VP, Divisional Merchandise Manager (DMM)

Position Overview

The Divisional Merchandise Manager is responsible for leading the merchandising strategy, business performance, vendor strategy, assortment direction, and team development for an assigned division.

This role owns the division’s product point of view and is accountable, with Planning & Allocation, for delivering sales, gross margin dollars, inventory productivity, turn, SKU productivity, and clean inventory exits.

The DMM must be customer-focused, product-obsessed, financially disciplined, and willing to move with speed. The role requires strong judgment around assortment architecture, vendor partnerships, pricing, promotions, inventory investment, and store execution.

The DMM is expected to modernize Big 5’s merchandising approach by building focused assortments, planning each Zone to its standard store footprint, improving product value, strengthening vendor relationships, and making the store easier for customers to shop.

Key Responsibilities

Business Ownership

• Own the overall business performance for the assigned division.
• Deliver sales, gross margin dollars, gross margin rate, inventory productivity, turn, sell-through, and markdown objectives.
• Partner with Planning & Allocation to build financial plans, manage open-to-buy, evaluate inventory risk, and drive disciplined inventory decisions.
• Identify business risks and opportunities early and translate them into clear actions.
• Lead regular business reviews with clear diagnosis, recommended actions, owners, and follow-through.
• Ensure category strategies connect to customer need, product value, sales potential, GM $ opportunity, inventory investment, replenishment logic, and exit strategy.

Assortment & Product Strategy

• Build the division’s assortment strategy across categories, classifications, vendors, price points, and store clusters.
• Plan each Zone and category to its defined square footage in the average store, balancing customer choice, inventory depth, presentation needs, and productivity.
• Develop clear Good / Better / Best architecture where appropriate.
• Improve assortment focus by reducing duplication, exiting low-productivity SKUs, and investing more deeply in the products that matter most.
• Use sales per square foot, GM dollars per square foot, inventory per square foot, and turn to identify where space should expand, contract, or be reallocated.
• Ensure assortments are customer-right, activity-right, store-right, and market-right.
• Maintain a strong point of view on product quality, durability, value, features, benefits, and competitive alternatives.
• Identify new products, brands, categories, and test opportunities that can improve customer relevance and business performance.
• Spend time in stores to understand customer behavior, store execution, product presentation, and assortment gaps.

Vendor Strategy

• Lead vendor strategy for the assigned division in partnership with Vendor Strategy & Partnerships.
• Strengthen vendor relationships to improve product access, profitability, funding, terms, marketing support, exclusivity, and growth opportunities.
• Ensure vendor meetings are strategic and focused on customer, product, distribution, marketing, and growth opportunities.
• Evaluate vendor productivity and make clear decisions on where to grow, maintain, reduce, or exit.
• Push vendors for better product value, stronger storytelling, improved availability, and more meaningful support.

Pricing, Promotion & Markdown

• Own pricing and promotional recommendations for the division in partnership with Planning, Marketing, and Finance.
• Ensure pricing reflects customer value, competitive context, product quality, margin expectations, and brand strategy.
• Reduce reliance on unproductive promotional habits where they do not create sustainable business value.
• Partner with Planning on markdown strategy, exit timing, and inventory risk mitigation.
• Improve promotional discipline by connecting offers to customer need, inventory position, margin impact, and business objective.

Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop Buyers and supporting merchandising roles.
• Raise the team’s product knowledge, business ownership, vendor management, and decision quality.
• Build a culture of accountability, speed, curiosity, and disciplined follow-through.
• Ensure Buyers understand their business deeply and can clearly explain performance, risks, opportunities, and actions.
• Set clear expectations for store visits, vendor preparation, assortment rationale, and cross-functional communication.
• Develop succession plans and strengthen bench talent within the division.

Cross-Functional Execution

• Partner with Planning & Allocation on financial plans, buy depth, flow, replenishment, inventory risk, and exit strategy.
• Partner with Visual Merchandising and Planning & Allocation to translate Zone strategies into productive, easy-to-shop store footprints and adjacencies.
• Partner with Marketing on product stories, campaign priorities, vendor assets, seasonal moments, and customer-facing value messages.
• Partner with Stores to understand execution realities and improve shopability.
• Partner with Ecommerce to identify online assortment opportunities, drop-ship potential, and digital product presentation needs.
• Partner with Logistics and Operations to understand supply chain constraints, inventory flow, and execution requirements.

Decision Rights

The DMM owns or leads recommendations for:

• Category and classification strategy
• Assortment architecture
• Vendor prioritization
• Product selection direction
• SKU rationalization
• Pricing and promotional recommendations
• Buy strategy in partnership with Planning
• Store distribution strategy in partnership with Planning & Allocation
• Zone and category space allocation recommendations within the standard store footprint
• Markdown and exit recommendations
• Product storytelling priorities
• Test-and-learn opportunities within the division

Measures of Success

Success in the role will be measured by improvement in:

• Sales
• Gross margin dollars
• Gross margin rate
• Inventory productivity
• Turn
• Sell-through
• Markdown efficiency
• SKU productivity
• Space productivity, including sales and GM dollars per square foot
• In-stock position on priority items
• Vendor productivity and support
• Assortment focus and relevance
• Store execution clarity
• Team capability and accountability
• Speed of testing, learning, and scaling

Required Experience & Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive merchandising and buying experience in a multi-category or omni-channel retail environment, including at least 5 years leading Buyers or category teams.
• Bachelor’s degree in merchandising, business, finance, or a related field preferred; equivalent relevant experience will be considered.
• Strong command of retail math, merchandise financial planning, gross margin, inventory productivity, space productivity, markdowns, turn, and open-to-buy.
• Proven track record of building customer-right assortments and delivering sales, GM dollars, and inventory productivity goals.
• Experience leading vendor negotiations and developing category and vendor strategies.
• Strong product judgment, curiosity, and ability to evaluate quality, durability, use case, and price-value.
• Ability to lead teams through change with clarity, speed, and accountability.
• Strong communication skills and ability to work cross-functionally with Planning, Stores, Marketing, Ecommerce, Finance, Logistics, and Operations.
• Sporting goods, outdoor, footwear, apparel, fitness, or active lifestyle experience preferred.

Leadership Expectations

The DMM is expected to:

• Put customer value first.
• Know the product deeply.
• Own the business result.
• Move with speed.
• Test, learn, and adjust.
• Make clear decisions.
• Challenge legacy assumptions.
• Develop talent.
• Use data without hiding behind it.
• Spend time in stores.
• Build strong vendor and cross-functional relationships.
• Translate strategy into action.

Salary

The annual base salary range for this position is from $190,000 - $200,000. The range provided includes the base salary that we expect to pay for the role. Offered base salary will be dependent on factors including the scope and complexity of the role, candidate’s related work experience, and subject matter expertise.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Big 5 Sporting Goods is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. Employment decisions are based on merit, qualifications, and business needs, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic as defined by applicable law.

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