Associate Merchandise Manager - Military veterans preferred

Job Summary:

The Associate Merchandise Manager is responsible for driving the planning, development, and execution of merchandising strategies that align with the company’s brand and business objectives. This role combines product management with merchandising insight to optimize product assortment, improve sales performance, and enhance both internal and external customer experience.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop and manage the product roadmap in coordination with cross-functional teams including design, marketing, planning, and sourcing.
• Analyze consumer insights, sales trends, and competitive landscape to recommend product assortment strategies.
• Own the go-to-market strategy for product launches, including pricing, positioning, and promotional planning.
• Partner with the buying and planning teams to ensure appropriate inventory levels and forecast accuracy.
• Vendor Program Agreement negotiation and completion with oversight of merchandising manager.
• Monitor product performance metrics (sales, margin, turn, etc.) and adjust strategies to maximize profitability.
• Conduct post-launch evaluations and apply learnings to future product development cycles.
• Interface with vendors for catalog review process, keep/drop decisions, image requirements, deadline management and page proofing.
• Support Merchandising team with analysis, system maintenance, scheduling, reporting and cross functional coordination with other internal departments.
• Support Merchandising projects and key tasks, following the direction assigned by the Managers, Directors and VP.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Merchandising, or related field; MBA is a plus.
• 3–5 years of experience in product management, merchandising, or retail strategy.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with proficiency in Excel and merchandising tools.
• Exceptional communication and collaboration skills.
• Ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience in office supplies, consumer goods, or e-commerce industries preferred.
• Experience in wholesale distribution preferred.

Key Skills:

• Vendor Management for Assigned Suppliers
• Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
• Retail Math and Inventory Planning
• Competitive Analysis and Market Insights
• Cross-functional Collaboration
• Data-Driven Decision Making

Language Ability: 

Ability to read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, or governmental regulations.  Ability to write reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals.  Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, clients, customers, and the general public.

Reasoning Ability: 

Ability to work with mathematical concepts such as probability and statistical inference, and fundamentals of plane and solid geometry and trigonometry.  Ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations. Ability to calculate mark up and gross profit margins.

Supervisory Responsibilities: 

This job has no direct supervisory responsibilities.

Work Environment: 

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential function.