Sundance Hiring for Buyer, Market Apparel – Relocation Assistance Provided at Salt Lake City, Utah Full Time

We have an exciting opportunity for a Buyer to work in our Market Apparel category.  In this role, you will be responsible for sourcing and developing compelling, market product for Women’s across all channels that drive demand, enhance the assortments and customer experience, and are aligned with brand vision. The Buyer owns all buying functions in relation to assigned categories. The Buyer is responsible for identifying, sourcing, and building relationships with brand-appropriate market vendors for assigned categories. This includes editing, curating, and presenting product assortments with a strong point of view that are in line with seasonal concepts, business strategies, and line plan guidelines while staying abreast of and anticipating shifts trends and driving newness outside of guidelines.  The buying role is accountable for ensuring market styles and SMU’s developed for each effort, demand, channel request aligns with brand aesthetic and quality. The buying role is a highly collaborative role, which requires building and maintaining strong partnerships and driving efficient and effective communication with cross-functional partners.

What you’ll be doing

• Review company reports to evaluate sell through and product performance to identify opportunities and make product selections.
• Cultivate existing and new vendor relationships, leveraging necessary approaches (travel, online exploratory, competitive research, market shows, etc.) to continue to maintain and/or evolve product offerings.
• Propose and develop new vendor product and SMU product concepts that drive the overall strategic business vision and reinforce product attributes (unique, hard to find, artisanal, sophisticated, quality through its execution of fabric, construction, fit, wash, and classic with a Sundance twist) for assigned categories.
• Drive internal and external buying processes to meet critical deadlines.  This includes guiding the timely and quality execution of adoption and approval processes including assortment sheet development, communicating product alterations, PI sheets, DTP/Blue-lines, Pre-Production, and Top of Production sample management processes in partnership with cross-functional teams.
• Adhere to assortment architecture/plan (business need, price/value relationship of the retail target, cost, and margin) while using market knowledge, experience, and judgment to challenge, suggest, and evolve product mix and architecture based on trends and shifts in business and market place.
• Lead market product meetings for owned categories related to omni-channel business from concept to creative distribution. 
• Develop, cultivate, and maintain external relationships, communicate key calendar dates, ensure sample deadlines are met, conduct negotiations, and resolve issues with vendors as necessary through variable modes of communication, verbal and written, domestic and overseas.
• Execute Buyer portion of DTP process, which includes a general review of the photographed product for accuracy in presentation and validating the item copy blocks that contain critical product descriptions and market attributes.
• Responsible for maintaining and/or improving the overall return rate by partnering with the sourcing team for guidance on fit and product execution and improving or establishing processes as needed.
• Solves quality control issues related to categories.
• Participate in and work on special buying projects with manager as business needs dictate and evolve.

What you’ll need

• Bachelor’s degree in design, fashion, business, finance, or related field required. 
• Minimum of six (6) years’ experience as a buyer/product developer.
• Previous category experience in women’s apparel required.
• Product development experience required.
• Strong negotiation skills.
• Retail Math skills
  Product vision and passion for women’s fashion and newness 
• Elevated taste level for product and brands
• Strong presentation skills with the ability to consider and manage on the spot audience inquiries and challenges
• Strong analytical and quantitative skills
• Ability to prioritize and creatively solve problems
• Ability to manage workload to ensure deadlines are met
• Ability to develop processes
• Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Ability to write reports and business correspondence

Additional Information

If you would like to be part of a great team, are ready to take on a challenge and make a difference within our company, apply today. We offer a competitive wage and excellent benefits package including medical, dental, vision, life, disability, 401(k), paid time off, and great merchandise discounts.