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One of the coolest ecommerce jobs around!

HARRY’S COMMENTS: We are working with a well-known manufacturer of bicycle and motorcycle helmets, shoes, gloves, and apparel in their search for a Director of Ecommerce based in Santa Cruz, CA, roughly 32 miles south of San Jose.

This is sick: Highway One runs right through San Cruz down to Monterey.

That’s insane, right? You’ll actually live in the vicinity. I hate you.

Anyway.

Our client’s parent company is a publicly-traded designer, manufacturer, and marketer of consumer products in the outdoor sports and recreation markets. With a portfolio of 40 well-recognized brands, its products are sold through a wide variety of mass, specialty and independent retailers such as Amazon, Academy Sports, Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Target, and Walmart.

Additionally, the parent company markets its products directly to consumers through the relevant brand’s website, and its scalable, integrated brand portfolio allows it to leverage its deep customer knowledge, product development, supply chain, distribution, and marketing functions across product categories to better serve its retail partners and end-users.

In this role, you’ll oversee the DTC online build-out of TWO of the company’s two-wheeled sports brands.

The idea is simple: You and your team will partner with the firm’s Marketing, Brand, Merchandising, and IT functions to grow the brands’ ecommerce business from a small percentage overall contribution in revenue to double digits. If you’re the right candidate for this job, then you already know what I’m talking about.

To win in the role, you MUST have managed a >$10 million DTC ecommerce P&L and — ideally — have solid experience with the marketing and ecommerce sides of Salesforce (knowing how to migrate a site from Hybris to Salesforce, … optimizing the conversion funnel, … using community to drive loyalty, … leveraging social extensions, … empower customer service teams, … and bring the brands’ new ecom sites to life in the mobile environment).

Areas for improvement include email, integrated customer acquisition, and data acquisition and analysis.

You’ll need to be politically savvy as you manage relationships with executives who are growing their own digital acumen. The client’s executive suite isn’t packed with cynics and Luddites — but they’ll need to be shown how the company’s fortunes can be improved through DTC ecommerce. It’s a HUGE plus if you’ve done this before in a CPG environment because that’s the company’s lineage.

You won’t believe how much we know about this search!

We spent a ton of time on the phone with the client teasing out exactly what you’ll need to KNOW and DO to hit the ground running in this role. Some of the things we can share with highly qualified candidates include …

1. The “real” background requirements for this position, along with the top five things all resumes MUST have to be considered for the role.
2. The top five problems that exist due to this position being open. These are the little brush fires you will be expected to put out during your first month on the job. Every ecommerce job has these — and this one’s no different.
3. What your average day/week will look like in this role. There’s what you read in the standard ecommerce job posting … then there’s reality. We’ve got the reality.
4. The leading and lagging KPI’s that will determine your success in this role. In a nutshell: How you keep score.
5. The major projects you’ll need to complete by Day 100 to be considered a home-run in this position. We’ve got the lowdown on how you can plug-and-play and drive REAL value in this ecommerce job.

We have a massive amount of proprietary intel to share with qualified candidates. Our industry research for this assignment exceeds 100 pages! Be sure to TEXT Allan Seibert at (706) 318-1196 for this info. Or simply use the email link when you apply for the role below.

View Harry Joiner’s profile

Key Responsibilities

• Own and grow the online P&L for your two brands
• Develop, communicate and champion the guiding vision for the ecommerce sales channel at all levels of the organization.
• Manage in-house team and external vendors in order to achieve sales plan and brand goals.
• Direct the day-to-day online operations relating to ecommerce with oversight responsibility for operating metrics and key performance drivers such as: traffic, average order value (AOV), conversion, opt-ins, new buyers, repeat buyers, sales, and units per order.
• Must work closely and collaboratively with Sales Team and planning group to set and forecast sales goals to be measured by marketing performance and planning goals for the ecommerce team.
• Build and manage the online assortment, promotions, price management and overall product presentation.
• Create and manage best of breed branded online retail consumer experiences.
• Ensure products are communicated effectively online to maximize item sales and increase profitability.
• Lead and manage a high performing performance online sales/marketing team with a strong sense for considering customer needs, incorporating company goals, and creating an experience that inspires usage and motivates completion of the online purchasing process.
• Partner with marketing categories to enhance product stories, increase relevancy regarding product efficacy and consumer target.

Ideal Experience

• Proven track record of 5-plus years in ecommerce and online, direct and database marketing including at least five years in ecommerce.
• Track record of managing and growing at least $10M/up ecommerce business
• Candidate must have advanced analytical skills and in-depth database segmentation experience.
• Salesforce Commerce Cloud
• Salesforce Marketing Cloud
• Ability to translate offline brand vision to the online channel and execute strategies that lead the company consistently towards that vision.
• Strong skills in strategy and planning, budget and P&L management, merchandising and marketing, and vendor selection and management.
• Proven leadership and team management skills derived from having direct responsibility for building and managing a cohesive, high-performing online ecommerce team.
• Ability to identify, communicate and inspire an organization around the next generation of ecommerce experience to dramatically grow the business, and be able to work through tough issues and overcome challenges while maintaining good relationships.
• Candidate must have keen business acumen plus the ability to function as a senior strategist with key members of the executive management team.
• Ability to work closely with a diverse group of individuals of various functional disciplines.
• Big-picture thinker and experience in a dynamic, high-growth environment.
• Must possess excellent creative, organizational, verbal and written communication skills.
• College degree required; MBA preferred.

Critical Competencies for Success

Build and execute a growth strategy: This executive will build and execute a strategy for growth almost literally from the ground up. As a result, it will be critical for this new hire to understand intimately the brands’ design methodologies and priorities in order to develop the company’s overall digital strategy. To be successful the Director of Ecommerce will demonstrate the following:

• Prove to be a quick study and an individual of high intellectual horsepower who can assess the growth opportunity for brand design through its people, products, and processes
• Translate this into an operating plan that is clearly communicated and directly executed. Key to the success of both the role and the business unit.
• The Director of Ecommerce will ensure that this plan is supported and championed by key constituents in the larger corporate structure.
• An ability to attract online the relevant consumer segments and ensure revenue per user is constantly increasing through the effective use of products, data analysis, and technology.
• An ability to maintain openness for experimentation with new ideas that can yield breakthrough performance.
• Prove to be able to adapt to a culture that is a highly driven team environment and where egos are not apparent.

Business operations: The Director of Ecommerce will oversee the build-out all necessary and size-appropriate organizations, processes, systems, and controls that will drive optimal performance. This must be done in a highly competitive “.com” environment, where market leaders clearly exist in the space. To be successful in the role, the new executive will be:

• A bottom line, results-oriented businessperson who has an affinity for and comfort level with numbers and metrics.
• Performance Marketing is at this businessperson’s core.
• An individual with a clear passion for ecommerce and technology.
• A track record of not just good ideas but the individual reputation of one who is known for measuring results of investments, large and small.
• Require exceptionally strong familiarity with crafting technology-based solutions on both the front end (consumer-facing products) and back-end (data and hardware-driven) resources, including integrating offline and online customer databases.
• An executive with a tight handle on the overall P&L and the ability to translate business opportunities and scenarios into key metrics and financial strategies.
• Someone with the ability to ensure everyone in the organization understands that the firm must be run like a business and that every expense is associated with an acceptable expected return.
• Salesforce Commerce Cloud.
• Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

Leadership: The Director of Ecommerce will have the qualities necessary to lead a highly motivated organization to focus on a common vision. To be successful, the incumbent will demonstrate the following:

• Patience and equanimity of spirit in order to successfully collaborate with the wholesale organization. His/her natural predisposition and temperament must be positive in nature yet manifest itself in forceful, well-grounded and articulate business plans and strategies.
• The ability to get people to believe in themselves and in the organization’s vision and capabilities, thereby delivering results that individuals had otherwise thought were not possible.
• A charismatic and unifying communication style that sets the tone for the organization. Must be comfortable working in a fast-paced environment.
• An ability to work within the larger culture and business organization of the parent company.
• The ability to attract, motivate and retain high-level talent with a passion and track record for winning.

Other Personal Characteristics

• An unquestioned reputation for integrity and ethics. A strong individual character that will build the trust of others, both internally and externally.
• Decisive, with a bias for action, but also consensus-oriented; empowered, yet holds managers accountable.
• A visionary, forward-thinking leader; market and customer-focused.
• Excellent communication skills and presentation capabilities.
• A hands-on operating leader with a pragmatic, can-do attitude.
• A motivational style that inspires others to achieve aggressive targets; open and constructive.
• A team builder, as well as attractor and developer of high-level talent.