Director, Category, Joe Fresh (12 Months Contract)

Referred applicants should not apply directly to this role.

All referred applicants must first be submitted through Workday by a current Loblaw Colleague.

Founded in 2006, Joe Fresh is a leading source for modern style and accessible design, offering comprehensive lifestyle collections for men, women and children. Joe Fresh delivers quality and compelling value in categories spanning in apparel, accessories, and footwear. Joe Fresh collections are polished and sophisticated, with a focus on essential designs that appeal to a broad range of style-savvy consumers. With more than 350 Joe Fresh departments from coast to coast, the Joe fresh network is more than a great place to shop, it’s a great place to work. We’re committed to building our talented team who champion collaboration, kindness, and inclusivity. We are looking for innovative, hardworking, and collaborative team members for our Joe Fresh team. Join our team in our goal of helping Canadians Live Life Well®.

In addition, we believe that compliance with laws is about doing the right thing. Upholding the law is part of our Code of Conduct - it reinforces what our customers and stakeholders expect of us.

Why is this role important:

The Category Director role, reporting directly to the VP, Category Management, is responsible for driving sales, profit and inventory objectives across multiple categories and channels at Joe Fresh. This includes all functions that impact these financial objectives, including determining product assortment, pricing, promotion, and merchandising, liaising with marketing, conducting financial analysis, reporting, and monitoring store execution. Demonstrating strong leadership skills that facilitate innovation and teamwork while supporting a culture of collaboration and our purpose of helping Canadians Live Life Well is critical to success in this role.

What you'll do:

• Create, in conjunction with senior leadership team, a long-term strategic vision for the business
• Drive seasonal strategy plans identifying whitespace opportunities to drive growth
• Utilize market & product knowledge as well as store feedback to lead the assortment strategies (store & online)
• Establish the retail and promotional pricing by category
• In partnership with the Planning team build an annual budget that reflects current market conditions and the long-term business plan

• Strategize sell-through, markdowns, and exit channels for all product within the portfolio
• Drive Go-to-Market strategies involving developing seasonal plans, forecasting and executing promotional activities
• Partner with Merchandising teams on high level direction for different retail formats in efforts to maximize sales productivity while maintaining execution excellence
• Develop strong, collaborative relationships with the vendor community and key partners to improve category profitability
• Lead, mentor, coach, develop and inspire a team of merchants in line with Joe Fresh’s culture through objective setting, individual development planning and consistent timely feedback
• Build and lead a diverse team that fosters a workplace of inclusiveness and belonging

What you bring:

• University or college degree or commensurate retail experience, MBA preferred
• Minimum 7-10 years of experience in a buying and/or planning capacity, with extensive experience in a management role
• Experience and passion for Apparel is preferred
• Strong business and financial analysis skills
• Strong retail math acumen, including elements of markup, margin planning, open to buy, inventory productivity measures
• Strong communication and presentation skills; extensive exposure to Sr. Management
• Excellent computer skills including MS Word, MS Excel, MS Powerpoint
• Demonstrated leadership skills, especially managing large teams

How You’ll Succeed:
At Joe Fresh, we seek great people to continually strengthen our culture. We believe great people model our values, are authentic, build trust and make connections.

If that sounds like you, and you are open-minded, responsive to change and up to the challenges provided in a fast-paced retail environment, apply today.

Joe Fresh recognizes Canada's diversity as a source of national pride and strength. We have made it a priority to reflect our nation’s evolving diversity in the products we sell, the people we hire, and the culture we create in our organization. Accommodation is available upon request for applicants with disabilities in the recruitment and assessment process and when hired.