Overview
Creative Director / Head Merchandiser – Juniors Jobs in New York, NY at SBH Fashion
Title: Creative Director / Head Merchandiser – Juniors
Company: SBH Fashion
Location: New York, NY
Job Title: Creative Director / Head Merchandiser – Juniors
Overview
We are seeking a highly creative, trend-driven, and commercially minded Creative Director / Head Merchandiser to lead the vision, product direction, and merchandising strategy for our Juniors business. This individual will play a critical leadership role in shaping the seasonal assortment, identifying emerging trends, driving brand positioning, and overseeing the product lifecycle from concept through market execution.
The ideal candidate brings a strong fashion point of view combined with deep experience in the Juniors market across wholesale, off-price, department store, and/or specialty retail channels. This person must understand how to balance trend-right product with strong commercial performance and speed-to-market execution.
This role will partner closely with Design, Sales, Production, Sourcing, and Executive Leadership to build compelling assortments that resonate with the customer while achieving business goals.
Responsibilities
Creative & Brand Leadership
- Lead the overall creative vision and merchandising direction for the Juniors division.
- Identify and forecast emerging fashion, color, fabric, print, silhouette, and lifestyle trends.
- Translate market trends into commercially successful assortments tailored to the Juniors customer.
- Drive seasonal concepts, color palettes, mood boards, trend direction, and product storytelling.
- Ensure consistency across all product categories and collections.
- Maintain a strong understanding of competitive brands, retail landscape, pricing architecture, and customer behavior.
Merchandising & Product Strategy
- Oversee seasonal assortment planning across multiple categories.
- Build balanced assortments with strong fashion, margin, and sales potential.
- Analyze sales performance, market data, and customer trends to guide future product direction.
- Partner with Sales teams on retailer-specific assortments and category opportunities.
- Collaborate with Design and Product Development teams to ensure product aligns with both trend and business needs.
- Drive category expansion opportunities and identify white space within the market.
- Manage seasonal line reviews and product edits.
Cross-Functional Leadership
- Partner closely with Production and Sourcing teams to ensure product execution aligns with timelines, costing, and quality expectations.
- Work cross-functionally with Design, Technical Design, Production, Sales, and Planning teams throughout the product lifecycle.
- Participate in key customer meetings and presentations.
- Help streamline processes and improve speed-to-market efficiencies.
- Mentor and develop junior members of the merchandising and design teams.
Market & Customer Focus
- Maintain strong awareness of Juniors consumer trends, social media influences, and cultural movements.
- Shop market regularly and stay highly connected to fashion trends across retail, ecommerce, social platforms, and emerging brands.
- Understand retailer needs across department stores, off-price, specialty, and mass channels.
- Balance trend-right fashion with commercial viability and retailer expectations.
Qualifications
- 10+ years of experience in Juniors apparel merchandising, design, or creative leadership.
- Strong experience within wholesale apparel, fashion licensing, private label, or branded businesses.
- Deep understanding of the Juniors customer and current fashion landscape.
- Proven success building commercially successful assortments.
- Strong eye for trend, color, fabric, print, and silhouette.
- Experience working with major retail accounts including department stores, off-price, specialty, and/or mass retailers.
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment.
- Excellent communication, presentation, and leadership skills.
- Highly collaborative with strong organizational and problem-solving abilities.
- Proficient in Adobe Creative Suite, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Microsoft Office.
- Experience working with overseas factories and global sourcing teams is a plus.
- Experience within licensed apparel or multi-brand environments is strongly preferred.
Salary $175,000-$225,000
