Sr Merchandising Manager - Women's Apparel

POSITION SUMMARY 

The Sr Merchandising Manager, Women’s Apparel is a strategic leader responsible for driving the vision, growth and profitability of the BYLT women’s apparel business. This role will own the development and execution of the women’s merchandising strategy across categories, balancing customer insights, market trends, product innovation, financial performance, and inventory productivity to build a successful assortment. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

Merchandising Strategy

• Own and evolve the overall merchandising strategy and vision for the women’s business in alignment with BYLT’s brand positioning, growth objectives, and customer strategy


• Develop multi-season category strategies that identify opportunities for growth, profitability, market expansion and increased customer engagement


• Establish priorities, product strategies, and assortment objectives that balance customer demand, brand expression, innovation, and financial performance


• Lead merchandising strategies from initial line architecture through launch and in-season optimization


• Identify opportunities and develop strategies to expand category penetration, customer acquisition and retention


• Lead milestone meetings, line reviews, assortment reviews, and key business presentations

Assortment Planning

• Own assortment architecture and product strategy


• Partner closely with Design and Product Development to establish product direction and influence seasonal line plans from concept through commercialization


• Provide clear merchandising briefs and strategic direction to Design and Product Development based on customer insights, business performance and market opportunities


• Evaluate prototypes, samples, and product concepts to ensure alignment with merchandising strategy, customer expectations, quality standards, and commercial objectives


• Continuously evaluate product productivity and recommend assortment, pricing, placement, or lifecycle actions to maximize performance

Financial Management

• Own the financial performance of the Women’s business, including sales, gross margin, inventory, sell-through and inventory productivity


• Develop seasonal and annual financial strategies, sales plans, forecasts and business targets in partnership with Planning and Finance


• Analyze performance and proactively identify opportunities, risks, and actions required to achieve or exceed financial goals


• Lead open-to-buy and inventory optimization discussions, ensuring appropriate investment across categories, products and lifecycle states


• Present business performance, insights, and strategic recommendations to senior leadership

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE/SKILLS/EDUCATION:

• Bachelor’s degree in Merchandising, Business, Fashion or related fields


• 8-12+ years of progressive merchandising experience in women’s apparel (multi-channel preferred)


• Proven track record of developing and executing merchandising strategies that drive profitable growth


• Strong financial and analytical acumen, including experience with sales forecasting, margin management, open-to-buy, inventory productivity and assortment optimization


• Demonstrated ability to translate data, customer insights, and market trends into clear merchandising strategies and actions


• Exceptional communication, presentation, and storytelling skills with the ability to present complex business insights clearly to senior leadership


• Strong cross-functional leadership skills with the ability to build alignment and drive results through influence


• Deep understanding of women’s apparel, consumer behavior, market trends, competitive dynamics, and product lifecycle

PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT 

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions. While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to use hands or fingers, and handle or feel objects, tools, or controls. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit, and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is usually low to moderate. 

NOTE 

This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) incumbent in this position. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments. All duties and responsibilities are essential functions and requirements and are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. To perform this job successfully, the incumbents will possess the skills, aptitudes, and abilities to perform each duty proficiently. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health or safety of themselves or others. The requirements listed in this document are the minimum levels of knowledge, skills, or abilities. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an “at-will” relationship. 

BYLT provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any time without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristics protected by federal, state, or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.