Location: Zurich
In short
As Director of Apparel and Accessories Merchandising you will be responsible for ensuring the right products go to the right channels, tiers and accounts and to the right store, with the best timing and price, to optimize our brand vision and the selling and profitability. You will secure the assortment across apparel and accessories, linked to footwear, developing and implementing our global brand strategy, by gaining customer insights from working closely with our DTC, regional sales & merch and provide feedback and analysis to influence our range going forward. You will be a leader in forecasting and utilizing new tools for data analysis and turning your findings into short term actions and long-term strategies. This is a challenging and independent role where your goal is to embed merchandising in the culture of On.
Your Mission
- Define and execute global Apparel and Accessories merchandising strategies across all channels; DTC and Wholesale aligned to our growth targets.
- Build and lead a high-performing team of global merchandisers, fostering a culture of consumer obsession, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
- Define global channel assortments including Core Assortments, commercial product pushes, considering price points, tiering, channel with a focus on the target consumer and community.
- Secure impact in stores and online by creating the best monthly product flow considering product seasonality, carry-overs and newness.
- Lead merchandise financial planning in partnership with Planning and Finance teams, driving SKU efficiency, optimized inventory management, and category growth across all regions.
- Responsible for the collection pricing architecture and optimise the effect of full price sales through competitor price mapping and price adjustments with our pricing team.
- Collaborate with Marketing and Creative to ensure cohesive seasonal storytelling and execution across all consumer touchpoints.
- Work with VM to drive product assortment strategies into our DTC and wholesale SIS building inspiring and commercial solutions.
- Actively partner with Footwear merchandising to deliver a holistic head-to-toe consumer experience, aligning assortments and seasonal stories across categories.
- Partner closely with Regional Merchandising, Product Strategy to influence upstream product creation, ensuring the commercial voice is reflected in the global line architecture.
Your story
- 10+ years of merchandising experience with a strong focus on premium sports and or fashion / luxury.
- Minimum 5+ years experience in apparel merchandising in international regions such as EMEA, North America and Asia-Pacific
- You possess a profound knowledge of the apparel industry, including relevant accounts and consumer profiles.
- Higher education degree in business, economics or similar.
- True understanding of the competitive sportswear landscape on a global level, ability to challenge and disrupt it and the taste to stay the course across product, marketing, channel and merchandising.
- You have a strong track record of business results from your previous roles preferably within Merchandising, Retail, Product Management and Business Analytics.
- Experienced people manager who will inspire the merchandising and greater On team to build and support On’s footwear vision.
- You are experienced in developing distribution strategy on a global level, whilst keeping regional consumers, accounts and sales teams front of mind.
- Strong understanding of Visual Merchandising and the taste level to make inspiring assortments.
- Demonstrated experience in working independently through strategic plans
- Experience creating and executing global strategies on regional levels
- Ability to analyze and understand retail math and KPI’s across multiple channels (own retail, wholesale, ecommerce).
- You have solid leadership experience, and are able to drive new concepts into the organization. As such, you are a strong communicator and presenter in front of diverse internal and external audiences.
- Business fluency in English, both written and spoken. Any other language would be a plus.
About the Team
As you might expect from the fastest-growing sportswear brand, the commercial team at On is a unique place to be. It’s a newly forming team that requires the explorer spirit to build some of it new and also bring the right existing pieces together. This team of entrepreneurs is used to dynamic turnaround times and ambitious targets. The shared mission? Ignite the human spirit through movement.
Most lived Spirit in our team
Athlete
Athlete
Performance is in our DNA. We channel the Athlete mindset to create for anyone who loves to move – precision-first products that deliver on quality, form and function to help our fans push limits and look good doing it.
Zürich
Just by the banks of the Limmat you’ll find our largest global hub in Zürich West – On Labs – where you can hike up 12 floors through our custom-built spiral trail.
Förrlibuckstrasse 190,
8005
Switzerland
We always look for better decisions, we always listen to people and listen to different colleagues. We listen, we digest, and we find the most suitable one for all the team and everybody benefits. That process makes us really innovative.
What we offer
On is a place that is centered around growth and progress. We offer an environment designed to give people the tools to develop holistically – to stay active, to learn, explore and innovate. Our distinctive approach combines a supportive, team-oriented atmosphere, with access to personal self-care for both physical and mental well-being, so each person is led by purpose.
On is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating a work environment that is fair and inclusive, where all decisions related to recruitment, advancement, and retention are free of discrimination.
What to expect
We want to set everyone up for success, so here’s the lowdown on how we hire. Our process is a two-way street – bringing you into our culture, while helping us learn how you think.
Our full process can last about eight weeks from application to offer, because we care about getting it right. These steps explain how we usually do things.
Step One:
You'll start by submitting your application to a specific role.
We try to keep this step as simple as possible. We do get a lot of applications, but we review them all. We ask that you allow around 14 days for us to come back to you with a response. If you are a good fit to the role, someone will follow up with you within that window. If you didn't receive a reply, or were unsuccessful this time around, we encourage you to look for other possible matches at On.
