VP, Product Management - Commercial Systems

Five Below

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

JOB DETAILS
SKILLS
Analysis Skills, Budget Management, Business Administration, Capacity Management, Coaching, Communication Skills, Conflict Resolution, Continuous Improvement, Customer Experience, Establish Priorities, Expense Tracking, Finance, Forecasting, Information Technology & Information Systems, Interpersonal Skills, Investment Management, Leadership, Management Strategy, Mentoring, Merchandising, Multitasking, Negotiation Skills, Operations Security (OPSEC), Organizational Skills, Performance Metrics, Point of Sale (POS) Systems, Presentation/Verbal Skills, Pricing, Problem Solving Skills, Product Development, Product Engineering, Product Lifecycle, Product Management, Product Planning, Product Strategy, Productivity Management, Project/Program Coordination, Project/Program Management, Retail, Return on Investment (ROI), Revenue Growth, Risk, Risk Management, Security Infrastructure, Strategic Planning, Succession Planning, Technical Delivery, Technical Leadership, Total Cost of Ownership, User Experience Design (UXD), Writing Skills, eCommerce
LOCATION
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
POSTED
30+ days ago

At Five Below our growth is a result of the people who embrace our purpose: We know life is way better when you are free to Let Go & Have Fun in an amazing experience, filled with unlimited possibilities, priced so low, you can always say yes to the newest, coolest stuff! Just ask any of our over 27,000 associates who work at Five Below and they’ll tell you there’s no other place like it. It all starts with our purpose and then, The Five Below Way, which is our values and behaviors that each and every associate believes in.

It’s all about culture at Five Below, making this a place that can inspire you as much as you inspire us with big ideas, super energy, passion, and the ability to make the workplace a WOWplace!

POSITION SUMMARY

The VP, Product – Commercial Systems is a senior IT and business leader accountable for driving product-led value delivery across Five Below’s Stores, Digital (ecommerce and Omni) and Merchandising Planning and Allocation (MP&A) domains. This role ensures customer- and crew-facing technology delivers differentiated experiences, improves productivity, and directly supports revenue growth and store performance.

This leader owns the end-to-end product strategy, roadmap, and outcomes for their domains, serving as the single-threaded executive accountable for value realization—from idea through adoption and ongoing optimization. The role partners deeply with business executives, Engineering, Operations, Security, and Finance to ensure solutions are scalable, secure, cost-effective, and outcome-driven.

This leader owns the vision, strategy, and outcomes for the company’s most visible and revenue-impacting products, ensuring seamless integration across physical and digital experiences while maintaining scalability, reliability, and cost discipline.

KEY DEPARTMENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Product Strategy & Customer-Centric Delivery

  • Define and execute product vision, strategy, and roadmaps aligned to the LRP across Stores, Digital, and MP&A.
  • Establish clear outcome-based goals tied to revenue growth, conversion, basket size, store productivity, and customer experience.
  • Champion customer- and crew-centric design, ensuring intuitive, reliable, and scalable experiences across all channels.
  • Own value realization, ensuring products deliver measurable benefits—not just features or project milestones.
  • Balance near-term business wins with long-term platform scalability, resilience, and total cost of ownership.

Domain Ownership

  • Stores: Product leadership for POS, store systems, labor optimization, checkout evolution, and in-store experience platforms.
  • Digital: End-to-end ownership of eCommerce, mobile, omnichannel, fulfillment, and customer engagement platforms.
  • Merchandising Planning & Allocation: Product strategy for assortment planning, pricing, allocation, and planning analytics.

Product Lifecycle & Operating Model

  • Own discovery, prioritization, roadmap planning, delivery, launch, adoption, and ongoing optimization.
  • Balance transformational initiatives with continuous improvement using an “IT of Two Speeds” delivery model.
  • Partner closely with Engineering to ensure solutions are scalable, resilient, secure, and peak-ready.

Stakeholder & Executive Engagement

  • Act as the primary product partner to senior business leaders across Stores, Digital, and MP&A.
  • Lead Quarterly Domain Board reviews and recurring Strategy & Execution Progress (SEP) reviews.
  • Communicate product strategy, trade-offs, progress, risks, and outcomes to the CIO, IT Leadership Team, and First Team.

Financial & Portfolio Management

  • Own product investment planning, budgets, and forecasts for assigned domains.
  • Prioritize work based on ROI, business impact, and capacity, ensuring disciplined spend and transparency.
  • Track and report on product KPIs, including adoption, value delivered, product maturity, and total cost of ownership.

People & Leadership

  • Build, lead, and develop high-performing Product Directors and Product Managers.
  • Establish clear role expectations, career paths, and performance standards aligned to the Product Management competency model.
  • Coach leaders to operate as accountable owners of outcomes, not coordinators of projects.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AS MEMBER OF ITLT

  • Serve as an active member of the IT Leadership Team, jointly accountable for executing Five Below’s IT Strategy, Long-Range Plan (LRP), and enterprise technology priorities—not just domain outcomes.
  • Contribute to enterprise-level decision-making across portfolio prioritization, investment trade-offs, operating model design, and capacity planning to ensure IT delivers maximum business value at scale.
  • Partner with the CIO and ITLT peers to shape and evolve IT strategy, product operating models, talent strategy, and governance practices across Product, Engineering, Operations, Security, and Infrastructure.
  • Own cross-domain alignment and dependency management, proactively resolving conflicts and ensuring integrated, end-to-end solutions rather than siloed products.
  • Uphold and model IT leadership standards, including clarity of ownership, outcome-based accountability, disciplined execution, and transparent communication with the First Team and business executives.
  • Act as an enterprise steward of technology investment and risk, balancing speed, innovation, security, reliability, and cost discipline across the full IT portfolio.
  • Develop future IT leaders by coaching and mentoring product and technology leaders, strengthening succession planning and leadership bench depth across the organization.

QUALIFICATIONS

  • Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or relevant graduate degree preferred.

WORK EXPERIENCES

  • 10+ years of experience in Product Management or Product-led delivery roles.
  • 5+ years in senior product or technology leadership roles.
  • Strong experience in Stores, Digital, and MP&A
  • Retail experience strongly preferred.

SKILLS

  • Ability to analyze and synthesize information concisely and make recommendations on strategies to resolve issues.
  • Strategic & creative thinker with the ability to craft complex product roadmaps
  • Able to formulate and implement global strategies for products
  • Demonstrated knowledge of operational issues with (portfolio management, risk management, etc.)
  • Able to formulate and implement global strategies for products
  • User-centric mindset with the capability of translating that into the product development process
  • Understand the user experience and design
  • Able to distill product roadmaps into digestible and relevant presentations to key customers and partners
  • Excellent communication skills (oral and written).
  • Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities.
  • Strong project management, leadership, and negotiation skills needed.
  • Strong skills in conflict resolution and problem-solving skills.
  • Results-oriented with strong analytical and interpersonal skills.
  • Creative problem solver who thrives when presented with a challenge.

Five Below is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Explore our benefits site to discover all the perks and support we offer! From health coverage to financial and personal wellness, we've got you covered—check it out today! benefits.fivebelow.com/public/welcome

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

 

Five Below is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation because of a disability for any part of the employment process, please submit a request and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. crewservices.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

BE AWARE OF FRAUD! Please be aware of potentially fraudulent job postings or suspicious recruiter activity by persons that are posing as a Five Below recruiters.  Please confirm that the person you are working with has an @fivebelow.com email address.  Additionally, Five Below does NOT request financial information or payments from candidates at any point during the hiring process.  If you suspect fraudulent activity, please visit Five Below's Career Site to verify the posting. fivebelow.com/info/careers

About the Company

F

Five Below

Founded in 2002, Five Below(NASDAQ: FIVE) is a rapidly growing specialty value retailer offering a broad range of trend-right, high-quality merchandise targeted at the teen and pre-teen customer. Five Below offers a dynamic, edited assortment of exciting products, all priced at $5 and below, including select brands and licensed merchandise across a number of category worlds: Style, Room, Sports, Tech, Crafts, Party, Candy and Seasonal (which we refer to as "Now"). Five Below's dynamic assortment of merchandise includes everything from sporting goods, games, fashion accessories and jewelry, to hobbies and collectibles, bath and body, candy, snacks and beverages, room décor, stationery and school supplies, books, cell/tablet accessories, novelty and "gag" items, and seasonal items. Five Below believes it is transforming the shopping experience of its target demographic with a unique merchandising strategy and high-energy retail concept that their customers consider fun and exciting.

Five Below has reinvented the traditional five-and-dime for today's younger generation, and has launched a new retail category. At Five Below, "Whatever You Got Will Buy A Lot."

As of 2013, Five Below's sales will exceed $500 Million with 304 stores in 19 states. We are experiencing tremendous success and growth. Our corporate offices are based in Center City Philadelphia.

Five Below was founded by David Schlessinger, creator and founder of Encore Books and Zany Brainy along with Tom Vellios, former CEO of Zany Brainy, and current CEO of Five Below.

COMPANY SIZE
2,500 to 4,999 employees
INDUSTRY
Retail
FOUNDED
2002