Support Center - Irving

The Director - Visual and Merchandising Presentation executes the brand’s merchandise presentation strategy to maximize sales, optimize inventory turnover, and improve store labor efficiency. This role leads the end-to-end development of store planograms and drives the testing and refinement of visual initiatives designed to increase customer engagement and profitability. Serving as a key bridge between the field and executive leadership, they align visual standards with corporate business objectives. The director manages the visual merchandising budget and expense forecasting while staying at the forefront of industry trends. This role oversees strategic vendor partnerships and leads the development of innovative store fixtures to enhance product storytelling and durability. In collaboration with Real Estate and Store Floor Planning, they optimize store layouts and remodels to ensure every physical touchpoint delivers a high-impact brand experience and a seamless customer journey.

Major Activities

Visual & Merchandise Presentation

• Lead the Visual Innovation Lab, serving as the primary architect for physical brand storytelling.  Orchestrate the development of immersive product presentations that bridge the gap between creative vision and in-store execution for all retail locations.

• Direct the end-to-end visual merchandising strategy to maximize top-line sales and margin performance, leveraging data-driven presentation standards to optimize inventory productivity and operational efficiency.

• Manage the creation and maintenance of store planograms for all store formats, overseeing new and existing product merchandising and presentation direction

• Ensure accurate execution of new product introduction and product exit strategies through creation of merchandising direction, including strategic placement of product and supportive presentation elements

• Direct the development and implementation of visual merchandising standards to drive brand consistency. Establish high-performance benchmarks that balance premium brand aesthetics with strategic space optimization to maximize square-footage productivity.

• Develop, test, launch, and refine new initiatives to drive store engagement and profitability

• Build and sustain key relationships with executive leadership teams and communicate effectively with stakeholders throughout all levels of the organization to drive alignment and understand their strategic business initiatives to support with visual merchandise presentation

• Be the conduit between Merchandising, Marketing, and Digital to ensure a frictionless omni customer experience

• Oversee the capital investment strategy for fixture innovation to support future seasonal sets and long-term retail evolution.

• Responsible for planning and forecasting expense budgets associated with everyday product presentation, as well as any new fixtures needed for future sets

• Maintain a current and thorough understanding of best-in-class practices and trends in visual merchandising, presentation, and décor

• Collaborate with store floor planning and real estate on refinement of layouts of merchandising aspects of new stores and remodels

• Proactively identify operational improvements and work to formulate, propose, influence, and implement necessary changes

Other duties as assigned

Preferred Education/Experience

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

Minimum Type of Experience Required

• Microsoft Office Suite; including PowerPoint and Outlook

• 10+ years of retail leadership experience

• Experience in customer experience design and visual merchandising development

Competencies Required:

• Proven ability to influence change across the organization by developing collaborative relationships with others, anticipate barriers to progress and proactively reroute, and build a brand through a culture of service and operational excellence

• Strong leader with strategic business management skills, who can appropriately shift between tactical and strategic perspectives

• Results oriented, comfortable with ambiguity and possess versatile communication styles

• Ability to manage, engage, and develop a diverse team, working collaboratively with business partners and customers, sharing ideas and developing plans in line with the company mission and merchandise strategy

• Ability to influence, lead, motivate, establish project schedules, and execute within specified timeline

• Success with interpreting data, turning insight into action, delivering on budgets and expense control

Desired Characteristics:

• Passionate customer advocate with strong leadership presence

• Experience developing executive presentations and storytelling

• Initiative-taker, elevated level of energy, motivated, and is able to work independently

• Ability to mobilize teams into action and manage multiple projects with demanding platforms

• Forward thinking, challenges the status quo and innovates to find a better way

• Creates environment where team members enjoy being on the team

Applicants in the U.S. must satisfy federal, state, and local legal requirements of the job.

At The Michaels Companies Inc., our purpose is to fuel the joy of creativity and celebration. As the leading destination for creating and celebrating in North America, we operate over 1,300 stores in 49 states and Canada and online at Michaels.com and Michaels.ca. The Michaels Companies, Inc. also owns Artistree, a manufacturer of custom and specialty framing merchandise. Founded in 1973 and headquartered in Irving, Texas, Michaels is the best place for all things creative. For more information, please visit www.michaels.com.

At Michaels, we prioritize the wellbeing of our teams by providing robust benefits for both full-time and part-time Team Members. Our benefits include health insurance (medical, dental, and vision), paid time off, tuition assistance, generous employee discounts, and much more. For more information, visit www.michaels.com.

Michaels is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are here for all Team Members and all customers to create, innovate and be better together.

Michaels is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. In keeping with this commitment, Michaels will assure that people with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. Accordingly, if a reasonable accommodation is required to fully participate in the job application or interview process, to perform the essential functions of the job, and/or to receive all other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact Customer Care at 1-800-642-4235 (1800-MICHAEL).

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