Vice President Inventory Controller Jobs in Chicago, IL

The Vice President of Merchandising & Inventory is a senior business leader responsible for transforming Merchandising into a true growth engine for Quill driving profitable revenue growth, margin expansion, and market differentiation. This role defines and executes merchandising and inventory strategies that align with customer needs, competitive positioning, and long-term business objectives.  This role exists to delight our business customers, elevate the on-site experience, and ensure Quill offers relevant, differentiated, and market-leading assortments that solve real customer needs.

As a key member of the leadership team, the VP shapes company-wide strategy, ensuring that assortment, pricing, inventory, and vendor partnerships operate as integrated growth levers. The VP will serve as the customer advocate on the site, ensuring that assortment, pricing, and presentation are intuitive, compelling, and aligned to how business customers shop and buy. This leader will re-energize and modernize vendor partnerships, inspire collaboration around innovation, exclusive offerings, and cutting-edge assortments that differentiate Quill in the market.

Success in this role requires a data-driven, insight-led operator who combines analytics with judgment to make fast, informed decisions. This leader builds and scales a high-performing organization that delivers measurable impact across customer experience, financial performance, and operational efficiency. The VP will foster a culture of curiosity, accountability, and continuous improvement while partnering closely with Marketing, eCommerce, Sales, Supply Chain, and Finance to deliver profitable growth.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Enterprise Strategy & Business Impact

• Define and lead the end-to-end merchandising and inventory strategy, aligning assortment, pricing, promotions, and inventory investment with company growth and profitability goals.
• Drive revenue growth, gross margin expansion, and inventory productivity through data-driven decision-making and disciplined execution.
• Establish merchandising as a core competitive advantage, delivering differentiated and market-leading product assortments.
• Partner with executive leadership to shape enterprise strategy, annual planning, and long-term growth initiatives.
• Lead initiatives that improve customer acquisition, conversion, retention, and lifetime value.

Merchandising & Customer Experience

• Champion the evolution of Merchandising into a customer-first, insight-driven merchandising strategy, ensuring assortments are relevant, easy to shop, and aligned to customer segments and behaviors with the goal to improve customer satisfaction, conversion and lifetime value.
• Oversee the development of compelling, differentiated assortments, including exclusive products and strategic category expansion.
• Set the strategic direction for pricing and promotional effectiveness, balancing competitiveness with margin optimization.
• Ensure a seamless and compelling omnichannel customer experience across digital platforms and sales channels that measurably improve the Merch function. 

Inventory & Financial Performance

• Own inventory strategy and performance, optimizing working capital, inventory turns, and service levels.
• Partner with Supply Chain and Finance to ensure accurate forecasting, demand planning, and inventory allocation.
• Drive disciplined decision-making around inventory investment, risk management, and lifecycle optimization.
• Balance growth and profitability by aligning inventory strategy with financial targets and operational capabilities.

Vendor & Partner Strategy

• Develop and lead strategic vendor partnerships that drive innovation, exclusivity, cost efficiency, and long-term value.
• Negotiate and manage partnerships to improve cost structures, service levels, and product differentiation.
• Identify and scale new brands, categories, and strategic sourcing opportunities to expand market share.
• Hold partners accountable to performance metrics tied to revenue, margin, and customer outcomes.

Data, Analytics & Execution Excellence

• Build a culture of data-driven decision-making, leveraging analytics and insights to optimize merchandising and inventory performance.
• Establish KPIs and dashboards to track business performance, customer behavior, and operational efficiency.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives that enhance speed, agility, and execution quality.
• Translate insights into actionable strategies that deliver measurable business results.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Serve as a trusted partner across Marketing, eCommerce, Sales, Supply Chain, and Finance to align strategies and drive execution.
• Ensure merchandising strategies are amplified through integrated go-to-market plans, content, and customer experiences.
• Influence enterprise decisions and drive alignment across functions to achieve shared business outcomes.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Economics, Engineering or equivalent work experience.
• 15 years of relevant work experience leading Merchandising teams driven by Data, Analytics and Data Science.
• Technology experience with data platforms especially MDM, big data technologies, data sciences, engineering and ecommerce.
• Retail, Marketing, Sales and eCommerce business knowledge.
• Understanding of Big data technologies and Engineering.
• Proven experience leading inventory and merchandising strategies that drive revenue growth and profitability.
• Strong understanding of market analysis and consumer behavior.
• Excellent vendor management skills, with a track record of securing favorable terms and optimizing product assortments.
• Experience working with advanced pricing analytics tools and merchandising platforms.

Preferred Qualifications:

• MBA or MS in Analytics, Data Science or similar field preferred.
• Experience within the office supplies industry or similar retail environments.
• Proven track record of successfully implementing innovative pricing and merchandising strategies in a multi-channel environment.
• Strong network within the vendor community, enabling advantageous partnerships and pricing agreements.

Staples is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law.