Merchandising Manager - Category Management, Diamond Basics

Blue Nile•New York, NY

4h•$100,000 - $140,000

About The Position

Blue Nile is seeking a Manager of Category Management, Diamond Basics to drive the day-to-day strategy, performance, and evolution of its Diamond Basics assortment. The role combines merchant instincts, diamond and product knowledge, customer understanding, and analytical rigor to optimize the category. It owns category-level analysis and execution across assortment, pricing, natural and lab-grown mix, product lifecycle, inventory, and new product. The manager partners with the Director of Category Management and cross-functional teams to translate broader category strategies into actionable assortment, pricing, product, inventory, and merchandising plans. The role manages assortment across earrings, pendants, necklaces, and bracelets, shaping product architecture and identifying opportunities for expansion, innovation, rationalization, and improved performance. It also supports product launches from concept through post-launch analysis and recommends whether to scale, adjust, or exit products. The position requires a bachelor's degree in a related field and 3–5+ years of merchandising experience, with diamond expertise preferred. The stated annual base pay is $100,000–$140,000, determined based on experience and qualifications. Blue Nile states that it will not sponsor a new applicant for employment authorization for this position.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, Economics, Analytics, Marketing, or a related field.
3–5+ years of experience in merchandising.
Strategic mindset and ability to translate complex data into actionable business strategies.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with shifting priorities.
Strong analytical and quantitative skills.
Proficiency in tools such as Excel, SQL, Tableau, or similar platforms.
Strong leadership skills.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across departments.

Nice To Haves

Diamond expertise.

Responsibilities

Manage day-to-day performance and execution of the Diamond Basics businesses in partnership with the Director of Category Management.
Translate broader category strategies into actionable assortment, pricing, product, inventory, and merchandising plans.
Develop expertise in customer missions, shopping behaviors, and competitive dynamics for each category.
Maintain clear roles for natural and lab-grown diamonds and identify opportunities to evolve the mix based on customer demand and business performance.
Identify assortment white space across product type, diamond shape, carat weight, setting, metal, price point, and customer need.
Develop fact-based recommendations on where to invest, expand, test, maintain, reposition, or exit.
Balance assortment breadth and customer choice with a curated Blue Nile point of view.
Partner with Site Merchandising, Creative, Marketing, Technology, and Retail to present Diamond Basics clearly and intuitively online and in stores.
Establish product priorities for category pages, search, sort, recommendations, storytelling, marketing, and promotional placements.
Ensure hero products and key assortment stories receive appropriate visibility, balancing proven core products with strategic newness and growth opportunities.
Translate product differences into clear merchandising stories that help customers understand product value.
Provide Retail partners with product priorities and category stories for Client Advisors to use with customers.
Manage the Diamond Basics assortment across earrings, pendants, necklaces, and bracelets, including natural and lab-grown diamond offerings.
Build assortment architecture across carat weight, diamond type, setting, metal, silhouette, and price.
Cover core customer needs while identifying opportunities for newness and assortment expansion.
Establish good/better/best and opening/core/premium product ladders where appropriate.
Analyze SKU- and attribute-level productivity to identify gaps, duplication, and rationalization opportunities.
Identify and scale winning product concepts while ensuring long-tail SKUs have a strategic reason to remain in the assortment.
Partner with Demand Planning to align inventory depth and availability with product productivity and strategic importance.
Monitor category performance across revenue, units, average selling price, margin, conversion, inventory productivity, and customer engagement.
Analyze performance differences across natural and lab-grown, preset and customizable products, price tiers, carat weights, metals, and product classifications.
Use performance data to recommend changes to assortment, pricing, promotions, inventory investment, and site exposure.
Work with Pricing, Finance, and Planning to maintain competitive price architecture while protecting margin and profitability.
Partner with Product Development, Design, Sourcing, and Planning to translate category opportunities into new-product briefs.
Use business performance, competitive intelligence, customer behavior, and emerging diamond and jewelry trends to identify innovation opportunities.
Recommend extensions of winning products across diamond type, shape, carat weight, metal, setting, and price point.
Develop commercial guardrails for new products, including target price positioning, assortment role, and expected customer need.
Support product launches from initial concept through assortment planning, launch readiness, digital presentation, and post-launch analysis.
Establish launch success criteria and recommend whether to scale, adjust, or exit products.