Executive Director Retail Operations Sony

This is a Full Time Job

Sony Pictures Entertainment is a leading creator and distributor of entertainment products, services and technology. Our global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home video acquisitions and distribution, operation of studio facilities, development of new entertainment technologies and distribution of filmed entertainment in over 67 countries.A key leadership position on the North American Retail Operations management team. At Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE), Retail Operations is responsible for the distribution and in-store execution activities required to support our vendor managed inventory (VMI) retail accounts. In 2010, this involved the execution for 54 accounts in North America, encompassing ~60% of SPHE's revenue.
Primary responsibility is to manage and develop a team whose scope of responsibilities include sales and shipment forecasting, retail data management, order generation, order execution, replenishment optimization and in-store execution.
To effectively deliver on these responsibilities, must develop productive working relationships with retail, sales and vendor partners. Key vendor partners include supply chain and merchandising service providers.

Further, must work well in a small management team focused on day to day delivery while keeping a strategic eye on the home entertainment market, retail trends and supply chain opportunities. Expected to challenge the status quo to keep SPHE positioned as an industry leader in service and cost management.
Key decisions and accountabilities of the team include:

Support and execution of sales initiatives
Training and development of team
Communication, management and execution of strategic initiatives
Collaboration with retail partners on supply chain strategies
Customer engagement and presentations
Providing store level item forecasts
Optimal management of retail perpetual inventory
Replenishing at the store/item level
Generating timely and accurate orders
Consistently delivering against order management service level agreements (SLAs)
Tracking product delivery
Ensuring point of sale (POS) data integrity
Managing 3rd party merchandising vendors
Providing retailer performance reporting to internal teams

Relationship Management -
The Executive Director will work closely with our sales, marketing, supply chain, retail and merchandising partners. Expected to develop productive working relationships that enable successful delivery of SPHE's commercial and operational strategies. The Executive Director will prepare and deliver relevant and compelling presentations as needed to meet customer expectations. Moderate travel is required.
Execution of Sales, Merchandising and Supply Chain Strategies -
The Executive Director is responsible for delivering results consistent with the expectations of our Sales and Retail partners. They are accountable for ensuring their teams execute effectively the initial placement, merchandising and replenishment of new release, promotional and catalog product programs. They must deliver accurate forecasts and timely deliverables to inter-departmental teams. The Executive Director is involved in launching New Business and contingency planning to manage additional volume and changes to the current account base. The Executive Director plays a key role in Supply Chain initiatives for both our Retail and DC Partners. They initiate, develop, embrace and adopt Supply Chain initiatives to meet service level agreements. The Executive Director also co-manages 3rd party merchandising vendors.
Strategic Team Leadership -
The Executive Director will lead several groups within the Retail Operations Team. This includes the definition and reporting of KPI's at both the retailer and channel level. Providing performance feedback to the Retail Operations Management Team. Identifying and regulating priorities as they relate to core Retail Operations functions. The Executive Director will be the primary lead for identifying areas of improvement that can be leveraged across the Retail Operations team. Additionally, the Executive Director will continuously study the competitive landscape to discern best practices/procedures that can be implemented by SPHE in order to optimize the management of the Retail Operations account base.
Team Development -
The Executive Director will ensure a team focus on training, career development, coaching and mentoring to all levels of the Retail Operations team. This will include participation in the annual review process, annual goal setting and quarterly goal review sessions, defining KPI and personal improvement plans. The Executive Director's must ensure our documented processes and training manuals are updated quarterly (and/or as needed) and properly reflect best practices across the group.
Project Management -
The Executive Director is accountable for the delivery of assigned retail, supply chain and system projects. They will provide strategic direction and guidance for our IT partners as it relates to core Retail Operations business requirements. The Executive Director will lead numerous projects and, in effect, will serve in the capacity of a project manager from the business perspective. This includes overall project timeline management, identification and management of project resources, maintaining appropriate project scope and overcoming obstacles to successful completion. This will often require the Executive Director to work closely with both internal resources and outside consultants. As a result, the Executive Director will be expected to manage non-traditional teams and properly deal with issues and/or complications that arise.
Budgeting/Planning -
The Executive Director will assist the Vice President of Retail Operations with annual budgeting activities in order to remain in compliance with SPHE's overall budget goals. This will include both personnel and technology impacts. Also, the Executive Director will work with the Vice President of Retail Operations to determine staff and account realignments as needed to balance the overall workload appropriately across the team.Knowledge of:

Key VMI account operations and business requirements
VMI Best Practices and Metrics
Consignment Business Models
Inventory Management
Supply Chain Operations