eCommerce Merchandising Lead

Slate Auto•Troy, MI

3d•$96,000 - $132,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Slate is seeking an eCommerce Merchandising Lead with a customer-first approach to lead the expansion of their accessory, wrap, and merchandise product catalog. This role will focus on defining and executing the digital shelf strategy, collaborating with digital, design, marketing, commercial, and product teams to present products in compelling, conversion-driven ways. The ideal candidate will thrive in a fast-paced startup environment, be comfortable with ambiguity and competing priorities, and be the first dedicated merchandising hire. This role involves setting the strategy and work plan, executing the work, and eventually defining standards and hiring a team as the function scales. The role reports directly to 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.
8+ years in ecommerce merchandising, site merchandising, or catalog management, including experience setting standards.
Experience building a function or workstream from scratch.
Experience mentoring merchandisers or setting standards for a team.
Direct, hands-on experience in Akeneo (PIM) or comparable PIM (Salsify, inRiver).
Experience merchandising both hard goods and apparel or soft goods, including variant-heavy catalogs (vehicle fitment, colorways, size/color grids).
High attention to detail and judgment to define quality standards for high-volume structured data work and SOPs.
Self-starter who navigates ambiguity and competing priorities without waiting for direction.
Ability to communicate easily across creative, technical, and commercial teams.
Strong analytical mindset, comfortable using tools like Google Analytics or Looker.
Passion for consumer products and an eye for how presentation influences purchase behavior.
Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a permanent basis.

Nice To Haves

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

Responsibilities

Build the merchandising function from the ground up as a team of one, setting the strategy, work plan, and operating rhythm.
Define roles and quality standards for a merchandising team, then hire, mentor, and grow the team as the catalog scales.
Own the merchandising strategy across the ecommerce experience, ensuring consistent, on-brand product storytelling that drives awareness and conversion.
Audit the accessory, wrap, and merchandise catalog in Akeneo (PIM) to identify data quality gaps and define/enforce field-level standards (title formats, character limits, required attributes, image specs).
Partner with product managers to align on catalog inputs and eliminate siloed approaches.
Perform hands-on product setup and launch work, including data entry and digital asset coordination.
QA English and Spanish product content for accuracy.
Utilize AI to improve 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 with go-to-market moments, launches, and seasonal pushes against live inventory.
Analyze product performance data (traffic, engagement, conversion) and translate findings into merchandising improvements.
Partner with UX and engineering to prioritize site enhancements that improve the shopping journey.
Travel between Slate office sites (5–10% average) to support team and project work.