Description:
TRANSITION LEAD (R0000095342)

Classification: Exempt

Date: September 2020

Target is an iconic brand, a Fortune 50 company and one of America's leading retailers.

Merchandising - Transitions

Target Merchandising is evolving at an incredible pace. We are constantly reimagining how this $70 billion retailer offers the innovative, guest-inspiring items that Target is known and loved for. Our goal is to deliver exceptional value, quality and style to elevate Target as the premier retailer in a competitive global marketplace. Through intelligent and progressive business strategies that make the most of Target's resources and partnerships worldwide, Merchandising works across product categories to create a localized shopping experience online and in our 1800 stores. Are you a creative problem solver who loves to see your work translate into real results? Can you collaborate effectively, execute a plan efficiently and positively influence how Target chooses and presents the right product in the right place at the right price? If so, you will have success on one of our dynamic teams.

A role in Transitions means supporting the critical priority of introducing relevant newness into our assortments in a way that further improves the financial and operational viability of those strategies. Our current approach creates guest disruption, does not maximize the return on a multi-billion dollar investment in newness each year, and takes significant effort from a multitude of teams to coordinate and execute. Transition Leads will lead the efforts of end-to-end management of transitions for 2-3 Divisions, from strategy alignment and prioritization through post-set hind sighting. This effort will create a more consistent approach and expectations for managing transitions and will reduce the significant orchestration efforts that are currently covered by a variety of functions and captains. This position will engage with Division leadership to ensure that critical transition milestones are met on time and with quality by the cross-functional team and that appropriate risk mitigation tactics are taken as needed. The stakes in getting this right are high and the opportunity to create value is large: product newness is central to who we are as a retailer as our guests respond to our ability to stay relevant through every season and change in trend. We will prototype this role in several Divisions and apply learnings to the full enterprise in 2021.

As a Transition Lead, you will:

• Lead Division Leadership Roundtables through routines for major change moments to ensure timely and accurate completion of key milestones in the process before proceeding to subsequent steps
• Work with teams throughout the organization to better align transition, assortment planning, and financial objectives and processes
• Partner with teams including Buying, Planning, Inventory Management, S&P, Stores, Owned Brand Sourcing & Design, Fixturing, and Signing to ensure a single source of truth Transition Timing & Action that reflects accurate deadlines and quality needs for impacted partners
• Lead approach to increase visibility and understanding of financial/operational impact of decisions from initial strategy to quantifying full cost/benefit analysis to final execution with a focus on governance of key milestones
• Be a catalyst for and champion new ways to strategically plan change moments and improve transition execution across the organization
• Work across total Transition team and other key stakeholders to identify and prioritize areas of opportunities for people, process, or technology changes to create sustainable efficiencies in the transition process
• Operate with an enterprise lens to surface opportunities and resolve trade-off decisions to ensure productive actions are taken on Target's behalf with the guest at the center of our decisions
• Actively engage in the launch of this new capability to ensure it creates sustainable success through increased visibility to performance and enhanced foundational routines

About You:

• 4-year degree
• 6-10 years of professional experience
• Buying, planning, inventory management, and/or systems product development experience
• Strong critical thinking skills with an interest in solution generation for complex processes
• Ability to lead and collaborate with cross-functional partners to align on resource needs and prioritization to accomplish business objectives
• Courageous problem-solver who is comfortable challenging the status quo while navigating through ambiguity
• Experience working on large, complex cross-functional projects who leads with an enterprise mindset

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Target will provide reasonable accommodations (such as a qualified sign language interpreter or other personal assistance) with the application process upon your request as required to comply with applicable laws. If you have a disability and require assistance in this application process, please visit your nearest Target store or Distribution Center or reach out to Guest Services at 1-800-440-0680 for additional information.

Qualifications: