As Merchandising Manager, you play a vital role in the successful shaping, sharing and scaling of the merchandising capability Assortment Optimization capabilities and support across our great local Brands in Europe, accelerating our success in sales & savings. 

Hi, we are Ahold Delhaize, a global family of caring brands  

Helping people eat well, save time, and live better. That is what Ahold Delhaize (55m weekly customers, 413k colleagues) stands for. As one of the world’s largest and most forward-thinking food retail groups, our global family of local brands creates inspiring shopping experiences. Whether people shop at brick-and-mortars, prefer quick pick-ups, or opt for the convenience of ordering online, Ahold Delhaize delivers.   

We are growing our business quickly but responsibly. We advocate and accelerate sustainable retailing, responsible sourcing, supporting local communities, and helping customers make healthier choices in a world in transition. That requires the courage and wholeheartedness to have convictions and stand up for what we believe in. It also takes a growth-hacking mindset: tomorrow’s opportunities call for tomorrow’s skills. But most of all, it requires us to be there for the people and communities we serve. #daretocare  

About the job  

You balance local vs. total value creation across the Group and practice and advocate agile ways of working. You actively define and work with the local and regional teams on what opportunities within the merchandising and sourcing domain can be further capitalized or scaled beyond the promo solution.  

To accelerate Merchandising success in all our markets, together we drive creating the best customer experience, whether people shop at our brick-and-mortar stores, or prefer online ordering via web or app, through either quick pick-ups or the convenience of home delivery. We are always pushing the envelope together, and always responsibly, sustainable and inclusive, for our customers, our communities and our associates. 

Ultimately, we believe that having access to the best tools will let people do their best work, enabling Ahold Delhaize Europe to drive organic growth and margin improvements to re-invest in our customers. 

As Merchandising Manager you are the pivotal person in driving the joint benefits across Ahold Delhaize Europe. Your added value lies in seeing and understanding the full picture in the E2E merchandising chain, bringing in your proven expertise and business acumen, and with your connective skills finding and creating the ways to get to viable results.  

To be successful, you will first obtain a proper understanding of the application and processes and local business dynamics. Next, together with local business teams, you will: 

• Define an aligned (with the Brands and your other counterparts) overall umbrella vison & strategy for Assortment Optimization, from our articulated ADEU targets, industry trends and opportunities & threats, and our Brand’s various successes & needs; 
• Help Brands to identify the process and organizational impact to adopt and work with the Assortment tool;  
• Challenge current ways of working and introduce best practices where applicable;  
• Support Brands in implementing desired changes and process improvements;  
• Create and maintain “assets” to sustain critical knowledge items;  
• Support the local teams to full adoption and utilization of the Merchandising tooling;  
• Challenge the strategy and tactics to improve Merchandising results 
• Explore opportunities in merchandising field;  
• Visit our European brands to do workshops and better understand local challenges on a regular bases;  
• Continuous develop and improve Assortment Tooling based on scalable solutions together with brand and third party development team.  

You will closely work together with both the Business and IT stakeholders within our local brands, in the EU and CSE functions as well as with the core members of the European Merchandising Hub to bring the Merchandising dynamics closer together.  

This is how you keep growing   

Ahold Delhaize has been growing successfully since the late 1800’s. The reason we’re still around today is that our associates in each and every decade have kept developing and adapting, and that we’ve always used our increasing scale to have a positive impact on our customers and our communities. 

That’s why continuous training-, development- and career-opportunities are front and center in our People strategy. In the role of Commercial Manager we are pleased to offer you: 

• An annual salary of up to €90k based on a full-time workweek;
• The development and career prospects you associate with a global player: best-in-class coaching, well-constructed growth paths and international, cross-brand career options; 
• 20 vacation days, supplemented by a personal budget: take an additional 12.5 days off, opt for discounts, or simply take the cash; 
• Flexible working hours, the option to work from home (yes, post-pandemic as well) or to choose a hybrid mix; 
• A powerful laptop and a smartphone; 
• Travel allowance, discounts on health insurance and groceries; 
• The chance to drive meaningful change – healthy, affordable, sustainably produced food matters – on a truly global scale; 
• Membership in a lively and diverse community that wholeheartedly embraces courage, inspires growth, and dares to care.  

What do you bring? 

Ours is a challenging playing field: widely different Brands, markets, customers, cultures and maturity levels, the tremendous pace of global change, the constant need for adaptive innovation and cooperation, in balance with sustainable results, and many crucial stakeholders to take into account. But when we manage to connect the dots, the magic happens. 

If you like a challenge too and being part of accelerating the future, we’d love to have you on our squad: 

• Combines a Bachelor or Master degree with 6 years of relevant work experience;  
• Demonstrable experience in Merchandising or Category management;  
• Experience with managing processes and implementing new processes;  
• Affinity with product development and agile way working;  
• Command of the English language at a high level.  

At Ahold Delhaize and our local brands we define diversity broadly, seeing it as inclusive of thoughts and skills, generational differences, LGBTQ+, gender, race and ethnicity, disabilities, nationalities and more, and we accept all people for who they are.  

Dare to care and grow with us?   

We look forward to teaming up at your home away from home: our vibrant HQ, right next to Zaandam station. Want to know more before you hit the Apply button? Anouk Reus, Talent Acquisition Partner Digital, will gladly tell you more. Please send a WhatsApp 0683233817 or an email via anouk.reus@ah.nl.