The Manager, Merchandising owns the assortment architecture and merchandising fundamentals that shape how AMBSE product shows up across every property and platform. This role is the connective tissue between merchandising strategy and the product itself — building the line structure, category frameworks, and seasonal assortments that carry the AMBSE brands across the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United FC, the Atlanta NWSL club, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Reporting to the Director, Merchandising & Buying, this role focuses on the craft of merchandising — assortment construction, product curation, and the data and processes that keep it all running — while the Director owns buying, open-to-buy, and financial planning. The Manager translates category strategy into a well-built, well-edited assortment that shows up right on the floor: the right products, in the right tiers, telling the right story, season after season.
AMBSE retail is building something new. This is a role for a strong merchant with a sharp product eye and real discipline around how an assortment is structured and maintained — someone who can bring architecture and rigor to an in-house merchandising function that is still writing its playbook.
Roles & Responsibilities
Assortment Architecture & Product Curation
- Own the assortment architecture across the AMBSE portfolio — category frameworks, line structure, and how collections are built and flow across seasons
- Define and maintain good-better-best and price/value architecture across categories, with clear tiering and no gaps or redundancy in the line
- Build seasonal assortments that balance licensed core, lifestyle, and collaboration product against the four-pillar product architecture — sized by property, category, and door to how and where fans shop
- Curate product at the style and SKU level with a clear point of view on how product carries and builds the AMBSE brands, editing to a focused, intentional line
- Lead product execution for collaborations, theme nights, and cultural-moment drops — translating those concepts into buildable, on-brand assortments
- Own product lifecycle management — introductions, carryovers, and exits — keeping the assortment current and productive
- Partner with Visual Merchandising to ensure the assortment shows up in stores the right way — the right product, presented with the right storytelling to drive fan engagement
Merchandising Operations & Data Integrity
- Own product data and item-setup governance across the assortment — accurate, complete, and consistent style, color, size, and attribute data from the point of creation
- Maintain data integrity across merchandising and inventory systems — establishing the standards, audits, and controls that keep reporting and downstream systems trustworthy
- Build and maintain the SOPs and workflows for how product is created, classified, and maintained as the in-house function scales
- Develop and manage the day-to-day working partnerships with licensees — product submissions, approvals, sampling, and adherence to AMBSE brand and product standards
- Maintain the seasonal merchandising calendar, keeping cross-functional partners aligned to milestones and deliverables
Cross-Functional & Buying Partnership
- Provide assortment and style-level recommendations that inform the buy and category plans — the Director, Merchandising & Buying owns open-to-buy and financial planning
- Partner with Retail Operations on floor executability — fixtures, capacities, and replenishment flow
- Partner with and help develop the Merch Coordinator, raising the craft of the broader merchandising team
Qualifications & Education
- Bachelor's degree in Merchandising, Business, Fashion, or a related field
- 6+ years of retail merchandising, buying, assortment planning, or category management experience (retail, brand, or licensed product)
- Proven track record building and editing assortments across multiple categories, tiers, and price points
- Experience with product lifecycle management, product data governance, and seasonal merchandising calendars
- Familiarity with sports, licensed product, or brand/lifestyle retail strongly preferred
- Strong command of product data, item setup, and merchandising systems, with a track record of maintaining data integrity; experience with an inventory or PLM platform a plus
- Experience partnering with licensees or vendors on product submissions, approvals, and brand-standard adherence a plus
- Must be available to work select nights, weekends, game days, and major events as required by the AMBSE calendar
Required Skills
- Sharp product instinct — a real eye for what makes an assortment work, and the discipline to edit it
- Architecturally minded — thinks in frameworks, tiers, and structure, not just individual items
- Detail-driven and systems-oriented — manages product data, calendars, and workflows with rigor and an eye for integrity
- Brand-led — understands how product expresses and builds a brand, and can partner with visual merchandising and creative to bring that through
- Collaborative — works effectively across buying, visual merchandising, marketing, retail operations, and licensee partners
- Analytically capable — uses selling, market, and competitive data to sharpen assortment decisions
- Proficient in Microsoft Office; experience with PLM, inventory, or merchandising platforms and Monday.com a plus
- Strong communicator — clear and organized whether presenting an assortment or aligning cross-functional partners
