Job Description

The Area Rack Environment Manager (AREM) is a district-level merchandising leader who operates with autonomy and influence to drive sales growth, space productivity, and merchandising capability across a multistore portfolio. 

This role serves as a trusted thought partner to District Directors and Store Leadership, translating merchandising strategy into scalable best practices that improve execution, simplify store operations, and enhance the customer experience. The AREM leads through influence, data, and expertise—building sustainable merchandising capability and/or provides transactional support. 

The AREM is accountable for optimizing selling space, developing merchandising talent, and ensuring consistent execution across branching stores, new store openings, and capital projects. 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Act as the district merchandising authority, ensuring Rack merchandising standards and best practices are understood, adopted, and sustained across all stores. 

• Partner with District Directors to assess business performance, identify opportunity, and align merchandising strategy to financial outcomes. 

• Coach and develop District Directors, Store Managers, and Store Leadership Teams in Rack merchandising principles, space optimization, and decision-making to improve sales. 

• Lead merchandising strategy for stores within the district they support, new store openings, and fleet evolution, maximizing productivity per square foot and supporting long-term sales growth. 

• Diagnose store level opportunities through data, observation, and customer insight; translate complexity into clear, actionable solutions. 

• Track sales impact and execution progress; communicate results, insights, and best practices to influence adoption across the district. 

• Provide fixture schematics and space direction in partnership with Store Design, Allocation, Inventory, and cross functional partners. 

• Identify opportunities to simplify tools, improve processes, and increase operational efficiency, advocating for changes that benefit store teams and customers. 

• Lead change by reinforcing clarity, focus, and accountability during periods of transformation. 

CORE COMPETENCIES 

Customer Focus: Builds strong relationships and delivers customer centric merchandising solutions by designing space and presentation strategies that improve ease of shop, clarity, and engagement. 

Drives Results:  Consistently delivers measurable sales and productivity gains by prioritizing high impact merchandising actions, optimizing space utilization, and maintaining focus on outcomes. 

Builds Trust: Gains the confidence and trust of District Directors, Store Leadership, and district, region and cross functional partners through credibility, consistency, and transparent communication. 

Self-development: Actively seeks feedback and new perspectives to refine merchandising strategy, leadership effectiveness, and business impact. 

Develops People: Places a high priority on developing merchandising capability in others by coaching leaders, reinforcing standards, and enabling independent decision-making. 

Manages Complexity: Asks the right questions to accurately analyze situations, balancing multiple priorities, store formats, and initiatives while maintaining clarity and direction. 

Decision Quality: Makes sound merchandising decisions by integrating data, experience, and customer insight; considers both short-term impact and long-term sustainability. 

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES 

• Advanced store merchandising and space optimization expertise 

• Strong coaching, facilitation, and influence skills across leadership levels 

• Clear, effective written and verbal communication 

• Proficiency in MS Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, OneDrive, AutoCad preferred) 

QUALIFICATIONS 

• Leadership and store merchandising expertise/understanding there is a science to the art 

• Rack experience preferred, but not required   

• Proven ability to lead through influence at a multistore or district level 

• Strong coaching mindset with experience developing leaders 

• The ability to lead through influence  

• Strong teaching and coaching skills within all levels of leadership 

LOCATION REQUIREMENTS 

• Ability to travel up to 60% of the time 

We’ve got you covered…

Our employees are our most important asset and that’s reflected in our benefits. Nordstrom is proud to offer a variety of benefits to support employees and their families, including:

• Medical/Vision, Dental, Retirement and Paid Time Away

• Life Insurance and Disability

• Merchandise Discount and EAP Resources

A few more important points...

The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It’s not all-inclusive. There may be additional duties, responsibilities and qualifications for this job.

For Los Angeles or San Francisco applicants: Nordstrom is required to inform you that we conduct background checks after conditional offer and consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with legal requirements per Los Angeles, Cal. Muni. Code 189.04 and the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. For additional state and location specific notices, please refer to the Legal Notices document within the FAQ section of the Nordstrom Careers site.

Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation should contact the nearest Nordstrom location, which can be identified at www.nordstrom.com. 

Please be mindful that there may be legal notices and requirements related to this job posting that are specific to your state. Review the Career Site FAQ’s for relevant information and guidelines.

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Pay Range Details

The pay range(s) below has been provided in compliance with state specific laws. Pay ranges may be different for other locations. 
Pay offers are dependent on the location, as well as job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

$67,000.00 - $111,000.00 Annual

 

 

This position may be eligible for performance-based incentives/bonuses. Benefits include 401k, medical/vision/dental/life/disability insurance options, PTO accruals, Holidays, and more. Eligibility requirements may apply based on location, job level, classification, and length of employment. Learn more in the Nordstrom Benefits Overview by copying and pasting the following URL into your browser: https://careers.nordstrom.com/pdfs/Ben_Overview_16.pdf

 

 

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