Senior Buyer Footwear

JOB TITLE: Senior Buyer – Footwear

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE: Reports to Buying Manager

FLSA STATUS: Hourly, Full Time, Non-Exempt

DEPARTMENT: Buying – 722

LOCATION: In-office. Lynnwood, WA. Monday – Friday, 8am to 5pm

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1st, 2025

COMPENSATION: $33 - $40 per hour.

JOB SUMMARY:

Zumiez is looking for a strategic and trend-savvy Senior Footwear Buyer to lead our buying efforts across multiple categories. This role is responsible for owning their category, from curating compelling product assortments and managing vendor partnerships to developing talent and delivering strong business results. The ideal candidate brings deep knowledge of the footwear market, a sharp eye for emerging trends, and the ability to translate youth culture into product strategy. They are highly organized, analytically minded, and an effective communicator, with experience mentoring at least one direct report and a passion for driving growth in a fast paced, result driven environment.

KEY RESPONSIBILITES:

• Own the full buying lifecycle for men's and women's footwear across all channels, including product selection, vendor negotiations, delivery management, and in-season business decisions.
• Discover, incubate, and grow high impact vendor relationships, securing exclusives, resolving fulfillment and margin challenges, and supporting marketing campaigns.
• Drive category sales by identifying emerging trends early, leveraging internal and external data, and aligning the assortment with youth culture and consumer demand within a financial plan.
• Manage a significant portion of the footwear business independently, with full accountability for performance and strategic direction.
• Align weekly, monthly, seasonally, and annually with planning and finance to meet or exceed KPIs including sales, GMV, gross margin, sell through, markdowns, OTB, RTV, and inventory level.
• Lead all aspects of assortment planning and category strategy, balancing creative vision with business objectives.
• Maximize sales and margin opportunities through effective inventory management, pricing, markdown strategies, and assistance negotiations with vendors.
• Collaborate with marketing, e-commerce, and store operations to execute integrated content and promotion strategies across launches, social media, email, app rewards, catalogs, store signage, and events.
• Develop and communicate trend insights and strategic recommendations to cross functional teams and vendors to influence key decisions and drive business forward.
• React quickly to current business trends by proposing and executing plan changes in collaboration with leadership.
• Identify and implement improvements to buying processes to increase efficiency and accuracy.
• Recruit, hire, and train new members of the buying team while fostering a collaborative and high performing culture.
• Conduct performance reviews and manage direct reports to individual and team success.

JOB REQUIREMENTS & QUALIFICATIONS:

• 5 to 7 years of buying experience, including large volume or multi door retail environments.
• 1 year of management experience and a demonstrated ability to lead, mentor, and develop high performing teams is preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree preferred, or a combination of equivalent education and relevant work experience
• Exceptional understanding and application of retail math, business analysis, and key performance metrics.
• Has proven the ability to drive results through data informed decision making, vendor partnerships, and strategic assortment planning.
• Deep awareness of footwear culture, sneaker trends, the Zumiez customer, and youth market dynamics.
• Strong time management and organizational skills with the ability to prioritize and meet deadlines in a fast paced, dynamic, and multitasking environment.
• Should be a critical thinking and analytical person who can adapt quickly to changing business needs and problem solve.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to influence across cross functional teams and vendors.
• Demonstrated creativity, entrepreneurial mindset, and a passion for discove