Senior Merchant, GE

Balsam Brands•Burlingame, CA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Balsam Brands is the official global brand licensing partner for GE holiday lighting. The Senior Merchant, GE is a senior merchandising leader responsible for owning and scaling key GE product categories with significant financial impact. This role translates long-term brand and category strategy into actionable assortment, pricing, and commercialization plans. While serving as a strategic thought partner with broad autonomy, the Senior Merchant drives category growth and margin optimization in a high-volume wholesale environment. This full-time position reports to the VP of Merchandising GE and is expected to work in a hybrid model which currently requires Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in-office

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree
11+ years of progressive experience in merchandising, category management, or product strategy
Proven success owning large, complex categories with meaningful P&L responsibility
Strong experience merchandising for mass-market or omnichannel retail environments, preferably with experience in lighting and / or holiday categories
Deep expertise in assortment strategy, pricing, packaging, and product lifecycle management
Advanced financial and analytical acumen, with the ability to translate insights into action
Demonstrated ability to think critically and handle ambiguous situations
Experience working closely with product development, sourcing, and supply chain teams
Strong executive communication skills, with comfort presenting to senior leadership
Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to interpret complex data and make strategic recommendations
Exceptional cross-functional collaboration and communication skills, with a track record of influencing senior stakeholders

Nice To Haves

Wholesale Merchandising and/or license experience a plus

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end category strategy and execution for assigned GE categories, with accountability for revenue, margin, and lifecycle performance
Develop multi-year category roadmaps aligned to GE brand vision and broader merchandising strategy
Lead assortment architecture, pricing strategy, and promotional planning to maximize consumer relevance and financial results
Identify white space and growth opportunities through deep analysis of market trends, consumer insights, and competitive landscapes
Partner closely with Product Development to shape product briefs, packaging strategy, and innovation pipelines
Drive commercialization excellence by partnering cross-functionally to ensure on-time, on-cost, and on-strategy launches
Parter with Sales team to curate assortments, communicate product features, create planograms, and set pricing for key Wholesale partners
Manage and deepen vendor and manufacturing relationships, including negotiations and performance management
Act as a category thought leader, elevating insights and recommendations to senior leadership
Guide direct reports and functional team members by identifying opportunities for growth, leveraging team strengths, and developing members toward organizational effectiveness

Benefits

Competitive compensation, including a cash-based incentive plan; salary is reviewed yearly and may be adjusted as part of the normal compensation review process
Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage, with 100% of monthly premiums covered for team members, and 85%+ employer-paid premiums for other coverage tiers that include dependents
Up to $2,000 annual funding toward HSA accounts
Medical, transit, dependent care FSA
Infertility coverage offered on all medical plans
Generous parental leave program and flexible return options
Company-paid life and AD&D insurance
Company-paid short and long-term disability insurance
401(k) with dollar-for-dollar company match up to $4,000 per calendar year
Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and other mental health and wellness perks
Paid holidays, annual shutdown week, PTO, and volunteer time-off (VTO) packages
Paid 5-week sabbatical leave after 10 years of employment
Annual continuous learning benefit up to $1,000 per person, per fiscal year
Up to $300 flexible reimbursement to support setup of new team member's work-from-home environment
Generous team member merchandise discount
Valuable extras: identity theft protection, subsidized parking, monthly wellness, pet insurance, accident & critical illness insurance