Merchandiser (4 Month Contract)

At The North Face we dare to lead the world forward through Exploration. We were born to Explore, Disrupt and to Lead. We were born to Love Wild Places and to Spark Curiosity. We believe that exploration is a mindset - both on the mountain and off the mountain - and it infuses everything we do. As a community of explorers, we stay curious about new ideas, places, and people. 

So, before we get to the job details, take a minute to learn a little more about us – our values and our culture. If you can see yourself working side-by-side with a team of adventure-loving people, The North Face just may be the place for you.  

To learn more about our values and our culture, visit The North Face Careers or www.thenorthface.com.  

What will you do? 

A day in the life of a Merchandiser at The North Face looks a little like this. 

Partnering with the planning, allocation, and product teams, you will support the overall merchandising strategic direction for the full price retail channel through assortment and investment management. You need to be passionate about product, have great business acumen, embody curiosity, be able to react quickly, and thrive in a team environment.

As a Merchandiser, you will own the buys and assortment of non-apparel categories for the full price retail channel. You will work closely with the Sr Manager of Retail Merchandising to set strategies that meet the financial objectives of the channel and build relevant, consumer-led, insight informed, seasonal product assortments.

Let’s break down that day-in-the-life a bit more. 

• Oversee the assortment strategy for owned category/channel – Bags & Luggage, Footwear, Accessories, Equipment - assess Brand strategies in conjunction with DTC assortment needs to create best-in-class customer experience.
• Collaborate closely with Digital Buying counterpart to ensure a seamless omni-channel representation for your category.
• Create visual representations and planograms of assortment by month.
• Partner with Allocation team to determine appropriate clustering, presentation levels, and replenishment strategies for both pre-season and in-season.
• Ideate and brief in market relevant product category and collection opportunities to drive consumer loyalty.
• Analyze product performance and results of previous buy strategies – make tactical adjustments to increase profitability on future buys.
• Create and analyze product selling reports, channel hindsight’s, and ad-hoc reports to communicate business performance and product opportunities to management and key cross-functional partners.
• Seek to understand and solve for business complexities.
• Own all product classification and attribution work, following data governance principles strictly as outlined.
• Build a strong relationship with the Americas Category partner, collaborating on the assortment strategy for DTC.
• Engage in Go-to-Market (GTM) process – apply current selling and channel trend knowledge to support future product line architecture.
• Collaborate with Planning, Allocation, and Store Operations teams on reacting to business – drive sales and coordinate inventory movement.
• Work with the Visual on merchandising floor plans and planograms to maximize volume and visual presentation.
• Own the creation & implementation of newly required tools and processes to improve the team’s efficiency and buy accuracy.
• Visit stores to understand retail opportunities and gather feedback from field team.

What do you need to succeed? 

We all have unique skills that we bring to work and celebrate every day. For this role, there are foundation skills you’ll need to succeed and excel. Additionally, while formal education in a related field is great to have, we are most interested in your Minimum 4-5 years of prior experience in Retail Buying Strong written and oral communication skills.

The foundation skills you will need in this position are: 

• Intermediate to Advanced user of Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint
• Detail-oriented
• First-rate business acumen
• Sound decision-making skills and the facility to plan and prioritize short- and long-range projects
• Flexibility and Agility – quickly understand, assess & problem solve