Associate Manager, Shopper Based Design

Wella; California; Hybrid; USD 75,000 - 98,000; Full time

Job summary

Wella Company in Calabasas, CA is seeking an Associate Manager, Shopper Based Design to lead retail merchandising projects from brief through in-store execution, delivering on time, within budget and to customer standards. The role supports OPI and RHOP portfolio across beauty brands, coordinating with field teams, vendors and partners to turn plans into actions.

Responsibilities include owning integrated project plans, managing fixtures, planograms and artwork, briefing vendors, and aligning

Qualifications

• 3+ years of relevant retail merchandising, visual merchandising or project management experience.
• Hands-on visual merchandising including fixtures, displays or merchandising rollouts.
• Experience delivering projects for beauty retailers (Ulta/Sephora) or similar channels.

Responsibilities

• Own integrated project plans, milestones and delivery dates across multiple projects.
• Coordinate fixtures, planograms, artwork and vendor production with approvals.
• Brief and manage external vendors and installation partners, and track performance.
• Provide clear updates to field teams and stakeholders on progress and decisions.
• Manage budgets, quotes, POs, invoices and forecasts with Finance.

Skills

Retail merchandising

Visual merchandising

Project management

Vendor management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Marketing or related discipline

Tools

Excel

PowerPoint

Outlook

Project tracking tools

Job description

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Position Title: Associate Manager, Shopper Based Design

Location: Calabasas, CA (Hybrid)

ABOUT THE WELLA COMPANY

Together, WE enable individuals to look, feel, and be their true selves.

WellaCompany is one of the world’s leading beauty companies, comprised of a family of iconic brands such as Wella Professionals, Clairol, OPI, Nioxin and ghd. With 6,000 employees globally, presence in over 100 countries, WellaCompany and its brands enable consumers to look, feel, and be their true selves. As innovators in the hair and nail industry, WellaCompany empowers its people to delight consumers, inspire beauty professionals, engage communities, and deliver sustainable growth to its stakeholders.

The Associate Manager, Shopper Based Design (SBD) manages retail merchandising projects from brief through in-store execution, delivering on time, within budget and to customer standards. The role focuses on OPI and supports the broader Retail Hair, OPI and Prosumer (RHOP) portfolio, including Retail Hair brands such as Clairol, Clairol Professional, and Wella Color Charm. Working with SBD colleagues who lead visual merchandising, channel Trade Marketing, Field Sales and Finance, this person turns agreed plans into clear actions and coordinates vendors, merchandisers and customer partners to deliver them.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Project Planning and Merchandising Execution

• Own integrated project plans, critical milestones, dependencies, approval and delivery dates across simultaneous projects. Identify what is needed from whom and by when; follow through to completion and keep priorities and project status current.
• Coordinate permanent fixtures, temporary displays, planograms, artwork, replacement parts and maintenance with SBD leads and vendors. Check specifications, retailer requirements and approvals before production and installation.

Vendor and Merchandiser Management

• Brief and manage external vendors from scope and quotes through production, delivery and issue resolution. Set clear expectations for quality, cost and timing; track performance and coordinate with Procurement on required sourcing and approvals.
• Coordinate external merchandisers and installation partners, including store lists, schedules, instructions, training materials and completion reporting. Verify execution through photos or audits, resolve field issues and close outstanding work.

Customer and Internal Stakeholder Communication

• In partnership with Field Sales and customer leads, provide clear, timely customer updates on progress, milestones and hurdles. Explain impacts, recommend solutions and confirm decisions, responsibilities and next steps.
• Align SBD visual merchandising leads, Finance, channel Trade Marketing, Field Sales and other partners on inputs, deliverables and approvals. Establish working cadences, document decisions and elevate unresolved dependencies early.

Budget and Time Management

• Manage project budgets, quotes, purchase orders, invoices, accruals and forecasts with Finance. Track actuals and commitments against budget, explain variances and recommend corrective actions before overspend occurs.
• Anticipate risks and bring practical recommendations with cost and timing implications. Balance competing deadlines, communicate tradeoffs and create trackers, routines and processes where structure is missing.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Relevant experience. 3+ years of relevant retail merchandising, visual merchandising or project management experience, with direct responsibility for vendors, budgets and multiple concurrent projects.
• Visual merchandising background. Previous hands-on visual merchandising experience must be evident in the CV or resume, including delivery of fixtures, displays, retail resets or merchandising rollouts.
• Retail channel experience. Experience delivering projects for beauty specialty retailers such as Ulta Beauty or Sephora, and for Food, Drug and Mass (FDM) customers. Understand retailer calendars, approval processes and in-store execution requirements.
• Stakeholder skills and emotional intelligence. Build trust across functions and external partners; listen, adapt communication to the audience and handle competing needs or difficult conversations constructively. Influence delivery without direct reporting authority.
• Clear communication. Translate project detail into concise updates, recommendations and requests for decisions. Confidently explain what is on track, what is at risk, what is needed and the proposed path forward.
• Ownership and teamwork. Take a solution-oriented approach, follow through on commitments and collaborate toward shared outcomes. Create structure amid ambiguity, maintain an accurate view of project status and ask for help or elevate early when needed.
• Financial and organizational discipline. Demonstrated budget, prioritization and time management skills, attention to detail, and proficiency in Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and project tracking tools.

Preferred

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Marketing or a related discipline.
• Experience with retailer merchandising calendars, including the Ulta Beauty MTT calendar; planogram tools such as Space Planning, NexGen or Spaceman.
• Familiarity with vendor dielines, schematics, engineering drawings and artwork review; Adobe Illustrator experience is helpful.
• An interest in beauty is welcome but is not required.

EEO OPPORTUNITIES

We offer equal employment opportunity to qualified individuals without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We strongly believe that cultivating a diverse workplace gives a company strength. The combination of unique skills, abilities, experiences and backgrounds creates an environment that produces extraordinary results. EOE Minorities/Females/Protected Veterans/Disabled.

We disclose the compensation range for positions in compliance with local law. Actual salaries will vary and may be above or below the range based on various factors including but not limited to location, experience, skills and in comparison to internal incumbents currently in similar roles—pay Range: $75,000 - $98,000 salary per year. The range listed is just one component of Wella Company's total rewards package for employees. Other rewards may include annual bonus plan or variable pay, depending on the role. In addition, Wella Company provides a rich variety of benefits to employees, including health insurance, life and disability insurance, 401(k) retirement plan, paid holidays and paid time off (PTO).

NOTICES

• All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other legally protected status.
• If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, please email [e-mail]. This email account will not respond to inquiries regarding the status of a candidate’s application.
• [For CA located postings ONLY]: Qualified Applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.