Vice President of Merchandising Finance & Strategy

This is a Full Time Job

• Commitment: We pursue excellence for our team and our talent. Everything in music starts with a leap into the unknown, and we're committed to keeping the faith, acting with integrity, and delivering on our promises.

WMG is home to a wide range of artists, musicians, and songwriters that fuel our success. Consider a career at WMG and get the best of both worlds – an innovative global music company that retains the creative spirit of a nimble independent.

A little bit about our team:

The WMX Finance team supports the global merchandising, artist services, and supply chain within WMX. We partner closely with commercial, creative, and operational leaders to drive financial performance, improve visibility across complex revenue streams, and enable scalable growth across touring, e-commerce, retail, and licensing channels.

Your role:

WMX is seeking a Vice President, Merchandising Finance & Strategy to serve as the senior finance partner to the President of Merchandising & E-Commerce. This role is designed for a leader with deep experience in music merchandising-spanning touring, e-commerce/DTC, retail, licensing and VIP ticketing and experiences- who can bring both strategic insight and operational fluency to a fast-growing global business.

Reporting to the CFO of WMX, this individual will act as a strategic finance partner to the merchandising organization, driving financial performance, shaping commercial strategy, and enhancing visibility across artist, tour, and channel economics.

This role plays a critical part in supporting the continued growth and evolution of WMX's global merchandising business. By embedding a dedicated finance leader within the merchandising organization, WMX aims to strengthen decision-making, enhance financial visibility, and drive improved performance across a complex, multi-channel ecosystem.

Here you'll get to:

Serve as a strategic finance partner to merchandising leadership
• Serve as the primary finance partner to the President of Merchandising & E-Commerce, supporting decision-making across artist campaigns, touring strategies, and global merch initiatives
• Translate merchandising strategies into clear financial frameworks, including revenue, margin, and investment implications
• Provide scenario modeling and forward-looking insights across:
• Tour merchandise performance
• Direct-to-consumer (DTC) growth strategies
• Retail and licensing partnerships
• VIP Ticketing & Experience
• Actively influence pricing, product mix, and channel strategy to optimize profitability

Drive touring and merchandising economics
• Bring deep expertise in tour merchandise models, including:
• Sell-through and per-head metrics
• Inventory forecasting and cost models
• Settlement structures
• Venue commissions and vending cost structures
• Analyze performance across tours, artists, and regions to drive improved financial outcomes
• Partner with merchandising and operations teams to optimize on-site execution and inventory deployment

Oversee DTC, retail, and multi-channel performance
• Oversee financial performance across e-commerce (Shopify), marketplaces, and physical retail
• Develop actionable insights on:
• Conversion, AOV, and digital marketing ROI
• Product-level and channel-level margins
• Global demand trends
• Support strategies to scale direct-to-consumer and omnichannel merchandising

Lead planning, forecasting, and performance management
• Lead annual budget, quarterly forecasts, and long-range planning for the merchandising business
• Build and maintain artist, tour, and detailed P&L visibility
• Build individual department and employee targets and actuals for continued financial growth tracking
• Deliver clear, data-driven reporting and variance analysis to senior leadership
• Define and track KPIs such as:
• Revenue per head (touring)
• Inventory turns and obsolescence
• Gross margin by channel
• Sell-through rates

Support deal evaluation and artist economics
• Partner on artist merchandise deals, renewals, and new business opportunities
• Evaluate deal structures including:
• Royalty rates
• Advances and recoupment
• Profit-sharing arrangements
• Build financial models to assess profitability and risk across artist portfolios

Lead cross-functional collaboration and team development
• Collaborate closely with merchandising, e-commerce, supply chain, and marketing teams to align financial and operational priorities
• Partner with central FP&A and accounting to ensure accurate reporting and scalable processes
• Build and lead a dedicated merchandising finance function leading a team of four

About you:

Experience:
• 10–15+ years of experience in finance, strategy, or operations
• Direct experience in music merchandising strongly preferred, including:
• Touring merchandise (highly preferred)
• DTC/e-commerce merchandising
• Retail or licensing within music or live events
• Demonstrated experience supporting senior merchandising or commercial leaders

Capabilities
• Deep understanding of touring and merch economics, including per-head metrics, settlements, and inventory flows
• Strong financial modeling and commercial decision support capabilities
• Ability to operate effectively in a high-volume, relationship-centric, inventory-driven business
• Fluency in multi-channel merchandising environments (tour, online, retail)

Leadership profile
• Acts as a true business partner, not just a finance operator
• Commercially oriented, proactive, and solutions-driven
• Comfortable operating in fast-paced, artist-driven environments
• Strong executive presence with the ability to influence across creative and business teams

We'd love it if you also had:
• Experience working across global merchandising operations
• Familiarity with artist services, touring environments, or live event economics

As the home to 10K Projects, Asylum, Atlantic Music Group, East West, FFRR, Fueled by Ramen, Nonesuch, Parlophone, Rhino, Roadrunner, Sire, Warner Records, Warner Classics, and several other of the world's premier recording labels, Warner Music Group champions emerging artists and global superstars alike. And our renowned publishing company, Warner Chappell Music, represents genre-spanning songwriters and producers through a catalog of more than one million copyrights worldwide. Warner Music Group