Senior Director, Digital Merchandising and Content Strategy (eCommerce)

The Senior Director, Digital Merchandising & Content Strategy is responsible for the end-to-end strategy, optimization, and performance of digital merchandising, content, and SEO/GEO across Sherwin Williams owned channels (website and mobile apps). This leader will champion how customers discover, evaluate, and purchase products through data driven merchandising, content excellence, and best-in-class search and onsite experiences - ultimately driving online sales and omni-channel growth.

Reporting to the Vice President, Digital & eCommerce, this role is accountable for revenue impact, flawless execution of product and promotional launches, scalable personalization programs, and the continual improvement of the digital shopping and content experience. The ideal candidate is an expert in eCommerce, digital merchandising, content strategy, and GEO; is highly analytical and organized; and communicates effectively with senior leadership while leading cross functional teams.

This role will be influential in the digital transformation of our customer experience as well as setting strategies for expanded online assortment.

The team is based in Cleveland, Ohio, and is fully on-site. Qualified applicants residing elsewhere will be considered with preference given to candidates located in or willing to relocate to Cleveland (relocation assistance provided) or Charlotte, NC.

Job duties include contact with other employees and access confidential and proprietary information and/or other items of value, and such access may be supervised or unsupervised. The Company therefore has determined that a review of criminal history is necessary to protect the business and its operations and reputation and is necessary to protect the safety of the Company's staff, employees, and business relationships

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS

Digital Merchandising Leadership

• Set the vision and lead the strategy for digital merchandising that improves product discovery, conversion, and average order value across web and apps.
• Own the merchandising roadmap, quarterly planning, and executive communications-ensuring alignment with category, brand, and promotional strategies.
• Ensure best- in-class experiences across devices and platforms, grounded in customer insights, assortment strategy, and behavioral data.

Content Strategy & SEO/GEO Leadership

• Develop and drive a cohesive, brand relevant content strategy across divisions, brands, channels, and audiences to fuel engagement and sales.
• Lead enterprise alignment on content lifecycle management (people, process, tech, governance, and measurement).
• Own national and local SEO/GEO strategy and execution (content optimization, internal linking, structured data, site architecture, local search, crawl/indexing), partnering closely with technical SEO/GEO and IT to maximize performance.
• Oversee content and site search performance, taxonomy, navigation, filters, and content quality to improve organic visibility and onsite discovery.

Retail Media Network (RMN) Strategy & Ownership

• Mature Retail Media Network capabilities to drive incremental revenue and brand partnership value.
• Define merchandising placement strategies (sponsored products, curated content modules, brand showcases) that enhance, not disrupt, the customer journey.
• Govern RMN standards, performance reporting, and advertiser experience quality in partnership with internal stakeholders and external vendors.

Digital Shopping Experience, Personalization & Testing

• Continuously optimize the customer journey (taxonomy, navigation, filters, cross sell/upsell, product detail pages, content modules, ratings & reviews).
• Lead a structured test and learn program (A/B and multivariate testing) to validate hypotheses and scale winning experiences.
• Build personalization strategies using segmentation and behavioral insights to support omni objectives and "endless aisle" capabilities.

Digital Transformation & New Capability Delivery

• Translate business needs into digital product and capability requirements; influence prioritization across Digital Product, UX, and IT.
• Champion new tools and platform enhancements for merchandising, content management, and automation; ensure adoption and change management.
• Support strategy and roadmap for Expanded Assortment (Endless Aisle) and new category opportunities.

Process, Governance & Cross Functional Collaboration

• Establish and enforce product data standards, digital taxonomy, content governance, and workflows that increase speed and quality.
• Partner closely with Creative, UX/Design, Product Management, PIM, Marketing/MarCom, Analytics, and IT to deliver seamless executions.
• Represent digital sales and content in enterprise planning for new product introductions and category expansions.

Team Leadership

• Lead and develop a high performing team of 20+ digital merchandising, eCommerce, content, and SEO/GEO professionals, as well as agency partner(s).
• Foster a collaborative, innovative, and data driven culture with strong accountability, speed, and continuous improvement.
• Attract, retain, and grow talent across experience levels; remove obstacles and enable efficient decision making.

Partnerships

• Drive alignment and integrated execution across Marketing, MarCom, Experience Design/UX, Digital Product, IT, and key business partners.
• Ensure campaigns, launches, and category initiatives fully leverage digital merchandising, content, and SEO capabilities.
• Manage external partners and vendors (technology platforms, RMN, content/SEO agencies, analytics vendors) and associated budgets.

POSITION REQUIREMENTS

EDUCATION:

Required:

• Bachelor's Degree

KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE:

Required:

• 10+ years in Digital/eCommerce across merchandising, content, and/or SEO/GEO; proven leadership delivering revenue and experience gains.
• 5+ years leading managers in a fast-paced digital environment with strong cross functional influence.
• Demonstrated success in digital merchandising and content/SEO strategies that increased eCommerce sales and improved CX.
• Deep customer focus, strong merchandising instincts, and editorial judgment for digital content.
• Strong analytical skills; proven ability to drive decisions through data and experimentation.
• Experience with product data, digital taxonomy, site search, and merchandising/content systems.
• Experience managing or partnering in Retail Media Network programs.
• Operational leadership: drive decisions, build processes, gain alignment, and deliver high quality outcomes at scale.
• Track record of attracting, developing, and engaging talent.

Preferred:

• Retail or home improvement category experience; experience within a large, complex enterprise (Fortune 500).
• Exposure to B2B and B2B eCommerce.

TECHNICAL/SKILL REQUIREMENTS:

Required:

• Proficiency with site analytics, CMS platforms, commerce platforms, personalization, A/B testing, ratings & reviews, and SEO.
• Strong communication and presentation skills, including executive level storytelling and influence.
• Proficiency with MS Office/365.

Preferred:

• Experience with Adobe Experience Cloud (AEM, Target, Analytics), HCL, Stibo STEP, Salsify, Tableau.
• Expertise in technical SEO/GEO (structured data, sitemaps, performance and Core Web Vitals, crawl budget and indexing, canonicals, redirects, generative AI).