Vice President, Merchandising

CSC Generation is the AI-native holding company re-engineering omnichannel retail. We acquire iconic brands and transform them with Genesis, our operating platform combining a Data Fabric, Automation Engine, proprietary tools, and shared services to modernize operations, elevate customer experience, and expand margins. With $1B+ in revenue across 13 brands, our portfolio includes Sur La Table, Backcountry, One Kings Lane, and others that serve as real-world innovation labs. This role exists to own the full merchandising function for one of our portfolio brands, including assortment strategy, vendor partnerships, catalog quality, pricing, margin, and the promotional calendar. As Vice President, Merchandising, you will set the merchandising point of view for the brand and own the revenue and gross margin levers that deliver the plan. This is a lean team. You will own a lot, move fast, and make decisions with full end-to-end responsibility. Reports to: CEO.

Responsibilities

Set assortment strategy by category and price point; Run continuous assortment gap analysis against customer demand signals, search and browse behavior, unmet demand, and the competitive set; Own SKU productivity and rationalize the catalog; Define the merchandising point of view for the brand; Source, pitch, and sign new drop-ship vendors; Negotiate and renegotiate commercial agreements; Evaluate the true operational cost of each vendor and reset terms or exit relationships on performance; Hold vendors to service-level commitments with a scorecard and run quarterly business reviews; Build and manage the exclusive and co-developed product program; Represent the brand at market and trade shows; Own catalog quality and compress time from signed vendor to live catalog; Normalize vendor feeds into a clean, searchable assortment; Partner with Site Merchandising and Marketing; Own gross margin and set pricing strategy by category; Manage MAP and MSRP discipline across the vendor base; Build the promotional calendar with vendor funding; Partner with Finance and the CEO on the revenue and margin plan; Leverage AI tools to automate recurring analysis and reporting; Build, mentor, and develop the merchandising team

Requirements

10+ years in merchandising, buying, or category management in retail or e-commerce, including direct people leadership; Demonstrated ownership of a revenue and gross margin number, not just an assortment; Real vendor negotiation experience, including setting and resetting commercial terms, walking away from a bad deal, and repairing a relationship; Fluency with product data and catalog management, including PIM or equivalent, taxonomy and attribution, and item setup at scale; AI fluency, including using AI to materially speed up a team's output and hands-on experience with AI-assisted tools (Claude, Copilot, BI-native AI features, or similar) and connecting them to live data sources such as a data warehouse or ERP; Strong analytical and financial instincts, fluent in Excel and comfortable in SQL or a BI tool; Comfort operating without scaffolding in a lean team reporting to a CEO

Nice to have

Drop-ship or marketplace merchandising experience; Home, furniture, or home decor category experience

Benefits

Paid time off policies; 401(k) match (US); RRSP match (Canada); Medical, dental, and vision coverage; Variety of supplemental benefit options; Employee discounts across the portfolio of brands; Executive access to the CEO and senior leadership; Portfolio-scale impact and strategic ownership