Merchandising Manager
Brilliant
We are hiring a Merchandising Manager to help us source, curate, and manage our products and supplier relationships.
You will report to our VP of Client Services, working collaboratively with our dynamic team of Creative Partners and Project Managers to support continued growth and success of our rapidly-scaling company.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
Source amazing products for Brilliant.
You are a connoisseur of well designed, high quality products at all price points: the idea of identifying the best custom woven sock manufacturer for a variety of situations gets you pumped, just as much as the idea of attending retail markets to search for the trendiest new gifts for the holiday season.
- Follow retail trends closely
- Conceive of and drive initiatives around emerging product focus areas (for example, sustainability and diversity)
- Know the best place to go for all products under all situations
- Get to know the Brilliant product catalog inside and out, continually adding to it and polishing it to reflect available products and discontinuations
- Foresee supply chain issues
Manage Brilliant's supplier relationships.
- Establish and maintain good working relationships with suppliers; understanding each supplier's strengths and weaknesses, so as to minimize risk and help channel purchase orders to the best possible supplier
- Handle exceptions and issues individually and holistically, advocating for good outcomes for Brilliant and its clients while maintaining a healthy partnership with essential suppliers
- Drive pricing negotiations and identify margin opportunities
- Provide a competitive analysis on product offerings and prices as needed
- Manage international sourcing, acting as liaison to overseas factories
- Have experience in custom manufacturing and production
- Build out internal systems as needed to intelligently understand supplier strengths, weaknesses, track records, incentives and more as we scale
And finally, be a connector.
- Work with our Finance and Tech teams to develop smooth and efficient AR and PO reconciliation processes and maintain target margins
- Host educational sessions and produce knowledge-based content as needed to keep the team well-informed about products, Suppliers and related topics
REQUIREMENTS:
- At least 3 years experience in some combination of product merchandising and/or management, retail buying, product sourcing, procurement and supplier relations
- Understanding and empathetic of distributor/supplier relationship dynamics
- Ability to build and maintain positive, long-term relationships
- Self-starter who is flexible and willing to wear multiple hats at a growing company
- Enjoys communicating with different teams, navigates conflicts with strength and grace
- Detail-oriented, sweats the small stuff, interest in documenting details in an efficient manner
- Ability to “marshal resources” when necessary in order to achieve objectives, including an understanding of when this is and isn't necessary
Ideally, you will also have:
- A combination of large company and startup career experience - you can toe the line between knowing how larger orgs work and being nimble and thoughtful as you devise processes and systems at our smaller, quickly-growing company and our unique supplier mix
- Some exposure to the promotional products industry may be helpful, but is not a requirement
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