Merchandising Director - Category Management, Jewelry

Blue Nile is seeking a Director of Category Management, Jewelry to lead strategy, performance and evolution of jewelry categories. This leader will own assortment strategy, product architecture, financial performance, lifecycle management and merchandising expression of the business. The Director will use a combination of merchant intuition, customer insight, competitive intelligence to maximize existing sales and create incremental revenue streams based on growth opportunities.

In this role you will create a curated, differentiated jewelry assortment to strengthen the Blue Nile brand point of view while delivering against revenue, margin, productivity and inventory objectives.

The ideal candidate will leverage taste level, customer instincts and deep analytic acumen to identify opportunities, make decisive assortment choices and mobilize cross-functional partners around a clear category vision.

Responsibilities - Category Strategy and Ownership:

• Own the vision, strategy and commercial performance for Blue Nile jewelry categories
• Develop multi-year category strategies that define the role of each category within the broader jewelry portfolio and identify opportunities for growth, differentiation and portfolio evolution
• Establish clear assortment architecture across key product segments, price points, materials, styles and customer needs
• Identify category white space and translate customer, competitive and performance insights into actionable product opportunities.
• Serve as the category authority - maintain a deep understanding of the customer, product landscape, competitive environment and emerging jewelry trends
• Build compelling business cases and recommendations for category investments, assortment changes and new growth opportunities
• Partner with Site Merchandising, Creative, Marketing, Technology and Retail to ensure Diamond Basics are presented in ways that make selection inspiring, understandable and intuitive on site and in store
• Establish product priorities for category pages, search, sort, recommendations, storytelling, marketing, and promotional placements
• Ensure hero products and key assortment stories receive appropriate visibility
• Balance visibility of proven core products with strategic newness and growth opportunities
• Translate complex product differences into clear merchandising stories that help customers quickly understand why a product matters
• Provide Retail partners with clear product priorities and category stories that Client Advisors can confidently bring to customers

Responsibilities - Assortment & Curation:

• Lead the development of assortments that balance core business, newness, innovation and distinctive product
• Determine the appropriate breadth, depth, mix, price architecture and SKU productivity required to achieve category objectives
• Analyze performance at the category, collection, style, price point, metal, stone and SKU level to identify opportunities to expand, maintain, reposition, or exit products
• Continually edit and evolve the assortment to ensure every product has a clear role and the portfolio reflects a distinct Blue Nile point of view
• Manage product lifecycle from introduction through growth, maturity, and exit
• Balance data-driven decision making with strong merchant judgment and an understanding of what creates emotional connection with the customer

Responsibilities - Product Development & Newness:

• Partner closely with Product Development, Design, Sourcing and other cross-functional teams to translate category opportunities into compelling product strategies and development briefs
• Define opportunities for new collections, extensions of winning concepts and evolution of core assortment
• Create clear assortment frameworks and commercial guardrails for product development, including price architecture and product positioning
• Lead merchandising strategy for new product and collection launches ensuring the right assortment, depth, positioning, storytelling and customer experience
• Establish success criteria for launches and use post-launch performance to inform future development
• Conduct regular competitive assortment, pricing, product and positioning reviews
• Translate marketplace insights into specific recommendations for Blue Nile's assortment and category strategy
• Balance external trends with a clear understanding of what is distinctive and appropriate for the Blue Nile brand

Responsibilities - Financial & Commercial Management:

• Own category performance against revenue, margin, inventory productivity and other established business targets
• Partner with Planning and Finance to develop category forecasts and investment strategies
• Regularly assess category performance, diagnose underlying drivers and establish action plans to address opportunities and risks
• Understand the relationship between assortment, price, demand, inventory, margin and customer behavior
• Partner with Demand Planning to ensure inventory investments are aligned to category priorities and demand opportunities
• Translate complex business performance into clear recommendations and decisive actions for senior leadership

Responsibilities - Leadership:

• Act as the connective leader across Merchandising, Planning, Product Development, Design, Sourcing, Marketing, Creative, Finance, Operations, Technology and Retail
• Establish clear category priorities and ensure partners understand the strategy, commercial opportunity and desired customer outcome
• Influence senior stakeholders through compelling product vision, rigorous analysis, and clear recommendations
• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing Category Management team
• Establish clear objectives, expectations and accountability across the organization
• Develop team members' merchant capabilities, including product judgment, analytics, assortment building, financial acumen and executive communication
• Build organizational capabilities and processes that enable increasingly sophisticated category management

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Economics, Analytics, Marketing or a related field
• 8-12+ years’ experience in merchandising
• Strategic mindset with a focus on translating complex data into actionable business strategies
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with shifting priorities
• Proven expertise in pricing strategy, margin analysis and product mix optimization
• Strong analytical and quantitative skills with proficiency in tools such as Excel, SQL, Tableau or similar platforms
• Exceptional leadership skills with experience managing and developing high-performing teams
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to collaborate effectively across departments