Director of Merchandising

Company Overview

Launched in 2016 and founded by Santa Barbara-born sisters, Margaret and Katherine Kleveland, and a Collective of partners, DÔEN is a digitally-led, multi-channel fashion and lifestyle brand. Our mission is to create lasting, beautiful collections while supporting individuals in all aspects of their organization, supply chain, and community. We work with domestic and international partners who share our values and commitment to gender and social equality as well as giving back by partnering with foundations that directly benefit our employees and surrounding communities.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer

Description Of Duties

Title: Director of Merchandising

Classification: Exempt

Salary*: $140,000-160,000

Reports to: Vice President of Merchandising, Buying and Planning

Direct Reports*: Merchandising Assistant (open)

Role Summary

The Director of Merchandising ensures that the brand’s product vision is executed consistently across all channels — DTC, retail, and wholesale, both domestic and international — while ensuring customer needs are met in every assortment. This role acts as the key connection point between Design, Production, Buying, Planning, and Wholesale, protecting the needs of every channel while staying ahead of shifts in the broader market. The Director of Merchandising will guide line architecture and assortment strategies, oversee seasonal hindsight recaps, and provide actionable market intelligence through pricing and trend analysis. Above all, this role ensures assortments stay true to the brand voice while continuing to evolve with customer needs and market opportunities.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

Channel Needs & Assortment Planning

• Ensure seasonal assortments meet the needs of all channels — DTC (Ecom & Retail) and wholesale (domestic and international) while meeting customer needs.
• Build line architecture and category mix that balance brand voice with commercial priorities.
• Partner with Buying, Planning, and Wholesale to align seasonal and core assortments with financial targets.
• Work with Design to chase the business in-season through recuts and the evolution of key styles and trends to maximize revenue opportunities.
  
  

Cross-Functional Liaison & Storytelling

• Act as the central link between Design, Production, Buying, Planning, and Sales to ensure seasonal priorities and assortment needs are consistently met.
• Align product flow to support both brand storytelling and commercial execution.
• Work with Design, Buying, and Marketing to identify hero items and key seasonal drivers, ensuring they are prioritized in storytelling and positioned to generate revenue while also protecting the brand’s fashion point of view.
• Collaborate with Product team leadership on seasonal product calendar, ensuring major milestone timings are workable for Buying and Wholesale teams while protecting business needs
• Oversee product data integrity (product names and pricing as owned by Assistant Merchant) across internal systems
  
  

Market & Competitive Insights

• Conduct competitive pricing analysis to ensure appropriate positioning across categories, channels and regions.
• Provide competitive trend analysis, identifying opportunities for assortment evolution and whitespace.
• Work with Product Development & Production to ensure DTC and Wholesale margin goals are met while maintaining competitive pricing
• Monitor shifts in the market to inform long-term merchandising strategies.
  
  

Hindsight & Business Intelligence

• Lead the weekly and seasonal hindsight process, compiling results and insights across all channels.
• Translate hindsight learnings into clear recommendations for future assortments and merchandising strategies.
• Share customer, market, and channel insights with leadership to guide forward planning.
  
  

Team Leadership

• Manage and build the merchandising team, providing clear direction and development opportunities for direct reports.
• Ensure the team operates with strong communication and cross-functional collaboration.
  
  

Confidentiality

Maintains the confidentiality of all business documents and correspondence. Maintains confidentiality as related to employee increases, employee quarterly reviews, employee promotions, etc.

Skills And Abilities

• At least 10 years of experience in merchandising with multi-channel exposure.
• Strong cross-functional communication skills across Design, Production, Buying, Planning, and Wholesale.
• Proven ability to balance brand voice with commercial goals while protecting fashion credibility.
• Ability to synthesize customer needs, market trends, and competitive analysis into actionable assortment strategies.
• Strong presentation and written communication skills.
• Action-oriented and results-driven with high accountability and initiative.
  
  

Minimum Requirements

• At least 5 years of experience managing direct reports
• Proven experience in training, coaching and developing.
• Ability to lead and inspire others; motivates, empowers, and directs people as they work.
  
  

Physical Requirements

• Must be able to perform essential duties satisfactorily with reasonable accommodation
• Verbal and written communication with others
• Able to lift/carry/move/push/pull objects up to 25lbs minimum including fixtures and product
• Able to walk, sit and stand for periods of time
• Able to operate equipment such as computers, copy machines, phones
• Must be able to access various areas of a given location.
• Compensation will be determined based on experience and other factors permitted by law.
• Subject to change depending on business needs.
  
  

CA Salary Range

$140,000 - $160,000 USD