Marketing - Category Merchandising 2

Job Details: Job Title: Senior Merchandising Manager Kids Apparel Location: Beaverton, OR (Hybrid) Duration: 8+ Months Type: Full-Time, Contract Description: The Kids Sportswear Merchandising team is looking for a Senior Merchant who is ready to leverage their skills and experience in style intuition and balance this with a key Classification management. We are looking for an optimistic, curious, style-oriented, analytic, trend savvy Merchant, ideally with retail, MPU and/or Geo experience, that has an awareness and understanding of the consumer and the marketplace's ever changing dynamics. This role will leverage their skills in collaboration through multi-faceted partnerships with multiple functions within merchandising across the consumer sport groups. Strategic visioning, consumer expertise, and the ability to span across multiple seasons paired with influencing a point of view will be critical for this role. For Merchants, everything begins and ends with the consumer! We are looking for a consumerist with an affinity for product who enjoys the energy of moving at the pace of retail and our consumer. A successful Senior Merchant will contribute to an inclusive, positive, and progressive team dynamic. This candidate should possess an understanding of the consumer and marketplace landscapes. The candidate should also have a solid retail acumen and analytical skills. Working autonomously, agile, and solution-oriented, this role is responsible for driving the consumer product offering across the different merchandising dimensions. They will also influence the product offering End to End (from insights to adoption) as well as focusing on multi-season management of the most relevant Classification and innovative Product Concepts.

Top 5-7 Skills:

1. Apparel or relevant consumer product merchandising, product creation and/or retail 4+ years

2. Strong command of common retail and/or digital metrics (sell-through, margin, full price realization, weeks of supply, etc.)

3. Proven ability to translate consumer, sales, trend, and marketplace insights into in-season and long-term strategies

4. Strong communication skills and comfort navigating a cross-functional matrix with an emphasis on influencing skills

5. Attention to detail, understanding the importance of consistency

6. Self-sufficient, critical thinking, ability to build the right relationships

7. Balance art and science, have some aesthetic design POV (nice to have)

Requirements for the role:

• Bachelor's degree or higher, or combination of relevant education, experience, and training

• 4+ years experience in Apparel or relevant consumer product merchandising, product creation and/or retail in a vertical, multi-brand or digital environment

• Strong command of common retail and/or digital metrics such as sell-through, margin, full price realization, weeks of supply, etc.

• Proven ability to translate consumer, sales, trend, and marketplace insights into in-season and long-term breakthrough strategies

• Preparing seasonal tools to equip marketplace partners with an understanding of seasonal priorities

• Experience developing strong working relationships with teammates and cross-functional partners

• Great teammate and contributor, with an attitude and excitement to learn new things

• Strong communication skills and comfort navigating a cross-functional matrix with an emphasis on influencing skills

• Attention to detail, understanding the importance of consistency

• Build consumer-centric assortment plans with an understanding of the full marketplace, blending fact-based and intuitive inputs

• Participate in seasonal reviews & assortment building in partnership with marketplace account-focused merchants

• Balance multiple seasons

• Manage areas of assortment planning in depth during the seasonal process and gather consumer trends and marketplace insights from in-market seasons

• Continuously manage and maintain in seasonal tools and assortments as well as long term strategic line planning

• Self-sufficient, critical thinking, ability to build the right relationships, cross-functional skills, high level communication (written and verbal)

• Balance art and science, have some aesthetic design POV (nice to have)

• Fashion industry knowledge is preferred

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree or higher, or combination of relevant education, experience, and training

• 4+ years experience in Apparel or relevant consumer product merchandising, product creation and/or retail

• Or equivalent combination of education, experience, and training

Preferred Qualifications (Nice to Have):

• Balance art and science, have some aesthetic design POV

• Fashion industry knowledge is preferred

• Retail, MPU and/or Geo experience

What 2-3 traits does the successful person in the role have?

• Self-sufficient, critical thinking, ability to build the right relationships

• Cross-functional skills, high level communication (written and verbal)

• Balance art and science, have some aesthetic design POV (nice to have)

Mindlance is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in employment on the basis of Minority/Gender/Disability/Religion/LGBTQI/Age/Veterans.