Sr Director, Visual Merchandising Job at Norwest Venture Partners in Austin

Company Address: 3800 N Lamar Blvd, Ste 400, Austin, TX 78756, US

About Kendra Scott

We are a fashion-lifestyle brand of big dreams, colorful confidence, and inspired design. Founded on Family, Fashion, and Philanthropy, we believe that our employees and customers are the heart and soul of our brand and that giving back is the truest form of success.

Job Description

Position Overview

We are seeking a visionary and highly skilled Director of Visual Merchandising to lead the creative and strategic direction of our in-store presentation across our expanding network of 160 stores and extensive wholesale network. This role will ensure our brand story is brought to life consistently and compellingly, driving customer engagement, conversion, and loyalty. The ideal candidate will combine a keen design eye, strong business acumen, and operational excellence, ensuring that our visual merchandising supports the brand vision and sales performance with creativity and aesthetic excellence.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership: Develop and implement a comprehensive visual merchandising strategy that reflects and enhances our brand DNA, seasonal trends, and customer insights.
• Strategic Leadership: Partner with Merchandising, Marketing, Store Operations, and Wholesale teams to align visual presentation with product launches, campaigns, and promotional calendars.
• Strategic Leadership: Establish and maintain visual merchandising standards that ensure consistency across all store formats, pop-ups, and wholesale shop-in-shop environments.
• Creative Direction & Execution: Lead the concepting and design of seasonal floor sets, window displays, product fixtures, signage, and in-store marketing elements.
• Creative Direction & Execution: Drive innovation in presentation techniques, integrating storytelling, digital elements, and sensory experiences to elevate brand perception.
• Creative Direction & Execution: Oversee prototype development and approval of all visual materials, fixtures, and display guidelines.
• Operational Management: Develop and distribute comprehensive VM guidelines and toolkits to ensure flawless execution across all locations.
• Operational Management: Oversee scheduling and coordination of floor set rollouts, new store openings, remodels, and special projects.
• Operational Management: Provide training, coaching, and ongoing feedback to field visual teams and store managers to maintain high standards.
• Operational Management: Monitor execution quality through regular store visits and virtual audits, identifying opportunities for improvement.
• Collaboration & Cross-Functional Partnership: Partner with Retail and Wholesale partners to tailor visual merchandising programs that align with their environments while protecting brand integrity.
• Collaboration & Cross-Functional Partnership: Work closely with Store Design and Construction teams to ensure fixtures and layouts, optimize product visibility, traffic flow, and sales opportunities.
• Collaboration & Cross-Functional Partnership: Collaborate with Marketing to ensure in-store visuals seamlessly connect to digital, social, and advertising campaigns.
• Collaboration & Cross-Functional Partnership: Utilize sales data, customer feedback, and competitive analysis to measure the impact of visual merchandising initiatives.
• Collaboration & Cross-Functional Partnership: Continuously test and refine display strategies to improve customer engagement and conversion.
• Collaboration & Cross-Functional Partnership: Stay ahead of industry trends, technology innovations, and retail best practices to keep the brand at the forefront of visual presentation.
• Research & Market Insight: Conduct research on current and future trends in design and lifestyle, and associated target market features.
• Strategic Awareness: Maintain awareness of trends, styles, materials and technology relative to the competition to share with team members for further ideation and implementation.

Our Ideal Candidate Will Have

• Bachelor’s degree in Visual Merchandising, Design, Marketing, or related field.
• 10+ years of experience in retail visual merchandising, including at least 3 years in a senior leadership role; jewelry or accessories industry experience strongly preferred.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating a balance of creative vision and commercial results.
• Exceptional leadership, project management, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to inspire and influence at all levels.
• Proficiency in design tools, VM software, Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Creative Suite, familiarity with CAD a plus.
• Willingness to travel regularly for store visits, installations, and openings.
• A shared appreciation for our 3 core values of Family, Fashion and Philanthropy