Buyer Soft Goods, Footwear

CSC Generation

21d • $85,000 - $100,000

About The Position

At Backcountry, our mission is to connect people to their passions. Our four online stores—Backcountry, Competitive Cyclist, MotoSport and, SteepandCheap—aim to supply our customers with the gear, knowledge, and inspiration necessary to get out there and chase down life’s greatest moments. We do this by providing the biggest and best assortment of premium outdoor products, superior shopping experience, personalized Gearhead expertise, lightning-fast and accurate fulfillment, and inspirational, informative, and community-centered content.
As a Buyer Soft Goods, Footwear, you'll own the full lifecycle of a high-volume footwear category—from building seasonal assortments and managing vendor relationships to driving inventory performance and leading a small buying team. You'll bring together market instincts, analytical rigor, and a growing AI toolkit to make fast, well-informed decisions that directly impact revenue across our portfolio of brands.
This position will report into the Senior Director of Merchandising.

Requirements

• 3–5 years of Buying experience necessary; e-commerce and/or industry experience preferred
• Pro-active and decisive, can make informed decisions quickly in a fast-paced environment
• Strong analytical skills; effective negotiator
• Excellent organizational skills and extreme attention to detail
• Outstanding time management skills; ability to prioritize competing tasks/initiatives
• Team player with excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Firm understanding of Retail Math and Fundamentals
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (proficiency in Excel a must)
• Comfortable with AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, or similar)—able to prompt effectively, validate outputs critically, and identify where automation can remove friction from routine work; genuine curiosity about how AI is evolving and eagerness to grow with it
• Willingness and ability to travel as needed

Responsibilities

• Assortment Building: Sources & assesses merchandise for the Backcountry customer, taking into account market trends as well as current & historical selling history
• Vendor Relationships & Negotiations: Actively fosters/creates vendor relationships, negotiates discounts, terms, and promotional windows
• PO Management: Creates spreadsheets for SKU/PO worksheet creation, builds POs (Qty/Dollar/Style Allocation, Size/Color Breakout) under fast deadlines and ensures submission to vendors
• Promotions: Works closely with Marketing to create a selling strategy for inventory, brainstorms promotion concepts, identifying types of promotions and building calendar with marketing, reviews and reacts to performance, reviews boosting/sort order for promotions, ensures our assortment is visually merchandised to maximize sales
• Inventory Management: Reviews SKU/Brand/Category performance for future opportunities, establishes receipt flow, sets sell-through targets, works with Planning on an exit strategy for slow movers. Manages inventory through ASAPs (re-orders) and Edits (order reductions)
• AI-Powered Productivity: Applies AI tools across day-to-day work—from summarizing performance data and surfacing trends, to automating repetitive tasks and drafting assortment storytelling and content. Comfortable prompting general-purpose AI tools, evaluating and validating output, and integrating AI into workflows in ways that sharpen decision-making rather than shortcut it
• Team Management: Ensures utilization and development of Associate and Assistant Buyer(s), works closely with Planning partner and departmental team to ensure all initiatives and goals are met

Benefits

• Executive Access: Work directly with brand CEOs and senior leadership, solving real business problems and earning mentorship from top operators.
• AI-First Skill Building: Get hands-on with the most advanced AI tools in the market. From automation to prompt engineering, you’ll build a modern tech stack that sets you apart in any industry.
• Accelerated Career Path: High performers are quickly entrusted with greater responsibility, new challenges, and leadership opportunities across our portfolio of brands.
• Competitive benefits: Paid time off policies, 401(k)/RRSP match, medical/dental/vision and a variety of supplemental policies, and employee discounts at our portfolio companies

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees