Columbia Sportswear

Sr. Footwear Merchant - International

Columbia Sportswear$95K — $115K *
Retail & Consumer Goods
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5+ years of merchandising experience in sportswear, outdoor, or specialty retail categories
  • Past international regional experience preferred
  • Footwear merchandising/product creation experience desired
  • Strong business and product management skills with financial acumen
  • Deep understanding of consumer, retail landscape, and competitive marketplace
  • Proficiency in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Adobe Creative Suite
  • Bachelor's degree in Business or related field, or equivalent experience in Merchandising or Sales
  • Ability to travel 20% of the time

Responsibilities

  • Help build market and consumer-relevant seasonal assortments aligned to brand strategy
  • Implement regional merchandising strategies balancing brand heat with high-volume product drivers
  • Analyze business reports on regional circumstances for leadership decision-making
  • Assist in End-in-Mind assortment planning and pricing strategy
  • Facilitate product handover to Sales and external partners with clear product communications
  • Manage full seasonal adoption process from concept through sales meeting
  • Improve forecast accuracy, SKU efficiency, and overall product productivity

Benefits

  • 401k plan with a generous company match
  • Medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and disability
  • Flexible spending accounts and health savings account
  • EAP + providing 24/7 confidential counseling services
  • Employee discounts
  • Generous time off program
  • Extensive wellness benefits
Full Job Description
This position is designated as a hybrid role based out of our headquarters near Portland, Oregon. The current expectation is for employees to work onsite four days per week, subject to change based on business needs. This in-office requirement may be adjusted at the discretion of the company.

The Senior Footwear Merchant - International Distributor Region will collaborate with key stakeholders and, partnering with the Footwear Merch Director, plays a key role in driving regional Merchandising strategies that that deliver consumer-right assortments, balance brand-building initiatives with volume-driving product, and ultimately support long-term revenue growth for our International Distributor Region (IDR).

How you will make a difference

Partnering with the Footwear Merch Director, they will:

Regional Merchandising Execution

Help build market and consumer-relevant seasonal assortments aligned to brand strategy, leveraging historical performance, trend insights, and financial risk/reward analysis.
  • Implement regional merchandising strategies that balance brand heat with high-volume commercial drivers across the marketplace matrix.
  • Focus on operational efficiencies and cross-functional communication to meet the tactical needs of the seasonal efforts. Analyzes business reports on regional circumstances to verify the market's performance in support of regional leadership decision making.
  • Help identify market opportunities and influence future line direction by partnering with Product Creation teams to shape investment priorities that meet regional needs.
  • Assist in End-in-Mind assortment planning, including channel segmentation, pricing strategy and merchandising classification excellence to ensure enough products that serve the marketplace and drive productivity


Go-To-Market Merchandising
  • Help with the product handover to Sales, Planning and external partners ensuring teams are equipped with clear product stories, innovation highlights, and seasonal Brand priorities.
  • Assist with the full seasonal adoption process-from concept through sales meeting-ensuring financial targets, SKU productivity, and style count goals are met.
  • Own and Maintain accuracy and integrity of all merchandising systems and data, including adoption, pricing, forecasting, and catalog readiness.
  • Own the SMU line and collaborate with Sales and Strategic Response Team (SRT) to ensure SMUs are consumer right for the International Markets.


Cross-Functional Partnership
  • Build strong relationships with Sales to implement segmentation strategies that maximize revenue and profitability.
  • Work closely with Sales and the Strategic Response Team (SRT) to ensure SMUs are efficient, profitable, and aligned with the regional vision.


Business Performance & Optimization
  • Help improve forecast accuracy, SKU efficiency, and overall product productivity each season.
  • Use market insights, consumer data, and sales performance to influence product mix and ensure coverage of key price points.
  • Own and Manage sample ordering and sample room organization to ensure easy access and visibility for cross-functional teams.


Team Enablement & Communication
  • Educate the sales force on product innovation, technologies, brand initiatives, assortments, and marketing support.
  • Communicate clearly and effectively across small and large groups, ensuring alignment and clarity throughout the GTM cycle.
  • Bring a positive, collaborative, and solutions-oriented mindset to daily work.


YOU ARE
  • A clear, confident communicator who can influence across functions and levels.
  • A though leader who thrives in detail-oriented execution.
  • Skilled in persuasion, storytelling, and presenting complex ideas simply.
  • Analytical, curious, and comfortable solving ambiguous problems.


YOU HAVE
  • 5+ years of merchandising experience in sportswear, outdoor, or specialty retail categories.
  • Having past International Regional experience is very helpful
  • Footwear Merchandising / Product Creation experience preferred.
  • Strong business and product management skills with demonstrated financial acumen.
  • Deep understanding of the consumer, retail landscape, and competitive marketplace.
  • Proficiency in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Adobe Creative Suite (PC or Mac).
  • Bachelor's degree in Business or related field, or equivalent experience in Merchandising or Sales.
  • Ability to travel 20% of the time


#LI-CR1

This job description is not meant to be an all-inclusive list of duties and responsibilities, but constitutes a general definition of the position's scope and function in the company.

At Columbia Sportswear Company, we're proud to offer regular full-time employees a benefits package that includes a variety of services and products to help make your life and work more rewarding. Our benefit programs contribute to overall employee well-being by aligning those programs with the fundamental elements of well-being: physical, social/emotional, financial, career and community. Benefits that can protect your family's financial future and help you save money through our 401k plan plus a generous company match. Columbia offers medical, dental, vision, life Insurance, disability, flexible spending accounts, health savings account, and an assortment of voluntary benefit offerings (accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity, and legal services). In addition, Columbia offers EAP + which is free and confidential 24/7/365 counseling services. We have extensive wellness benefits, employee discounts and a generous time off program available.

If you need an accommodation/adjustment to successfully complete and submit your application, please reach out to [redacted] with the Subject: Applicant Assistance Requested.

About Columbia Sportswear

Columbia Sportswear Company is a leading innovator in the global outdoor apparel, footwear, accessories and equipment industry. The company designs, develops, markets and distributes active outdoor and lifestyle products under the Columbia, Mountain Hardwear, Sorel, and prAna brands. Columbia Sportswear products are sold in more than 100 countries and have earned an international reputation for innovation, quality and performance. The company has a long-standing commitment to responsible sourcing, ethical business practices, and environmental stewardship.
Learn more about Columbia Sportswear
Size
8,325 employees
Market Cap
$5.4 billion
Industry
Net Income
$108 million
Founded
1938
5 Year Trend
+5.6%
Revenue
$2.5 billion
NASDAQ

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