Buyer, Merchandise

The Buyer is the day-to-day owner of category performance, product newness, and assortment execution across 1-2 departments. As a merchant who blends trend fluency, product taste, and strong financial skills, the Buyer drives the seasonal and in-season management of their business while orchestrating cross-functional partners to bring owned brand and market brand strategies to life.

The role sits one level below the Senior Buyer and plays a critical part in scaling newness, design differentiation, and value. The Buyer partners tightly with Owned Brands, Sourcing, Planning, Supply Chain, Stores & eCom, and Marketing to deliver a compelling, consumer-obsessed assortment with speed.

Key Responsibilities

Category Ownership & Strategy Execution

• Own day-to-day category management, item-level productivity, and in-season decision-making for designated departments.

• Translate strategic direction from the DMM and Senior Buyer into actionable seasonal plans, assortment frameworks, and product stories.

• Identify immediate opportunities in trend, color, material, silhouette, and consumer behavior to inject newness and relevance into the assortment.

• Conduct competitive, marketplace, and style/price architecture analysis to maintain category authority.

Assortment Planning & Product Excellence

• Lead line reviews, SKU rationalization, and in-season adjustments to maintain balance between innovation, basics, design, and value.

• Partner with Product Design, Product Innovation, and Sourcing to develop owned brand items that are trend-right, margin-right, and uniquely differentiated.

• Ensure items meet brand standards and support innovation, storytelling, and price ladder consistency.

Vendor Management & Sourcing Partnership

• Manage day-to-day vendor communication, negotiations, costing rounds, and production updates.

• Support strategic vendor matrix decisions, helping scale partners that deliver speed, innovation, and strong value.

Financial Ownership & In-Season Management

• Own sales forecasting, in-season business management, and margin delivery for assigned departments.

• Partner with Planning on inventory strategy, OTB management, demand shifts, and risk/opportunity identification.

• Optimize pricing strategies, promotional plans, laddering, and margin levers to drive profitable growth.

• Monitor weekly KPIs (sell-through, turn, margin rate, receipt flow) and take action to course-correct quickly.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Act as the category orchestrator, ensuring alignment across Design, Product Innovation, Sourcing, Packaging, Planning, Supply Chain, Digital, Marketing, Stores and eCom.

• Drive go-to-market readiness: content needs, packaging coordination, visual merchandising direction, and launch cadence.

• Ensure on-time, accurate, and cohesive execution across channels.

Team Leadership & Talent Development

• Lead and develop Associate Buyers and/or Assistant Buyers.

• Provide day-to-day coaching, workload guidance, and skill-building in trend, negotiation, financial acumen, and product taste.

• Model a culture of speed, curiosity, creativity, and accountability.

Required Experience & Qualifications

• 4-7+ years of buying or merchandising experience in retail, ideally with owned brand or trend-driven categories.

• Strong product sense, trend awareness, design literacy, and consumer curiosity.

• Proven experience in assortment planning, vendor management, and financial analysis.

• Highly collaborative; thrives in fast-moving, cross-functional environments.

• Skilled in retail math, in-season management, negotiation, and product evaluation.

• Experience managing or mentoring junior talent preferred.

Success Profile:

• Product Obsessed: Constantly identifying newness and what's next.

• Trend Aware: Spots shifts early and acts with urgency.

• Financially Grounded: Understands the business inside-out and manages KPIs tightly.

• Design-Forward: Appreciates aesthetics, quality, and innovation.

• Collaborative Driver: Orchestrates cross-functional teams with clarity and speed.

• People Developer: Invests in junior talent and sets a high standard.

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