Senior Manager, Buying – Shoes

Senior Manager, Buying – Shoes

At CHANEL, we are committed to fostering an inclusive culture that supports individual growth and collective progress. We believe the uniqueness of each person strengthens the diversity, complementarity, and effectiveness of our teams. We welcome your application and value the perspective, experience, and potential you could bring to CHANEL.

About the role:

CHANEL, Inc., a leader in the luxury goods industry, is seeking a Senior Manager, Buying – Shoes for the U.S. Fashion Division.

In this role, you will partner with the Senior Group Director, Shoes to implement seasonal merchandising strategies and develop distinctive, fashion-forward assortments aligned with global and regional objectives. You will bring together a strong product point of view, commercial acumen, and deep understanding of the U.S. client to drive the Shoes business across boutiques and channels.

What impact you can create at CHANEL:

Business Management

• Partner with the Senior Group Director, Shoes to shape, implement, and champion the category’s strategic vision and key initiatives.

• Curate creative, commercially relevant assortments across eight collections annually, reflecting each collection’s spirit, U.S. market needs, budget forecasts, and the unique opportunities of each boutique.

• Optimize inventory through proactive transfers, consolidations, and fulfillment of client requests.

• Identify product opportunities through comprehensive analysis of competitive activity, market trends, and category performance; translate insights into clear recommendations for local and global leadership.

• Lead the U.S. pricing and harmonization process for Shoes, collaborating closely with Account Management, Global Finance, Technology, and Supply Chain teams.

• Partner with Visual Merchandising and Fashion Expertise teams to ensure compelling collection presentation for launches, events, and key boutique moments, aligned with seasonal brand-image priorities and business strategies.

• Collaborate with adjacent product-category teams to deliver a cohesive, holistic merchandising approach across the Fashion division.

• Partner with Merchandise Planning to ensure business trends, client insights, and assortment strategies are accurately reflected in financial forecasts and plans.

• Maintain a strong understanding of industry trends, the competitive landscape, key influencers, and evolving client preferences.

• Build trusted, influential partnerships across the organization to advance business objectives.

• Challenge the status quo, identify opportunities for greater efficiency, and navigate roadblocks with thoughtful, creative solutions.

Reporting & Analysis

• Own Open-to-Buy (OTB) accountability and lead in-season business analysis, including the ongoing evolution of reporting tools and processes.

• Develop and present buy reviews that clearly articulate assortment strategy, product rationale, and collection objectives.

• Lead weekly, monthly, quarterly, and seasonal performance analyses; communicate key findings and recommendations to relevant stakeholders.

• Conduct ad hoc analyses to uncover new insights, identify opportunities, and inform strategic decisions.

• Partner with Client Analytics and Digital Marketing teams to synthesize data into a compelling category and client narrative.

Retail Connection

• Communicate seasonal product vision to boutique teams, inspiring confidence in bold assortments and driving engagement through effective styling and storytelling.

• Build a deep understanding of the retail landscape and U.S. client by regularly spending time in boutiques and engaging directly with retail teams.

• Foster an environment of open dialogue, knowledge sharing, and idea generation through regular touchpoints beyond formal buying sessions, ensuring local-market and client needs are well understood.

• Develop a strong understanding of how CHANEL technology tools support the client journey and identify opportunities to enhance the client experience.

You are energized by:

• Bringing enthusiasm, energy, and an ability to inspire others around product, retail, and the CHANEL brand.

• Combining a strong fashion aesthetic with a client-centered and commercially minded approach to product.

• Using a highly analytical mindset to independently formulate hypotheses, interpret complex data, and draw actionable conclusions.

• Collaborating across diverse cross-functional teams with a service-oriented mindset and the ability to build influential partnerships.

• Demonstrating curiosity, intuition, drive, authenticity, and self-awareness.

• Translating a deep understanding of client needs into clear team objectives and coordinated execution across business partners.

• Learning and optimizing systems and processes; advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint is required, and Power BI experience is a plus.

• Thriving in a dynamic, evolving environment with demonstrated initiative, strong prioritization skills, and a continuous-improvement mindset.

• Engaging with clients and retail teams to understand and enhance the end-to-end client experience.

• Maintaining genuine curiosity about the world around you and bringing an authentic, informed perspective to the role.

Position Logistics:

• Partially Remote: Role requires a minimum of three days in-person office presence at the designated location/office.

• Bachelor’s degree required.

• Minimum of seven years of experience in buying or in a strategic and analytical merchandising role, with a demonstrated track record of driving business results.

• Experience in fashion and/or luxury retail is preferred.

• This position is based in the New York Home Office.

• Ability to travel domestically for market enrichment, events, and boutique-opening support, as well as internationally for select collections.

Chanel, Inc. reserves the right to edit, change, or make exceptions on designations where circumstances where deemed appropriate.

Compensation:

• The anticipated base salary range for this position is 90,000 through 135,000. Base salary is one component of the total compensation for this position. Other forms of variable pay [may/will] be offered for this position. Other components [may/will] include bonus potential, benefits, and/or perks.

Benefits and Perks:

• Wellbeing resources include dedicated paid time off for wellbeing (2-week August Office Closure) and a Wellbeing fund

• Family and care giving benefits (inclusive of parental leave, fertility support, MilkStork, and Care.com Membership)

• Generous paid time off policies to include vacation, holiday, sick and volunteer days

• 401K and other incentives

• Robust healthcare offerings; medical, dental, vision, MDLIVE (virtual care), One Medical, Flexible Spending Accounts (Health Care & Dependent Care), Health Savings Account and Employee Assistance Program

• Life insurance, Accidental Death & Dismemberment, Short Term Disability, Long Term Disability, Health Advocate, International Business Travel Accident & Medical, and Commuter Transit & Parking

Additional Information:

Chanel is a private company whose values are grounded in creating the conditions for people to perform at their best and feel fulfilled and confident in their work. We offer a unique work environment where individuals are encouraged to better understand the brand, the business, and motivations, so that together we can unlock the possibilities of growth. This is reflected in:

Diversity and Inclusion:

• At CHANEL, we are intentional in promoting Diversity & Inclusion. We foster respect, empathy and dignity for all. We believe strongly that the diversity of our people across the full spectrum of human differences is essential to our organisation and the connections we have with each other and our clients.

• We offer Employee Resource Groups in the US that are voluntary, open to all, employee-led groups formed around a shared identity or lived experience, whose aim is to foster a diverse, inclusive, and equitable community aligned with the values and missions of the communities they support.

Chanel Community:

• CHANEL Community empowers our employees to channel their passions, talents and sense of purpose to contribute to and learn from our communities.

• Employees are encouraged to take time off annually to volunteer through CHANEL Community. CHANEL also matches employee donations to select charitable organizations.

Sustainability:

• CHANEL Mission 1.5° is our climate action plan. It is focused on transforming the business in line with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement on climate change to limit the average global mean temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

• Employees are encouraged to contribute to our US Sustainability efforts at the corporate level and within the divisions, through organized taskforces and initiatives.

Arts and Culture:

• We are committed to extending our legacy of cultural engagement. Global support includes the CHANEL Culture Fund, which supports a select group of leading art culture institutions across the globe, and the CHANEL Next Prize for the next generation of creative talent. US support currently includes Annual sponsorship of the MoMA film program, Tribeca Film Festival programs and Through Her Lens, Support of the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women and Sponsorship of the BAAND Together Dance Festival at Lincoln Center.

Fondation Chanel:

• Since 2011, Fondation CHANEL’s mission is for women and girls to be free to shape their own destiny. Through multi-year partnerships with financial and technical support, Fondation CHANEL is committed to improving the safety and autonomy of women and adolescent girls around the world, impacting over a million women and girls in its first 10 years.

• For more information, please navigate to the Fondation Chanel website here

Career and Leadership Development:

• We have dedicated in-house teams focused on supporting the onboarding of employees, developing leadership skills via custom programs like Imagine Chanel People, Heart of Leadership and group and individual coaching, and blended online and live classes offered on our Bloom platform and by skilled trainers, such as Shape Your Career, to develop career building skills.

Chanel, Inc. benefits and perks are dependent on eligibility and subject to modification by Chanel at any time