Merchandising Manager - #1167329

About ARDANT

ARDANT is a DTC demi-fine jewelry brand that scaled to eight figures in under two years, selling across the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Europe. We're building the team that takes us from breakout to a considered, multi-SKU jewelry brand without losing the operational discipline that got us here.

We don't chase trend cycles for the sake of newness. We expand when customer demand is proven, when the unit economics work, and when we can maintain the quality standard our 175,000+ customers expect. The person in this role isn't picking pretty things to put on a website — you're the commercial brain behind what we make, when we make it, how much we make, and what happens when it doesn't sell.

The Role

You own the full product merchandising lifecycle — from identifying what ARDANT should make next, all the way through to clearing the last units of a SKU that didn't land. You sit at the intersection of product, supply chain, marketing, and finance, and you operate within a defined product development cadence across three phases.

What You Own

Ideation

Customer-driven product research. The Founder brings founder-led ideas, the Head of Product/Brand brings brand-aligned concepts, the Product Designer brings trend intelligence — your job is to bring the customer. You mine VOC data and sales performance to identify what customers are asking for, what adjacencies have commercial viability, and what the sell-through potential looks like before a single sketch is drawn.

Quarterly product catalogue brief. You build the brief that defines what we're making and why — grounded in demand signals, competitive white space, margin targets, and inventory position. This isn't a mood board. It's a commercial argument for each SKU: projected sell-through, target margins, pricing rationale, and a clear thesis on who buys it and why.

Sample Production

CAD and sample review. You review supplier CADs against your brief, track the sample timeline, flag delays before they cascade, and evaluate physical samples against commercial intent — not just aesthetics, but whether the product can hit the target price point, fits the assortment architecture, and solves the customer problem it was designed for.

Pass/kill recommendation. You own the recommendation on whether a sample moves to production or gets killed — backed by projected sell-through, margin analysis, cannibalization risk, and the inventory commitment required.

Go-to-Market

Launch coordination. You provide production order details (quantities by variant, inventory allocation) and coordinate across Marketing, Product/Brand, and the Creative Agency to ensure every function has what it needs for a synchronized launch. You're not running the campaign — you're making sure the product side is airtight: right inventory in the right warehouse, product pages live, pricing set, collection architecture sound.

Site merchandising. You own the product onboard to the storefront — product data, variant setup, collection placement, pricing, and the customer's browse and discovery experience.

Post-Launch

This is where most DTC brands drop the ball, and where you earn your keep.

Sell-through tracking. You monitor sell-through by SKU and variant on a weekly cadence with pre-defined action triggers: at what velocity do we reorder? When do we flag a slow mover? At what weeks-on-hand threshold does markdown planning begin?

Markdown and clearance strategy. You own the markdown cadence — timing, depth, channel, and the decision to cut losses. You plan exit strategies at the buying stage, not as a panic response. Every SKU has a clearance plan before it enters production.

Inventory health. You maintain ABC segmentation across the portfolio, track weeks-of-supply, flag reorder points, and prevent both stockouts on top performers and capital trapped in slow movers.

Assortment architecture. You own the ongoing shape of the catalog — hero-to-supporting SKU ratio, breadth vs. depth, seasonal vs. evergreen mix. You make retirement recommendations when a SKU cannibalizes a stronger performer or drags down average order value.

Post-launch retrospectives. After every launch: did sell-through hit projections? Did pricing land? What did post-purchase data reveal? What changes in the next ideation cycle? This closes the loop between your upstream research and real market performance.

KPIs

• Sell-through rate — full-price sell-through by SKU against your own pre-production projections (target: 70%+ within the planned selling window)

• Gross margin by SKU — including the impact of any markdowns you authorize

• Repeat vs. new customer mix — whether new products acquire net-new customers or only convert existing ones

• Weeks of supply — healthy inventory levels without stockouts on winners or excess on tail SKUs

• Markdown rate — percentage of revenue sold at a discount, reflecting the quality of buying decisions upstream

• Dead stock percentage — inventory that reaches end-of-life unsold

What You Bring

Required:

• 4+ years in merchandising, buying, or product merchandising at a DTC or digitally-native brand that scaled past $10M+ in annual revenue. You've lived through overstocking, managed markdowns, and made kill decisions on products you personally championed.

• Deep fluency with sell-through analysis, open-to-buy planning, and inventory management frameworks. You think in units and margins, not just aesthetics.

• Experience working with overseas suppliers on sample development, production timelines, and quality control — you've tracked a product from CAD to warehouse.

• Strong cross-functional instincts. You work daily with creative, marketing, and operations, and you hold your ground on commercial decisions while earning trust from people who think in brand terms.

• Data-first operator. You pull your own data and make your own calls — comfortable with analytics dashboards, spreadsheets, and e-commerce reporting tools.

Preferred:

• Experience in jewelry, accessories, or fashion — categories where material costs, variant complexity, and trend timing are real commercial factors.

• Familiarity with demand forecasting tools or inventory planning software.

• Background at a brand with a lean SKU count where every product decision carried outsized commercial impact.

Why This Role Matters Now

ARDANT's next chapter is expanding the assortment without losing the discipline that made the first product work — no vanity launches, no inventory bloat, no margin erosion from reactive discounting. This role is the commercial backbone of that expansion.

To apply: Send your CV and a brief note on the most consequential product kill or markdown decision you've made — what was the situation, what did you decide, and what happened.