Buyer, Custom Home - San Diego SSC

The Opportunity

As a Buyer, you will turn merchandising strategy into compelling product by discovering, developing, sourcing, and managing assortments that are relevant to our guests, authentic to our partners, and commercially strong.

This role is ideal for a curious, decisive merchant with strong product instinct, financial fluency, and the drive to find what is next. You will build trusted vendor relationships, bring forward well-developed recommendations, manage product from idea through execution, and partner with Division Merchandise Managers, General Merchandise Managers, Creative, Planning, and support teams to deliver differentiated assortments with discipline and speed.

As the custom Home department buyer, you will develop bespoke, location-specific giftables for our guests and partners. From soft home textiles and tabletop to collectible ornaments and figurines, you will translate broader content direction from the GMMs into compelling product assortments, working closely with your DMM, vendor partners, and Product Development to bring ideas to life. You will have the unique ability to develop products that balance creative vision with aesthetic, quality, and sales objectives, while exploring innovative, on-trend product types that can drive the business and scale through custom execution across cultural attraction and lifestyle retail locations. 

CURIOSITY
Stay close to guests, product, vendors, trends, and performance; ask thoughtful questions and continually search for what is next.

GENEROSITY
Share ideas, market intelligence, vendor capabilities, and learning across teams so the strength of the enterprise makes every business better.

CREATIVITY
Bring fresh product ideas and strong merchant judgment to every assortment, balancing differentiation, storytelling, value, and commercial performance.

Leadership Mandate

Own product discovery, development, vendor management, and buying execution within established categories and portfolio strategies. Bring a strong point of view, use data and market intelligence to improve decisions, and ensure products are brand-right, financially sound, on time, and ready to perform.

Core Responsibilities

Discover, Build, and Manage Assortments

• Source, develop, and manage product assortments aligned with portfolio strategy, partner identity, guest needs, category direction, and financial goals. Continuously discover products, vendors, brands, materials, trends, and market opportunities through research, competitive shopping, trade shows, showrooms, stores, and industry relationships.
• Bring a clear point of view to assortment reviews, respond constructively to editing and direction, and develop custom or proprietary product with Creative and Product Development.

Own Vendor Management and Buying Execution

• Build strong vendor relationships and lead day-to-day sourcing, product development, negotiation, and commercial communication for assigned categories. Negotiate cost, terms, minimums, lead times, delivery, and quality within established category strategy.
• Own execution from approved concept through order placement, partnering with Assistant Buyers and Merchandise Coordinators to ensure accurate information, clear handoffs, and timely follow-through. Escalate material opportunities or risks to the DMM.

Drive Product and Financial Performance

• Maintain a strong working knowledge of sales, per cap, cost of goods, inventory productivity, SKU and category performance, and new-product results. Use performance data to identify opportunities and recommend actions.
• Partner with Planning and Replenishment to understand inventory risks and tradeoffs, balancing guest relevance, differentiation, cost, quality, timing, and productivity.

Collaborate Across the Enterprise

• Partner with GMMs, Senior Merchandise Managers, and the DMM to understand strategy, partner context, assortment guardrails, product priorities, vendor opportunities, negotiation priorities, and enterprise leverage.
• Collaborate with the Creative Center of Excellence, Planning, Purchasing Operations, and Store teams. Share successful products, vendor capabilities, market intelligence, and learnings so strong ideas can scale where relevant.

Skills and Qualifications

• 3–5 years of experience in buying, merchandising, product development, retail, or a related field, with experience managing assortments, developing products, working with vendors, analyzing performance, and coordinating cross-functional initiatives. Equivalent combinations of experience and demonstrated capability may be considered.
• Strong project management skills, including the ability to organize priorities, manage timelines, track dependencies, and move multiple initiatives forward.
• Proficiency with Monday.com or similar project-management platforms, including maintaining project status, ownership, milestones, and deliverables.
• Advanced Excel skills with the ability to build reports, maintain data, analyze performance, identify trends, and translate findings into actionable recommendations.
• Strong understanding of merchandising, sourcing, vendor management, product development, negotiation, cost analysis, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Proficiency creating polished presentations in Canva and PowerPoint that communicate product strategies, assortments, financial insights, and recommendations.

Physical Requirements

• The physical demands described below are representative of those required to perform the essential functions of the role. Reasonable accommodations may be made as appropriate.
• Frequently sit, stand, walk, and handle products or samples; occasionally reach, stoop, kneel, crouch, or lift and move merchandise samples and materials. Travel as needed for stores, markets, trade shows, vendors, and product development.

Pay $80k - $85k DOE