Description

Blue Nile, the largest online retailer of certified diamonds, engagement rings and fine jewelry is seeking a Director of Merchandising/Divisional Merchandise Manager (DMM) to join our team and to take a lead role in driving the continued development of our Merchandising strategies and our Buying team.  
 
The Director of Merchandising is responsible for driving and managing private label product development, product assortment direction, product margin, product quality, and on brand product aesthetics through strategic vendor relationships and sourcing strategies. This confident and savvy individual will have strong jewelry industry background and experience which will enable him/her to quickly integrate with the team and contribute to performance. This passionate DMM will possess keen analytical and creative skill sets and will have the ability to easily balance qualitative and quantitative objectives. 
 

Primary Responsibilities: 

• Take a lead role in driving the evolution of merchandising strategies, including assortment and category strategies, pricing strategies, and new product direction
• Develop and embrace innovation and opportunities which move the company’s merchandising strategy forward
• Continue to evolve the brand positioning of our product, consistent with our target consumers 
• Drive sourcing strategies which enable the company to continue to obtain sharp competitive pricing, industry leading quality and superior aesthetics and style
• Play a key role in leveraging strong vendor relationships and communications, including aggressive cost negotiations, vendor compliance and strategic sourcing initiatives
• Work closely with the Planning and Diamond teams to deliver strong financial performance
• Work cross functionally to facilitate coordination with multiple teams across the organization to drive efficiency, profitability, creativity and a superior customer experience
• Mentor, coach, develop and motivate team members to deliver industry leading results in a fast paced, collaborative environment

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business or related field
• Ten years in merchandising, buying, product assortment/planning
• Five years experience managing people
• Travel - Up to 15%