Director of Digital Merchandising

This position may be based remotely or in Fort Wayne, Indiana or New York City, with up to 20% travel to Fort Wayne for remote associates. FUNCTION The Director, Digital Merchandising is a critical leadership role responsible for translating enterprise merchandising strategy into compelling, channel-specific assortments and digital experiences that drive profitable growth. Reporting to the Head of Digital Commerce, this leader will serve as the voice of digital across product strategy, line planning, assortment, inventory, launch calendars, promotions, and product storytelling. The role will partner deeply with Merchandising and Planning to shape offerings and commercial decisions for VeraBradley.com, VeraBradleyOutlet.com, Marketplaces, TikTok Shop, and other current and emerging digital channels. The ideal candidate brings strong merchant instincts and a track record across product strategy, assortment architecture, product ideation and briefing, collaborations and licensed activations, planning, inventory, and promotions - combined with expertise in e-commerce site merchandising, customer experience, UX, testing, and conversion optimization. Marketplace experience is also important, including an understanding of how assortment, content, pricing, promotions, and inventory strategies must flex by channel. This leader will create greater clarity, speed, and accountability across the digital product lifecycle from identifying customer and assortment opportunities to launching stories, optimizing in-season performance, and closing the feedback loop into future line plans. They will establish a reliable, real-time source of truth for calendar, product, and inventory information so digital teams can execute accurately and independently across channels. ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES (Note: Other duties may be assigned) To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Digital Merchandising Strategy & Leadership Drive the digital merchandising strategy across Vera Bradley’s full digital commerce portfolio, including VeraBradley.com, VeraBradleyOutlet.com, Marketplaces, TikTok Shop, and other digital channels. Translate enterprise merchandising strategies into channel-specific assortment, launch, inventory, pricing, promotional, and storytelling plans that reflect each channel’s customer, economics, and role in the portfolio. Identify and support hero products, product priorities and rankings, collection stories, key differentiators, features and benefits, and other selling points required for strong digital execution. Serve as the senior digital merchandising subject-matter expert and advocate in cross-functional commercial decisions, ensuring digital customer needs and growth opportunities are represented. Build and lead a high-performing digital merchandising capability, including clear operating rhythms, decision rights, standards, and performance expectations. Product Strategy, Line Planning & Assortment Own digital inputs into line planning, buying, and assortment architecture in close partnership with Merchandising and Planning. Use customer behavior, search demand, reviews, returns, conversion, marketplace signals, trend data, and channel performance to identify product opportunities, attribute needs, assortment gaps, and underperforming categories. Develop clear product briefs and business cases for digital-first or digital-exclusive products, bundles, sets, colorways, sizes, and price points. Partner on ideation and commercialization of collaborations, licensed activations, limited drops, and culturally relevant moments, with assortments and launch mechanics tailored by digital channel. Close the feedback loop by translating digital results and customer insights into actionable recommendations for future line plans, buys, product development, and lifecycle decisions. Site Merchandising, UX & Conversion Optimization Lead site merchandising across VeraBradley.com and VeraBradleyOutlet.com, including navigation, taxonomy, collection and category architecture, product sequencing, search, filters, recommendations, cross-sells, and onsite storytelling. Develop seasonal and weekly merchandising plans that connect commercial priorities, inventory positions, customer missions, brand stories, and marketing moments across the full customer journey. Partner with Creative, Brand Marketing, CRM, and Performance Marketing to translate product stories into compelling landing pages, product detail pages, campaign destinations, and personalized experiences. Build and prioritize a continuous test-and-learn roadmap for navigation, search, sorting, product discovery, presentation, content, and promotional experiences. Use digital analytics, qualitative insights, and testing results to improve conversion, engagement, average order value, units per transaction, attachment, and product sell-through. Marketplace & Social Commerce Merchandising Shape marketplace and social commerce assortment strategies based on channel-specific customers, demand, economics, operational requirements, and brand positioning. Partner with Marketplace, Merchandising, and Planning teams on item setup, launch readiness, content, pricing, inventory depth, replenishment, and promotional participation. Identify marketplace-exclusive, early-access, bundle, and test opportunities that expand reach without creating unnecessary channel conflict or eroding brand equity. Apply learnings from Marketplaces and TikTok Shop to enterprise product and assortment decisions while maintaining a differentiated role for each channel. Planning, Inventory, Promotions & In-Season Trading Partner closely with Planning to establish channel-level sales, margin, inventory, demand, and sell-through plans and translate them into actionable weekly trading priorities. Inform allocation, replenishment, and inventory deployment decisions across digital channels, including optimization of distributed order management and omnichannel fulfillment capabilities. Provide feedback on promotional strategies and calendars that balance revenue, margin, inventory productivity, customer expectations, and channel differentiation. Lead recurring digital trading reviews, identify risks and opportunities, and drive timely actions across merchandising, marketing, content, pricing, promotion, and inventory. Partner with Planning and Finance to forecast the impact of key launches, collaborations, promotions, markdowns, and assortment changes. Product Information, Calendar & Operational Excellence Establish and maintain a single, reliable source of truth for digital product priorities and execution, including real-time inventory, launch dates, collection and campaign associations, channel availability, pricing, promotional eligibility, content readiness, and lifecycle status. Own the consolidated digital merchandising calendar and ensure launch dates, product stories, inventory, content, site experiences, marketing, and marketplace execution remain aligned. Create scalable product education and handoff processes so channel teams understand the customer need, material story, use occasion, features, benefits, and reasons to believe behind priority products. Improve workflows, tools, governance, and cross-functional operating rhythms to increase speed, accuracy, visibility, and accountability from line planning through in-season optimization. Cross-Functional Leadership Serve as the connective tissue between Digital Commerce, Merchandising, Planning, and Brand Marketing. Build trusted relationships and influence decisions through customer insight, commercial judgment, data, and a clear point of view. Clarify recommendations, tradeoffs, decisions, owners, and timing across complex cross-functional initiatives. Operate with urgency, curiosity, accountability, and a strong bia