eCommerce Merchandising Lead

Slate Automotive•Carson, CA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

At Slate, we’re building safe, reliable vehicles that people can afford, personalize and love—and doing it here in the USA as part of our commitment to reindustrialization. The spirit of DIY and customization runs throughout every element of a Slate, because people should have control over how their trucks look, feel, and represent them. We're looking for an eCommerce Merchandising Lead with a customer-first approach to lead the expansion of our accessory, wrap, and merchandise product catalog for Slate Auto. You'll focus on defining and executing our digital shelf strategy, working closely with the digital, design, marketing, commercial, and product teams to showcase our accessories, wraps, and merchandise in compelling, conversion-driven ways. You'll need to thrive in a fast-paced startup environment where your contributions have a direct impact on the company's direction and success, and not be hindered by ambiguity or competing priorities. You'll be our first dedicated merchandising hire: setting the strategy and the work plan, then doing the work to prove it out. This role has no direct reports at hire. As the catalog and the function scale, you'll define the standards a merchandising team will work to and, once headcount is approved, hire and lead a small team of eCommerce Merchandising Specialists. You'll work directly with leaders across digital, design, marketing, commercial, and product.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in business, marketing, merchandising, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience, plus 8+ years in ecommerce merchandising, site merchandising, or catalog management, including work that set the standards others followed.
Experience building a function or workstream from scratch, plus experience mentoring merchandisers or setting standards a team works to.
Direct, hands-on experience in Akeneo, our primary PIM. Deep experience in a comparable PIM (Salsify, inRiver) will be considered.
Experience merchandising both hard goods and apparel or soft goods, including variant-heavy catalogs: vehicle fitment, colorways, and size/color grids.
High attention to detail, with the judgment to define what good looks like in high-volume structured data work, and SOPs that non-technical people actually follow.
Self-starter who navigates ambiguity and competing priorities without waiting for direction, and communicates easily across creative, technical, and commercial teams.
Strong analytical mindset, comfortable using tools like Google Analytics or Looker to inform decisions, plus a passion for consumer products and an eye for how presentation influences purchase behavior.

Nice To Haves

Direct people-management experience is a plus.
Familiarity with Claude AI, Cowork, or Claude Code is a plus.

Responsibilities

Build the merchandising function from the ground up as a team of one, setting the strategy and then the work plan and operating rhythm to deliver on it.
Define the roles and quality standards a merchandising team will work to, then hire, mentor, and grow that team once headcount is approved, setting priorities and reviewing work as the catalog scales.
Own the merchandising strategy across the ecommerce experience: consistent, on-brand product storytelling that drives awareness and conversion.
Audit the accessory, wrap, and merchandise catalog in Akeneo, our primary PIM, to find gaps in data quality, then define and enforce the field-level standards that govern our digital shelf: title formats, character limits, required attributes, and image specs.
Partner with product managers across accessories, wraps, and merchandise to align on catalog inputs and eliminate siloed approaches.
Do the hands-on product setup and launch work, including data entry and digital asset coordination, yourself at first and through the team later.
QA English and Spanish product content for accuracy (translation service is in place).
Use AI to raise efficiency and output quality across catalog tasks, documentation, and content review.
Curate product pages, collection layouts, and featured placements with marketing and design, aligning the site to go-to-market moments, launches, and seasonal pushes against live inventory.
Analyze product performance data (traffic, engagement, conversion) and turn findings into merchandising improvements, partnering with UX and engineering to prioritize the site enhancements that improve the shopping journey.
Travel between Slate office sites (5–10% average) to support team and project work.
Have a lot of fun working on a dynamic and engaging team with a seat at the table.