financial targets. This role collaborates with Corporate Marketing and Merchandising to ensure business plans that reflect local, regional and industry trends.

The Director of Center Store Merchandising is responsible for setting the standards for the workplace culture and environment within their department and will report to the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Merchandising for the Southern California Division of Albertsons Companies.

The salary range is $150,900 - $191,140 annually. Starting salary will vary based on criteria such as location, experience, and qualifications. There may be flexibility for exceptional candidates.

Job Responsibilities

• Planning: Develops sales and merchandising programs to support overall merchandising strategy. Supports the efforts of the national team while ensuring the local relevance of the banner. Ensures all metrics by category including sales, gross profit, shrink, and allowances are validated and accurately forecasted. Redirects team when financial target and business plans change or are not met.
• Advertising/Promotions: Ensures overall promo strategy includes local relevance and provides input into national strategy. Supervises and ensures that the promo activities meet the go-to-market strategies of the Division. Directs the execution of the promo strategy to ensure alignment with other related strategies. Collaborates with SVP of Marketing/Merchandising and Marketing team to develop ad themes for period planning and annual planning processes.
• Product Assortment and Presentation: Ensures execution of assortment and presentation plans and have the right production the right stores. Gives input into schematics/plan-o-grams (POGs). Attends store layout, fixtures meetings, and provides input onhow store-layout and fixtures will look in the stores. Provides feedback to Corporate Merchandising in planning and execution related to all new, remodeled, and existing layouts to ensure local needs are met. Ensures product mix is competitive within the Division’s markets.
• Pricing: Approves pricing strategies and decisions. Ensures the Sale Managers execute pricing strategies, gross profit, and initiatives that are competitive in their market.
• Sourcing: Oversees local vendor relations. Ensures the Sales Manager sources local items/vendors to support local programs. Partners with Procurement and Distribution to ensure that local programs are supported.
• People Leadership: Leads, coaches, and develops Center Store Merchandising team. Responsibilities include interviewing, candidate selection, training, delivering performance reviews, talent development and succession planning for the Center Store Merchandising team.

What we are searching for:

• Strong organizational and supervisory skills with the capability to manage large teams effectively.
• Goal-oriented focus with demonstrated ability to identify, develop manage and motivate teams to achieve desired results while driving company initiatives.
• Strong knowledge base and financial background in supermarket retail and an understanding of consumer behavior in relation to product performance; must carry a detailed understanding of cause-effect relations between operational levers and performance (assortment/price vs. volume/margins) by utilizing financial, statistical, merchandising, marketing, and/or consumer research background.
• Proven ability to collaborate across all areas of the company; can successfully monitor performance; strong collaborative management skills, particularly working with vendors; ability to influence and lead effective partnerships with the corporate marketing/merchandising, retail operations, procurement, and distribution; can thrive in a complicated matrix environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to develop and maintain effective business relationships within and outside of the company.
• An innovator who can champion new ideas and initiatives to create an environment that supports continuous growth and will leverage fresh perspectives, breakthrough ideas, and new paradigms to create value in the market.
• Experience in vendor negotiations with contracts and terms to gain maximum advantage for costs and vendor funding opportunities. Experience in developing complicated local, regional, and national contracts.
• Demonstrated ability to understand and think big picture; delivers category plans and programs that complement both the corporate and departmental strategies leading to strong category sales and profit performance.
• Well-developed computer aptitude with proficient skills and knowledge of Microsoft Office and all merchandising systems; ability to adapt to and learn new systems and processes quickly.

We believe the successful candidate has these qualifications and experience:

• A minimum of 8 years retail merchandising experience, preferably across multiple banners and geographies.
• Extensive and specialized knowledge of assigned product lines with previous experience in merchandising or retail grocery operations required.
• An in-depth experience with merchandising methodologies and practices (P&L, fiscal management, category management, vendor relations including negotiations and vendor fund management, advertising strategy, pricing, promotions, consumer price index, etc.).
• Bachelor's degree in business or related field, retail certification or equivalent combination work experience.

*Resumes are highly recommended.

Disclaimer:

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by associates assigned to this job classification. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and skills required of personnel so classified.