Sr. Director, Buying & Allocation

Coach is a global fashion house founded in New York in 1941. Inspired by the vision of Creative Director Stuart Vevers and the inclusive and courageous spirit of our hometown, we make beautiful things, crafted to last—for you to be yourself in.

Coach is part of the Tapestry portfolio – a global house of brands committed to stretching what’s possible.

A member of the Tapestry family, we are part of a global house of brands that has unwavering optimism and is committed to being innovative and wholly inclusive.

Position Overview:

The Sr. Director, Buying & Allocation, Coach Japan is responsible for overseeing the strategic planning, buying, and overall merchandising strategies and operations of Coach in the Japan market across all the touchpoints & channels (retail, outlet, ecom), overseeing a team composed of 23 people. Representing the function, the role acts as a core member of Coach Japan Leadership Team.

This role partners closely with Global Merchandising to set and execute the local product assortment strategy while reporting to the North Asia Coach President. By aligning the global vision with local market needs, the Sr. Director of Buying & Allocation will drive innovation that encourages self-expression to scale acquisition and ensure an adequate retention through a compelling product strategy, tailoring approaches that resonate with the unique consumer base across this region. This role also requires close collaboration with all cross-functional departments (Marketing, VM, Finance, Retail) to translate the brand vision into an impactful market presence for Coach in Japan.

The Sr. Director is responsible for developing merchandise plans that prioritize category/product growth, bringing innovation and highly relevant products to market aiming to achieve all the KPI: scale Point of Market Entry acquisition, sales & margin, sku productivity, forecast accuracy, inventory turn and coverage.

Key responsibilities

1. Excellence in Strategic Merchandising Execution:

• Establish merchandising strategies to fuel growth through acquisition and retention, improving customer experience, aiming to position Coach as the most loved fashion brand in the Japan Market for Gen Z.

•  Define and implement the door profiling strategy in partnership with cross-functions, omni-channels sales forecast and buying strategy, lead the team in executing to support category growth and maximize sales potential across all touch-points.

   [At this stage part of the assortment is supplied through sales forecasts and part through actual seasonal buying]

• Partner closely with Inventory Management and Finance Planning function to optimize sales forecast, refine investment strategies and identify opportunities for growth, ensuring margin and sell thru achievements.

• Manage product liabilities, action plans to prioritize timely and profitable liquidation.

•  Effectively use existing resources and tools to monitor business on a regular basis, and report on weekly business trends and implement actions where needed.

•  Conduct competitive analysis to identify trends, consumer preferences and opportunities for the brand to set apart in the market place.

2. Cross-functional Collaboration

• Work holistically across departments- including Omni Sales, Finance, VM, Marketing, Customer Service, Retail Training & Development, BD, QA, etc.

• Engage frequently with global merchandising to communicate local needs and trends, advocating for products that fits the market, develop right pricing strategies.

3. Leadership and People Development

• Foster a high performance team culture by providing guidance, training and feedback to develop direct reports and enhance team capabilities.

• Champion change management: in an era where technology rapidly evolve:

    be agile to adopt new technologies, leveraging AI, drive process and ways of working changes with open mind.

• Set clear performance objectives, offering regular reviews and actionable feedback to support individual growth

• Encourage a culture of self-development, nurturing a learning environment and growth mindset.

The accomplished individual will possess...

• At least 12+ years of experience in buying or merchandising within fashion/ luxury or lifestyle background, working with product from concept through execution.

    Experience leading multiple categories and a sizeable team. Strong analytical and financial skills with experience leading buying and planning teams.

• Global vision, capable of partnering with global key stakeholders to drive Japan’s Merchandising Strategy. Previous experience working in an international matrix organization preferred.

• A courageous personality who will take ownership of his/her decisions and guide and push back in a diplomatic manner even when faced with dissenting points of view.

    Knows how to influence creatives effectively while maintaining a strong partnership. 

• Proven management experience and success at developing a team and individuals.

• English language fluency is a must.  Japanese language proficiency is a plus.

• Strategic thinking and clear vision. Confident leadership with a strong passion for the brand, able to influence and inspire.

Our Competencies for All Employees

• Courage: Doesn’t hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and “actionable” positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.
• Creativity: Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
• Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
• Dealing with Ambiguity: Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn’t upset when things are up in the air; doesn’t have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.
• Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.
• Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.
• Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.

Our Competencies for All People Managers

• Strategic Agility: Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.
• Developing Direct Reports and Others: Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent development discussions; is aware of each person's career goals; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; pushes people to accept developmental moves; will take on those who need help and further development; cooperates with the developmental system in the organization; is a people builder.
• Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in their team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.

Coach is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and we pride ourselves on hiring and developing the best people. All employment decisions (including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, transfer, training, discipline and termination) are based on the applicant’s or employee’s qualifications as they relate to the requirements of the position under consideration. These decisions are made without regard to age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic characteristics, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship, disability, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other legally-recognized protected basis prohibited by applicable law. Visit Coach at www.coach.com.