Senior Merchant (Kids' Footwear)

Location: Beaverton, OR
Contract length: ~3 months
Schedule: Hybrid in Beaverton, OR (WFH Fridays)
Pay: $36-41.34/hr, DOE

The Planet Group is looking for a Senior Merchant (Kids' Footwear) to join our well-known retail brand on a roughly 3-month contract! This role is 40 hours per week and will be hybrid in Beaverton, OR, working remotely on Fridays. 

Senior Merchant (Kids' Footwear) Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher, or a combination of relevant education, experience, and training
• 4+ years of experience in Footwear, Apparel, Equipment, or relevant consumer product merchandising, product creation, and/or retail within a vertical, multi brand, or digital environment
• Strong command of retail and digital metrics including sell through, margin, full price realization, weeks of supply, bookings, and inventory productivity
• Proven ability to translate consumer, sales, trend, and marketplace insights into in season actions and long term channel strategies
• Experience preparing seasonal, channel specific tools and storytelling that clearly articulate priorities to Sales and marketplace partners
• Demonstrated ability to build strong working relationships across a matrixed North America organization
• Strong communication and influencing skills, with high attention to detail and consistency in execution
• Passion for footwear and kids’ sport who enjoys moving at the pace of retail and serving the diverse North America consumer
• Strong channel acumen, analytical rigor, and a solution oriented mindset, while contributing to an inclusive and collaborative team environment
• Clear understanding of the North America marketplace landscape across wholesale and Direct channels
• Ability to convert product strategies into actionable, channel specific assortments

Senior Merchant (Kids' Footwear) Description:

• Work closely with fellow North America Channel Merchants and cross functional partners across North America Product Merchandising, Sales, Planning, Brand, and Marketplace teams
• Collaborate with Finance, Operations, and Insights & Analytics, leveraging quantitative and qualitative business reporting—including sales, inventory, bookings, and consumer behavior metrics—to inform decisions and drive results across the North America marketplace
• Own the Kids Sportswear Footwear channel offering end to end and managing multiple seasons simultaneously
• Build consumer centric, channel specific assortment plans for Kids Footwear and Apparel across North America, blending fact based analysis with intuitive product storytelling
• Own the translation of product strategies into clear assortments by channel and tier, ensuring alignment to consumer needs, account realities, and capacity constraints
• Manage multiple seasons concurrently, using in market performance, bookings, and partner feedback to inform future seasonal decisions
• Play a critical role during key moments such as Go to Market sales meetings as well as account sales meetings, ensuring Sales teams are equipped with clear assortments, priorities, and narratives to drive confident sell in
• Own the translation of North America product strategies into clear, channel  and tier specific assortments, preserving consumer intent while reflecting capacity, door realities, and account needs
• Serve as the single point of accountability for the final North America channel view
• Apply deep understanding of North America wholesale, Direct, and specialty channel dynamics to determine where product should live, how it should scale, and when to advocate for incremental opportunities—balancing growth, profitability, and brand consistency
• Partner closely with North America Sport Merchandising, Sales, SSDs, Planning, and Brand teams to synthesize inputs, clarify priorities, and influence strong channel outcomes through collaboration, clarity, and trust
• Lead complex, overlapping seasonal workflows from MAR through GTM, OED, and post GTM, ensuring clean handoffs, on time deliverables, and shared clarity on what is final versus in progress for channel partners
• Equip Sales and SSD partners with channel specific assortments, narratives, and tools that enable confident sell in, reduce friction at key moments, and clearly communicate core, priority, and opportunistic product offerings
• Leverage bookings, in market performance, and partner feedback across North America to deliver actionable insights, refine channel strategies, and strengthen future seasonal assortments and ways of working