Woolworths

Merchandise Manager

• Full time permanent position
• Auckland location. Hybrid working (3days in office, 2 days WFH)
• Key strategic leadership position

We are Woolworths Group | Ko Woolworths Tātou

We are Woolworths Group. 200,000+ bright minds, passionate hearts, and unique perspectives across Australia and New Zealand.  Connected by a shared Purpose - 'to create better experiences together for a better tomorrow'.  That Purpose fuels our ambition to explore new ideas, make brave commitments, and innovate better ways to meet the food and everyday needs of more than 24 million customers every week.    

If you're excited to turn today's blue-sky thinking into a better tomorrow for future generations, you'll find yourself supported and enriched in a dynamic, inclusive, and empowering workplace.  With a culture of genuine care, a flexible approach to work, and opportunities across the group to grow your career and make a meaningful impact, the possibilities for what we can achieve together are endless.

What you’ll do | Hei mahi

As a Merchandise Manager for the Pantry portfolio within our NZ Commercial team, you would be stepping into a pivotal leadership role, where key responsibility lies for spearheading and bringing to life the Merchandise strategy for a significant portfolio and ensuring a brilliant customer proposition for our online and physical store network.   In this role you will be responsible for inspiring, mentoring and empowering a dynamic team of Category Managers,  Assistant Category Managers and Category Assistants.

In this highly collaborative role, your ultimate focus will be cultivating a high-performing culture. As a dedicated mentor and a 'leader of leaders,' you will inspire, coach, and empower your team to excel in their roles, execute bold customer strategies and achieve exceptional results across all financial and organisational objectives.

Additional responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Deliver on key business targets regarding sales, profit, and market-share through effective direct and horizontal leadership.
• Embed customer insights into the commercial operation to drive end-to-end organisational actions and improve customer and store satisfaction metrics.
• Establish and execute the long-term Pantry strategy, including home brand offerings, and commercial plan in close collaboration with finance and cross-functional teams.
• Develop, coach, and mentor the next generation of leaders while building an effective operating framework to land meaningful change in stores.
• Manage costs effectively while maintaining existing and cultivating new supplier relationships.

What you’ll bring | Hei koha

• Demonstrated exceptional leadership skills and a proven track record of developing high-performing, collaborative teams.
• Proven expertise in delivering successful commercial retail outcomes and long-term business plans that effectively balance revenue and profitability.
• A talent for building and executing category strategies that align seamlessly with the overarching merchandise strategy and broader organisational goals.
• Foster sustainable supplier relationships and successfully negotiate, influence, and manage stakeholders at all levels.
• Partner cross-functionally with teams such as Marketing, Replenishment, and Customer Insights to manage and develop high-volume retail categories.

What you’ll experience | Ngā Huanga

We embrace diversity of thought and love to take on challenges with a pragmatic and innovative approach. Our culture thrives on mutual respect, care, curiosity, openness, and a proactive attitude. We continually seek ways to pair, collaborate, support, and learn from each other as a team!

• Team discounts across our range of Woolworths Group brands you know and love and a robust rewards program that celebrates and incentivises purpose-driven work
• A global business with endless career possibilities around every corner and across every discipline - with valuable exposure to a vast and exciting business network
• A progressive and flexible ‘work from anywhere' policy that gives you the opportunity to harmonise work, life and your wellbeing 
• Parental Leave provisions and various leave types, including but not limited to Study Leave and Sports Representation Leave

Everyone belongs at Woolworths Group

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are key to realising our purpose of better together for a better tomorrow. We recognise the value our team’s diversity brings to our business, customers, and communities and that teams with diverse experiences and backgrounds enrich our group and are better able to innovate and solve problems. As one of the largest employers in Australia and New Zealand, we aim to create a truly inclusive workplace where everyone feels that they belong, can be their best selves, and reach their full potential.

We encourage all candidates to apply; please let us know in your application if we can support you with any adjustments in the hiring process.