Associate Buyer Luxury

Starboard Cruise Services • Doral, FL

76d

About The Position

The Starboard Luxury Associate Buyer, in partnership with the Head of Merchandising, is responsible for developing the strategic vision, business strategy, and merchandise assortment plan for a portfolio of programs within the Luxury Division, focusing on artisanal and luxury goods that tie to our ships’ global itineraries and destinations. Our luxury portfolio is a rapidly growing business, the Associate Buyer – Luxury Division is a key role to help define the luxury assortment strategy. The position develops customer-centric assortment plans based on an intimate understanding of guest demographic and itineraries and marrying a strong eye in the market with data-driven analysis. A typical day for this role might include a download of the merchandising strategy for seasonal itineraries for a specific cruise line, negotiating terms with a vendor, meeting colleagues to agree on how to bring a new product assortment to life, and analyzing and entering a new pricing strategy for a growing business. The ideal candidate can balance strategic and operational tasks, thrive in a fast-paced environment, and isn’t afraid to wear many hats.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 3-5 years of demonstrated experience in merchandising/buying at a multi-brand retailer, Luxury a plus.
• Strong analytical skills (Excel wiz) with financial and operational competence.
• Experience communicating an assortment plan within an editorial theme or lifestyle context.
• Entrepreneurial mentality and the ability to adapt quickly.
• Resilience, tenacity, high energy.
• Strong communication and negotiation skills, both in-person and through modern tools and platforms.
• Demonstrated ability to be flexible and balance priorities.
• Creative, innovative, and solution oriented.
• Strong taste level and a passion for product.
• Knowledge of, and curiosity to learn more about what the customer will need and desire from one part of the world to the next.
• Leadership and influencing skills to be effective in a matrixed organization with geographically dispersed teams.
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills.
• Exceptional social skills, with a focus on rapport-building, listening and questioning skills.
• Strong documentation skills.
• Ability to absorb and retain information quickly.
• Ability to present ideas in easily understood non-technical language.
• Highly self-motivated and directed.
• Possesses keen attention to detail.
• Confirmed analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Prioritizes and implements tasks in a high-pace environment.
• Successful experience working within a team.

Responsibilities

• Conceptualize and implement merchandise strategy for customer-centric retail experiences relevant to each cruise line.
• Source, develop and maintain strong vendor relationships across global luxury brands, small artisanal vendors, and international brands offering luxury products connected to itinerary destinations.
• Support Starboard Resort with luxury resort destination buying and destination curation partnership across all resort types.
• Consistently evaluate the assortment and react to in-season performance/trends.
• Optimize SKU count within each area of business to ensure appropriate allocation of breadth & in each program based on ship profile, itinerary, and volume.
• Establish deliberate product life cycles to handle replenishment, inventory flow, markdown schedules, and planned obsolescence.
• Partner with the Sr. Manager, Luxury Retail to understand guest demographic, itinerary planning, and retail needs.
• Work closely with Luxury Planning Manager to convey assortment and itinerary-based product life cycle strategies.
• Partner with supply chain and logistics colleagues to identify fulfillment strategies to optimize inventories.
• Collaborate with Visual Merchandising, Marketing, and Events/Experiences team to creatively drive sales.
• Position your area of responsibility to meet or exceed financial targets.
• Achieve profitability goals by landing favorable margins, terms, vendor support for key profit initiatives.
• Make assortment mix recommendations to drive sales through consistent and thorough SKU level analysis.
• Present monthly overview of performance, areas of success and opportunities, and short-term forward-looking strategies to merchandising and planning leadership.
• Build strong cross functional partnerships within the Luxury division and broader Merchandising organization.
• Help train and develop Coordinator.

Benefits

• Equal employment opportunities for all individuals.
• Equitable work environment free of discrimination and harassment.
• Commitment to diversity and inclusion.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees