Senior Merchandise Manager - San Diego

The Opportunity

Event Network creates retail experiences inside some of the country’s most memorable cultural, educational, and entertainment destinations. As Senior Merchandise Manager, you will translate portfolio product strategy into coordinated execution—connecting partners, Buyers, and cross-functional teams to bring distinctive merchandise experiences to life.

This role is ideal for an experienced merchant who combines product judgment and financial acumen with exceptional organization, communication, and relationship-building skills. You will know your partners deeply, confidently present assortments, challenge work that misses the vision, and keep complex priorities moving.

Your Leadership Mandate

Translate portfolio merchandise strategy into organized, high-quality execution. Serve as a first line of defense for product quality and partner-brand alignment; own the merchandising calendar and partner approval process; connect work across Buyers and cross-functional teams; and ensure assortments and initiatives are ready to move forward.

What Success Looks Like

• Build trusted partner relationships through strong communication, product knowledge, responsiveness, and follow-through.
• Edit and challenge assortments to ensure they are differentiated, cohesive, commercially relevant, and aligned with the vision.
• Keep seasonal priorities, approvals, presentations, and initiatives moving through clear timelines and coordination.
• Use cost of goods, sales, inventory, product, and partnership performance to strengthen decisions.

Core Responsibilities

Translate Strategy into Product Execution

• Translate portfolio and seasonal strategy into clear product briefs, assortment direction, priorities, and actionable plans.
• Own seasonal planning, including the product calendar, key milestones, Buyer deliverables, and cohesive product stories across categories.
• Review and edit assortments, approve routine decisions within guardrails, and escalate major concepts and initiatives.

Build Strong Partner Relationships

• Build trusted relationships and become deeply knowledgeable about each partner’s mission, brand, audience, priorities, and product expectations.
• Lead product presentations and partner approvals end to end, including submission, communication, tracking, revisions, follow-up, and closure.

Drive Product Quality and Business Performance

• Serve as a first line of defense for product quality, assortment cohesion, and partner-brand alignment.
• Use product and financial performance to identify opportunities, inform assortment decisions, monitor new-product results, and surface concerns to GMM, Planning, and Buying teams.

Coordinate and Lead Across Teams

• Hold Buyers accountable to timelines and deliverables while respecting their ownership of sourcing, vendor relationships, product development, and buying execution.
• Connect Buyers, Planning, Product Development, Visual Merchandising, Store Quality, Store Directors, Replenishment, E-commerce, Purchasing Operations, and other teams.
• Identify risks early, drive resolution, keep the GMM informed, and step in confidently when needed.

The Leader Who Will Flourish Here

• Highly organized, proactive, self-directed, and known for exceptional follow-through; anticipates needs rather than waiting for direction.
• Builds authentic relationships, communicates confidently, and presents with strong product taste, an exceptional eye for detail, and the confidence to challenge work that is not right.
• Thinks quickly, remains calm under pressure, connects financial insight to better product decisions, and leads through influence with an enterprise mindset.

Skills and Qualifications

• 5–7 years of experience in buying, merchandising, product development, retail, or a related field, with experience managing assortments, developing products, leading vendor relationships, analyzing performance, and guiding cross-functional initiatives. Equivalent experience may be considered.
• Strong merchandising, product strategy, financial analysis, partner relationship, presentation, communication, and cross-functional leadership skills.
• Strong project management skills, including prioritizing work, managing timelines, tracking dependencies, and advancing multiple initiatives.
• Proficiency with Monday.com or similar platforms, plus strong Excel, reporting, data organization, and analysis skills.
• Proficiency in Canva and PowerPoint, with a strong eye for layout, storytelling, accuracy, and executive polish.

Physical Requirements

 The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a team member to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 
While performing the duties of this job, the Senior Merchandise Manager

may be required to stand; walk and use hands to handle and or feel. The employee is occasionally required to reach with hands and arms; climb or balance and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.

 The Senior Merchandise Managermust occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.

Salary: 80,000/ yr plus profit sharing bonus