Swell Men’s Buyer is a critical role in the company. Managing a multi-million dollar open to buy budget to drive continually growing sales of men’s apparel, shoes, gear and accessories on Swell.com. Responsibilities include assortment planning and buying in three distinct channels – surf wholesale brands, emerging surf brands and white/private label. The assortment is the foundation of the men’s execution of the Swell brand and is presented in the Swell catalog and online at Swell.com. This position is also responsible for managing vendor samples and the photography of these samples for both the web and catalog. Storytelling through merchandising within the catalog is also a key responsibility of this position as well as PO management, inventory and overseeing 2 support team members.

Position Summary:

• Maximizing sales, margin and brand perception through presenting a broad, but curated assortment of surf wholesale brands, emerging brands and white/private label.
• Develop category assortment strategies (for apparel, footwear, and accessories)
• Own and drive these strategies with an eye toward delivering exceptional product assortments to our customers while maximizing business performance and profitability
• Establish differentiation
• Craft and carry out pricing objectives and strategies, including discount/markdown guidelines
• Leverage industry knowledge to develop competitive market and pricing benchmarks
• Incorporate consumer insights into assortment strategies
• Foster strategic partnerships with our diverse vendor base of over 200 vendors
• Bolster performance and value through strategic vendor management and collaboration
• Collaborate with GM, Finance, Production/Merchandising, and Marketing to develop strategic plans, financial targets, investments, and trade show calendars (inc. the Mart)
• Develop first-rate category assortment planning dashboards to monitor and improve performance
• Develop broad seasonal merchandise themes for catalog and web content
• Work with visual merchandiser for in-studio and location photo shoots
• Provide feedback to production and visual merchandiser on collections/themes and image selection for catalog
• Management of our open-to-buy process
• Translate open-to-buy into tactical purchase plans and course-correction actions
• Provide mentorship and guidance to the Women’s Merchandise Team
• Step into the role of subject matter expert and single point of contact across the company

Qualifications:

• 5-7 years of direct line buying experience in men’s apparel, e-commerce preferred
• 2+ years of experience building and managing teams
• Bachelor’s degree in business or a related field
• Incredible interpersonal skills and talent for being a flexible mentor focused on team development
• Verifiable track record of expanding into new categories, driving revenue, and performing in a high-growth environment
• Demonstrated P&L experience with top-notch quantitative and analytical skills
• Proven excellence in driving markup, margin planning, open-to-buy, and inventory productivity
• Experienced and savvy negotiation prowess with outstanding vendor management skills
• Comprehensive knowledge of the women’s apparel business, with keen awareness of emerging trends
• Executive-level presentation skills paired with exceptional written and verbal communications skills
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced and deadline-driven environment
• Willingness to travel, including internationally

Send a cover letter, resume and references to jobs@swell.com.