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Position Summary
The Manager, Ecommerce Category Development will identify and advance new product opportunities across Mad Engine’s ecommerce network, including Amazon, Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, and other e-retailers. The role’s primary focus is to drive category expansion by introducing elevated apparel, including cut-and-sew products, and expanding assortments through existing and prospective licensed lifestyle and fashion brand partnerships.
Working across design, merchandising, purchasing, sales, and operations, this manager will translate trends and market signals into commercially sound product recommendations. Once products are ready to launch, the role will hand ownership to the sales and channel teams while staying connected to performance and using results to improve future recommendations.
Roles and Responsibilities
Category Strategy & Product Development
- Research fashion, consumer, marketplace, and competitive trends to identify product and category opportunities.
- Evaluate Mad Engine’s existing product portfolio and identify new product-development opportunities in elevated apparel, cut-and-sew products, and adjacent categories to expand assortments across ecommerce channels.
- Identify ecommerce growth opportunities within existing licensed lifestyle and fashion brand partnerships and recommend potential new brand partnerships aligned with consumer demand and category strategy.
- Develop product buy recommendations using consumer demand, channel fit, pricing, cost, margin potential, and competitive positioning.
- Recommend the optimal ecommerce channels for each product, including Amazon, Walmart, Target, Kohl's, and other e-retail partners.
- Present product, purchasing, and channel-placement recommendations to leadership for review and approval.
Product Development & Launch Execution
- Partner with design and product-development teams when new concepts, artwork, product updates, or specifications are needed.
- Manage approved products from concept through purchase-order execution and ecommerce launch readiness.
- Create and maintain project timelines, coordinate deliverables, and proactively resolve issues that could affect launch timing.
- Manage purchase-order details and collaborate with internal teams to support accurate and timely execution.
Sales Handoff & Performance Feedback
- Prepare clear assortment handoffs to sales and channel teams, including product positioning, pricing, timing, and placement recommendations.
- Review post-launch sales results with channel teams and apply performance insights to future product, category, and purchasing recommendations.
- Build a repeatable pipeline of category and licensed-brand opportunities that expands Mad Engine’s ecommerce offering beyond its current core assortment.
Minimum Qualifications
- Demonstrated professional experience in both apparel buying and merchandising.
- Strong knowledge of apparel trends, product construction, assortment development, pricing, and consumer behavior.
- Experience evaluating products and creating commercially sound buy recommendations.
- Understanding of ecommerce marketplaces and major e-retail channels such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Kohl’s.
- Strong analytical skills and the ability to use market, sales, pricing, and competitive information to support recommendations.
- Proven project-management ability, including managing multiple products, priorities, timelines, and cross-functional dependencies.
- Experience working effectively with design, product development, purchasing, operations, and sales teams.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present recommendations clearly to leadership.
- Excellent organization, follow-through, attention to detail, and commercial judgment.
- Proficiency with spreadsheets and standard business and project-management tools.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with elevated apparel, cut-and-sew products, licensed apparel, or fashion-driven ecommerce assortments.
- Experience developing assortments for multiple marketplaces or ecommerce retail partners.
- Familiarity with purchase-order processes and product lifecycle management.
- Experience identifying ecommerce opportunities within an existing wholesale or retail product portfolio.
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