Brand Merchandising and Assortment Planning Specialist

Brand Merchandising & Assortment Planning Specialist

Location: On-site at a major global consumer brand headquarters

Schedule: Hybrid, 4 days on-site / 1 day remote

Duration: Approximately 6 months

Employment Type: Contract

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Brand Merchandising & Assortment Planning Specialist to support merchandising and go-to-market initiatives for a leading global consumer brand.

In this role, you will help develop and execute consumer-right assortments that meet marketplace needs, create product differentiation, and drive incremental growth. You will partner closely with product, merchandising, sales, and other cross-functional teams to determine the right products, assortments, and distribution strategies for specific retail channels and accounts.

The ideal candidate is highly detail-oriented, comfortable working in ambiguity, and able to turn marketplace and consumer insights into actionable merchandising decisions.

What You'll Do

• Develop and finalize category and assortment plans based on consumer insights, marketplace trends, and business objectives.
• Evaluate product assortments to ensure the right products are available in the appropriate retail formats, channels, and accounts.
• Partner with product, merchandising, sales, and cross-functional teams to determine the optimal product assortment for specific accounts and channels.
• Support go-to-market and product merchandising activities, helping translate category strategy into marketplace execution.
• Identify and resolve issues related to product flow, pricing, distribution, and assortment.
• Help ensure category vision is effectively translated to the retail floor and results in profitable, consumer-relevant assortments.
• Support product allocation and placement decisions across channels and accounts.
• Analyze marketplace and product information using Excel and other analytical tools to inform recommendations.
• Communicate merchandising strategies, recommendations, and insights to internal stakeholders.
• Present findings and recommendations to cross-functional and internal audiences.
• Navigate ambiguity and changing priorities while maintaining strong attention to detail and execution.

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years of relevant merchandising experience, ideally within retail, consumer products, apparel, footwear, sporting goods, or a similar industry.
• Strong understanding of assortment planning, product merchandising, category strategy, and retail execution.
• Excellent Excel and analytical skills with the ability to use data to support business decisions.
• Strong marketplace awareness and understanding of consumer and retail trends.
• Ability to work effectively in ambiguous and fast-moving environments.
• Highly detail-oriented with strong organizational and problem-solving skills.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration and team-oriented mindset.
• Excellent communication skills and comfort presenting to internal audiences.
• Bachelor's degree preferred, but not required; equivalent professional experience will be considered.

Nice to Have

• Experience with assortment visualization or visual merchandising.
• Prior in-store or brick-and-mortar retail experience.
• Experience with product allocation, account-specific assortments, or channel-level merchandising.
• Experience supporting sports, footwear, apparel, or sporting goods categories.
• Go-to-market or product management experience.
• Experience working with sales teams to determine product assortments for specific accounts.
• Experience with soccer or sport-specific merchandising.
• Previous experience supporting a large global consumer brand.

Why This Role

This is an opportunity to work at the intersection of consumer insights, merchandising, product, sales, and retail strategy. You'll have a direct role in shaping product assortments and helping determine how products reach consumers across the marketplace.

If you're a merchandising professional who enjoys combining data, consumer insight, marketplace awareness, and cross-functional collaboration to make better product decisions, we'd love to hear from you.

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