E-Commerce Merchandising & Vendor Strategy Lead

Bbqguys; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

BBQGuys.com is seeking a Director of E-Commerce Merchandising & Vendor Performance to lead a team of Online Merchants and drive revenue, gross margin, and site experience.

Reporting to Senior Director, Merchandising, the role oversees vendor relations, pricing, promotions, and cross-functional partnership to deliver performance across the catalog.

The ideal candidate combines strategic vision, negotiation strength, and analytic rigor to develop managers and ensure brand partners meet expectations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, Marketing, Merchandising, or a related field.
• 4-6 years of experience in ecommerce, retail buying, category management, or vendor/partner management.
• Experience in a Director-level or senior individual contributor role with commercial accountability.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of Online Merchants and Senior Analysts, each assigned a portfolio of brands with revenue, gross margin, and CVR goals.
• Set and drive brand performance expectations including weekly brand reviews, PDP health and Content Health audits, assortment decisions, and NPL content playbook ownership.
• Monitor catalog-wide sales and profitability; act on underperforming brands and identify opportunities for assortment expansion.
• Partner with Site Merchandising to ensure brand pages, PLPs, and PDPs reflect the intended shopping experience and convert at or above category benchmarks.
• Partner with Pricing and Promotions to optimize everyday price, promo cadence, and margin capture across assigned brands.
• Work cross-functionally with Marketing, Creative, and Tech to ensure campaign alignment, launch readiness, and site experience improvements.
• Own the vendor relations function — the single accountable leader for what BBQGuys earns from its brand partners and whether they meet our operational requirements.
• Lead annual and quarterly vendor program negotiations including rebate and co-op growth, allowance structures, and reduction of 2-step distribution reliance.
• Build and manage the key vendor programs in partnership with the Sr. Associate, Vendor Relations — defining enrollment criteria, activation standards, and QBR cadence.
• Develop and deliver the BBQGuys value proposition pitch to brand partners — educating vendors on what BBQGuys offers and building the commercial case for deeper investment.
• Hold vendors accountable to MSA expectations, PDP and content standards, NPL timelines, promo and pricing policies, and defective and warranty resolution standards.
• Own vendor performance scorecards — tracking compliance, program performance, and relationship health across the full partner portfolio.
• Build a target list of prospective brands by category gap, using market intelligence, search demand data, trade show intelligence, and supplier conversations.
• Surface market insights that change a BBQGuys decision — competitor intelligence, category trends, brand share data, and emerging brand opportunities.

Skills

Leadership

Negotiation

Analytics

P&L management

Conversion rate optimization

Vendor relations

Strategic thinking

Communication

Team mentorship

Excel

PowerBI

Adobe Analytics

MS Office Suite

Education

Bachelor's degree in business, Marketing, Merchandising, or related field

Tools

Excel

PowerBI

Adobe Analytics

Microsoft Office Suite

Job description

BBQGuys.com is seeking a Director of E-Commerce Merchandising & Vendor Performance to lead a team of Online Merchants and drive revenue, gross margin, and site experience.

Reporting to Senior Director, Merchandising, the role oversees vendor relations, pricing, promotions, and cross-functional partnership to deliver performance across the catalog.

The ideal candidate combines strategic vision, negotiation strength, and analytic rigor to develop managers and ensure brand partners meet expectations.