Merchandising Manager - Category Management, Diamond Basics

Blue Nile•New York, NY

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 the Blue Nile assortment. The role combines merchant instincts, diamond and product knowledge, customer understanding, and analytical rigor to optimize the Diamond Basics businesses. 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 plans. The position manages the assortment across earrings, pendants, necklaces, and bracelets; monitors commercial performance; identifies opportunities for product development and innovation; and supports launches from concept through post-launch analysis. The role also works with Retail partners to ensure product priorities and category stories can be confidently presented to customers. Blue Nile describes its benefits package as comprehensive, with offerings that may depend on role, employment type, work schedule, or location. The annual base pay range is $100,000–$140,000, with final pay based on experience and qualifications. Blue Nile 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 merchandising experience; diamond expertise is preferred.
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 with 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.
Build expertise in category customer missions, shopping behaviors, and competitive dynamics; identify opportunities to evolve the natural and lab-grown mix based on demand and performance.
Identify assortment white space and make fact-based recommendations about 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 on clear, intuitive product presentation across digital and in-store channels.
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 core products with newness and growth opportunities.
Translate product differences into clear merchandising stories and provide Retail partners with product priorities and category stories for Client Advisors.
Manage the Diamond Basics assortment across earrings, pendants, necklaces, and bracelets, including natural and lab-grown offerings.
Build assortment architecture across carat weight, diamond type, setting, metal, silhouette, and price; maintain coverage of core customer needs and identify opportunities for newness and expansion.
Establish good/better/best and opening/core/premium product ladders where appropriate.
Analyze SKU- and attribute-level productivity to identify assortment gaps, duplication, and opportunities for rationalization.
Identify and scale winning product concepts and ensure 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 performance across revenue, units, average selling price, margin, conversion, inventory productivity, and customer engagement.
Analyze performance differences across natural versus lab-grown, preset versus customizable products, price tiers, carat weights, metals, and product classifications.
Use performance data to recommend assortment, pricing, promotion, inventory investment, and site-exposure changes.
Work with Pricing, Finance, and Planning to maintain competitive price architecture while protecting margin and profitability.
Partner with the Director of Product Development, Design, Sourcing, and Planning to turn 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 concept through assortment planning, launch readiness, digital presentation, and post-launch analysis.
Establish success criteria and recommend whether products should be scaled, adjusted, or exited following launch.