Herman Miller is a globally recognized provider of furnishings and related technologies and services. Headquartered in West Michigan, they have relied on innovative design for over 100 years to solve problems for people wherever they work, live, learn, and heal. Herman Miller’s designs are part of museum collections worldwide. Known and respected for their leadership in corporate social responsibility, Herman Miller has been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the past 12 years, and have earned the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s top rating in its Corporate Equality Index for the past nine years. You can make a salary making furniture. Or you can make a difference. Or you can work at Herman Miller and make both.
The iconic brand houses the classic Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman, created by American designers Charles and Ray Eames.
The Opportunity
As Vice President and General Manager, Global Workplace, you’ll oversee and drive the performance of the Product category and serve as its General Manager, owning global growth and profitability. You will deeply understand the current and future needs of customers and their regional differences – thinking locally while acting globally. You’ll optimize spend and activities to address total opportunity, maximizing return on investment. You will coordinate Product Management practices across regions, managing pricing, portfolio additions, and deletions. You’ll also prioritize the product creation queue and own ROI for developments in the category.
Responsibilities
You’ll have opportunities to speak up, solve problems, lead others, and be an owner every day as you:
– Partner with other categories General Managers, Design and Development leadership, Portfolio Leads, and Brand Creative Directors as a senior leader on our Global Product Team to build best practices, organizational efficiency, and a strong talent pool.
– Continuously evolve the overall assortment to ensure we meet and exceed customer needs. You will ensure products are compelling to the customer, differentiated from the competition, priced appropriately, and enable revenue growth.
– Create a point of view (POV) on future needs and the likely wants of the customers we serve.
– Develop and lead a team of direct reports to ensure that product-level merchandising strategies are clear and well-executed. You will nurture and grow merchandising and product management skills across the organization.
– Establish long-term product portfolio strategies and annual plans to drive sales and profits. You’ll oversee pricing strategies to maximize profitability and remove redundant and laggard products from the portfolio.
– Form a deep understanding of a category competitive set in all markets and keep information and analysis current.
– Listen to customers locally to uncover product opportunities across brands and regions. You will weave together diverse localized interests into a cohesive whole, capitalizing on commonalities yet addressing nuance.
– Partner with Brand Creative Directors to ensure that our products are compelling and brand right, and appeal to both existing and target customers. You’ll assimilate creative inputs that make products compelling and brand enhancing.
– Partner with Business Unit leadership to grow awareness of the category portfolio and priorities, and to build shared goals for revenue and profitability.
– Partner with Innovation Teams to identify and prioritize customer problem areas for our innovation agenda.
– Partner with the Marketing, Brand Design, and Visual Merchandising Teams to ensure that the presentation of the product is aligned with the merchandising strategy.
– Provide clear briefs and partnership to Creative, Operations, and Product Development partners to ensure that we are developing products that deliver strong margins and top-line revenue growth. You will prioritize the product development queue and own ROI for new developments.
– Provide leadership to cross-functional integrated product teams, working to align product management, product development, purchasing, operations, sales, and marketing efforts with our merchandise strategies and initiatives.
– Perform additional responsibilities as requested to achieve business objectives.
Requirements
You might be just who we’re looking for if you have…
– A Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Product Development, Business, or a related area. A Master’s degree is preferred.
– 15+ years of progressive product management and merchandising experience.
– Five or more years of project leadership experience. Global project leadership experience is preferred.
– Prior senior merchant leadership experience with profit and loss responsibility, with a proven ability to deliver measurable financial results.
– A strong understanding of financial measures and the ability to evaluate financial indicators and translate data into actionable information to drive results.
– The ability to both think strategically and execute tactically.
– Demonstrated expert written/verbal communication skills, and the capability to present complex concepts in a concise and understandable way to a variety of audiences.
– A strong aptitude for leading through influence and setting direction for cross-functional groups.
– Strong relationship and consensus-building skills to manage projects in a matrixed environment.
– A demonstrated ability to lead, influence, and work with all levels in the organization.
– The ability to perform all essential job functions of the position with or without accommodations.
How to Apply
Herman Miller is committed to diversity and inclusion. We are an equal opportunity employer including veterans and people with disabilities.
Location
Check out all the latest design openings on Yanko Design Job Board
