Merchandise Director

At One Kings Lane, we’re more than just a home décor retailer. We are at the forefront of a new generation in e-commerce, building the next great lifestyle brand while rapidly expanding our revenue and employee base. Our team is made up of passionate, innovative, and customer-centric professionals who understand the value of collaboration. If you are driven by passion and strive to make a significant impact every day, we invite you to apply and become a part of the One Kings Lane family, where together, we can elevate both this company and your career.

We are seeking a strategic and dynamic Director of Merchandising to lead our merchandising team and drive the development and execution of merchandising strategies. Reporting to the President, the Director of Merchandising will play a pivotal role in shaping our product assortments, driving sales, increasing contribution margins and overall brand profitability.

This position will report into the Chief Growth Officer.

What you get to do:

Merchandising Strategy & Assortment

• Develop annual and quarterly merchandising strategies by category, including assortment architecture, new product development, newness mix, and exit plans. Ensure strategies align with company goals, market trends, customer preferences, and brand positioning.

Vendor & Supplier Management

• Lead vendor portfolio strategy including segmentation, contract terms, cost negotiations, and co-op agreements. Establish and maintain strong vendor relationships, collaborate on product development and sourcing, and resolve escalations. Govern partnerships via scorecards, SLAs, and ongoing performance management.

Pricing, Promotions & Profitability

• Define pricing strategies and promotional guardrails, approve major sales events, and ensure profitability. Leverage data insights and market analysis to optimize pricing and promotional effectiveness.

Inventory & Operations Planning

• Partner with Planning and Operations on open-to-buy (OTB), lead times, MOQs, inventory forecasting, and continuity risk. Ensure customer delivery times are met and operational execution supports business objectives.

Cross-Functional Alignment

• Collaborate with Marketing, Creative, Sales, Finance, and Operations to ensure merchandising strategies translate into consistent, customer-facing communication. Provide product priorities and inputs; align campaigns with assortment strategies and promotional calendars.

Data-Driven Insights & Decision Support

• Institutionalize data-driven decision-making in partnership with BI and Engineering. Use analytics to monitor KPIs, track merchandising effectiveness, sense market/competitor trends, and identify white space and exclusive opportunities. Ensure Buying teams consume insights rather than build reports manually.

Team Leadership & Delegation

• Build and lead a high-performing merchandising team. Provide coaching, clear delegation, and focus senior ICs on high-value vendor and strategy work, while shifting low-value/repeatable tasks to appropriate owners or automation.

Continuous Improvement

• Drive initiatives to streamline processes, enhance efficiency, and optimize merchandising operations for sustainable top- and bottom-line growth.

What you bring:

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Marketing, Merchandising, or related field, with 15+ years of progressive experience in merchandising or product leadership. Proven track record of delivering sales, margin growth, and scalable strategies.

Strategic & Analytical Expertise

• Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills with deep understanding of consumer behavior, market dynamics, pricing, promotional strategy, and assortment analytics. Skilled at translating insights into actionable merchandising strategies that drive financial returns and customer impact.

Vendor & Portfolio Management

• Demonstrated success in vendor negotiation, portfolio governance, and partnership management. Skilled at building high-value vendor relationships and ensuring accountability through scorecards, SLAs, and performance tracking.

Technology & Data Proficiency

• Proficient in leveraging data tools and platforms (e.g., PIM, DMP, NetSuite, Bynder, CHUB) to drive automation, dashboard adoption, and data-informed decision-making. Strong capability to institutionalize reporting and eliminate manual execution work.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Experienced in leading cross-functional initiatives with Marketing, Finance, Operations, Creative, and BI. Adept at aligning merchandising strategies with company-wide objectives and customer-facing execution.

Team Leadership & Talent Development

• Strong leadership skills with a proven ability to build, coach, and inspire teams. Clear focus on role clarity, process improvement, and delegating low-value tasks to the right owners or automation—enabling senior talent to prioritize vendor and strategy work.

Execution Philosophy

• Establishes the “what” and the “why” of merchandising direction, while empowering execution teams to deliver the “how” with clear SLAs and accountability. Prioritizes automation, templates, and efficiency in all initiatives.

What’s in it for you? Joining CSC Generation isn’t just about having a seat at the table—it’s about helping redesign the table entirely. You’ll be challenged, stretched, and supported as you grow faster than you thought possible. In addition to competitive compensation, we offer:

• Executive Access: Work directly with brand CEOs and senior leadership, solving real business problems and earning mentorship from top operators.
• AI-First Skill Building: Get hands-on with the most advanced AI tools in the market. From automation to prompt engineering, you’ll build a modern tech stack that sets you apart in any industry.
• Accelerated Career Path: High performers are quickly entrusted with greater responsibility, new challenges, and leadership opportunities across our portfolio of brands.
• Competitive benefits: Paid time off policies, 401(k)/RRSP match, medical/dental/vision and a variety of supplemental policies, and employee discounts at our portfolio companies.

Our interview process:

• 📞 Step 1: If you align with our vision and meet the qualifications, we’ll reach out to schedule a conversation and introduce CSC.
• 🧠 Step 2: You’ll complete a short AI or product-building challenge so we can understand how you approach problems and execution.
• 💬 Step 3: Participate in deep-dive interviews with CSC leadership focused on your experience, product mindset, and operational thinking.
• 📩 Step 4: Offer. We’ll move fast for the right candidate.

Please note: AI tools are used in the screening and assessment of applicants for this position

Our preference is for candidates who reside near Toronto, Ontario.

The CSC family of brands provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, provincial, state or local laws.

The CSC family of brands is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please contact hrbenefits@cscshared.com.