Specialized Bicycle Components

Director

• Lead the existing Category Management team. The financial and strategic foundation of the role — every merchandising decision connects back here.
• Set the category strategy for the Americas, aligned to global direction and local market opportunity across NorAm and LatAm.
• Build category business plans tying range decisions to margin targets, inventory positions, and sell-through expectations.
• Ensure category managers and demand planners operate in a shared rhythm — same data, same priorities, same planning cadence.
• Present category performance reviews and forward plans to the Head of Americas Region and key retail accounts.
• Own the merchandising architecture that drives category performance across owned retail, IBD, and ecommerce.
• Develop and manage seasonal merchandising plans aligned to global brand direction and local market realities.
• Define range architecture — what products go where, in what quantities, with what adjacencies, across physical and digital shelves.
• Ensure owned retail, IBD, and ecommerce tell the same product story at the same time, every season.
• Translate global category strategies into locally relevant plans for both NorAm and LatAm markets.
• Connect merchandising decisions directly to financial outcomes — margin, sell-through, and inventory efficiency.
• Lead a planning function of eight people across NorAm and LatAm.
• Own demand forecasting for both regions using commercial data, sell-through trends, and real market signals.
• Identify supply risks early and resolve before they become revenue problems.
• Deliver real-time visibility into stock health, forecast accuracy, and fulfillment performance across both regions.
• Own the commercial direction of how Specialized products are sequenced, featured, and merchandised on the digital shelf for the Americas.
• Set the Americas digital merchandising strategy for Specialized.com — aligned to seasonal plans, inventory position, and category priorities.
• Direct the Ecomm Merchandising Manager on product sequencing, promotional placement, and digital shelf priorities.
• Ensure physical and digital merchandising tell the same story at the same time across all channels.
• Lead the Americas-wide Retail Services function through a single Retail Services Manager who owns NorAm and LatAm in-store execution.
• Lead the Retail Services Manager who owns in-store activation across IBD and owned retail in both NorAm and LatAm.
• Drive creation of point-of-purchase materials — signage, displays, fixtures, and assets — that translate the merchandising strategy into conversion.

Director, Category & Merchandising