Merchandise & Planning Manager

Rylee and Cru Collective; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Rylee + Cru Collective is seeking a Merchandising + Planning Manager / Specialist to lead product strategy, seasonal line architecture, and assortment planning for its children's apparel brands in San Diego.

The role bridges Design, Sales, Marketing, and Production, driving margin-aware line plans, Open-To-Buy alignment, and cross-channel inventory health across wholesale and direct-to-consumer channels.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in apparel and accessories merchandising with exposure to inventory or demand planning.
• Deep merchandising expertise in line architecture, SKU rationalization, and assortment building.
• Planning acumen with Open-To-Buy structures, margin targets, and inventory turn metrics.

Responsibilities

• Develop seasonal product strategy and line plans across multiple brands.
• Manage line lists, costing, delivery dates, and fabrications to align with cross-functional teams.
• Lead buy planning processes with Wholesale and DTC teams and present to leadership.
• Monitor sell-thru, inventory health, and replenishment across channels.

Skills

Line Architecture

SKU Strategy

Assortment Planning

Margin Management

Open-To-Buy (OTB)

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Excel Proficiency

ERP/OMS (NetSuite/Fulfil)

Tools

NetSuite

Fulfil

BI Tools

Job description

The Rylee + Cru Collective is seeking a Merchandising + Planning Manager / Specialist to lead product strategy, seasonal line architecture, and assortment planning across our portfolio of design-led children's apparel and accessories brands (Rylee + Cru, Quincy Mae, Noralee).

This role acts as the primary conduit between Design, Sales, Marketing, and Production, translating brand vision and market demand into profitable, highly productive seasonal line plans. While rooted deeply in product merchandising—SKU architecture, pricing/IMU discipline, style-level costing, and sell-thru analysis—this position also incorporates the analytical core of demand planning, financial Open-To-Buy (OTB) alignment, and channel inventory health across B2B (wholesale, key accounts) and B2C (ecommerce, owned retail) channels.

The ideal candidate is a product-first merchant with strong financial acumen—equally comfortable presenting a seasonal line narrative to leadership, refining margin strategies with Production, and partnering on demand forecasts with channel leaders.

Key Responsibilities

Core Merchandising & Product Strategy

• Line Architecture & SKU Strategy: Build and maintain seasonal product strategy documents (SKU count plans, comp style analysis, target retails, and target margins by category), integrating strategic input from Design, Sales, DTC, and Marketing.
• Assortment Planning & Merchandising Narrative: Build monthly assortment plans and product buy recommendations, presenting a clear product and margin narrative detailing key metrics: style counts, size breaks, color penetration, and price buckets for executive decision-making. Be strategic on where the collections are under/over-assorted, what’s duplicative, where we could expand and where they might be white space.
• Line List Management: Create and maintain seasonal line lists (Google Sheets) as the single source of truth for style numbers, statuses, costing, delivery dates, and fabrications—keeping Design, Production, and Planning aligned throughout development.
• Margin & Costing Discipline: Review style-level costing against target Channel IMU thresholds; proactively flag styles falling outside margin expectations to Department Leaders before styles are greenlit. Prepare comparative cost, margin, and MSRP analysis across channels.
• Line Plan Facilitation: Lead and facilitate divisional/brand seasonal line plans, ensuring Design, Sales, Product Development, and Production remain fully aligned on strategy and direction each season. Develop a channel specific assortment strategy across both DTC and Wholesale.
• Market Insights & Competitive Shop: Conduct ongoing competitive market research, comp shopping, and seasonal trend analysis to identify growth opportunities, fill product voids, and refine assortment architecture.
• Sell-In & Presentation Support: Prepare seasonal assortment, product narrative, and sell-in materials for senior management, key account presentations, and sales teams.
• Product Calendar Management: Maintain the seasonal product development calendar, communicating key milestone dates and timeline updates to cross-functional partners.
• Open-to-Buy (OTB) Alignment: Build and maintain the seasonal Open-to-Buy model—reconciling pre-season sales, margin, unit receipts, and inventory turn targets alongside cross-functional leaders.
• Buy Process Facilitation: Facilitate the seasonal buy planning process with Directors of Wholesale, B2C Ecommerce, and B2C Retail, unifying channel demand forecasts into a consolidated buy strategy for leadership approval.
• Sell-Thru & Historical Performance Analysis: Perform quarterly recaps analyzing historical sell-thru, category productivity, and customer data to inform future buy strategies and minimize aged-inventory exposure.
• In-Season Inventory Health & Replenishment: Monitor in-season inventory flow across channels, flagging at-risk inventory, chase/reorder opportunities, and core style replenishment needs to channel heads.

Requirements

• 6+ years of experience in apparel and accessories merchandising with integrated exposure to inventory or demand planning (children's or fashion apparel preferred).
• Deep Merchandising Expertise: Proven track record in line architecture, SKU rationalization, assortment building, IMU/pricing strategy, and product lifecycle management.
• Planning Acumen: Working knowledge of Open-To-Buy (OTB) structures, margin targets (GM%), and inventory turn metrics.
• Systems & Data Skills: Advanced Microsoft Excel proficiency (pivot tables, XLOOKUP/INDEX-MATCH, data modeling); experience with ERP/OMS platforms (e.g., NetSuite, Fulfil) and BI tools strongly preferred.
• Modern Planning Tools: Familiarity evaluating or using AI-powered forecasting tools to improve accuracy and reduce manual analysis.
• Production Literacy: Comfortable maintaining line lists end-to-end, reading garment cost breakdowns, and understanding FOB dynamics.
• Multi-Channel Experience: Direct experience supporting both Wholesale (B2B) and DTC/Ecommerce (B2C) routes to market.
• Cross-Functional Operator: Outstanding collaboration skills with the ability to bridge creative (Design) and commercial (Sales, Production, Marketing) teams.