Apparel Merchandiser & Brand Activation (Carlsbad)
Job Title: Apparel Merchandiser & Brand Activation – Sun Mountain Sports Reports To: Director of Product Location: Missoula, MT or Carlsbad, CA | Approximately 15–25% travel Salary Range: $60,000–$90,000, depending on experience, plus bonus opportunity Company Description: Sun Mountain has been shaping how golfers carry, travel and play for more than 45 years. We are a leading golf brand across bags, travel gear, apparel and accessories, with a renewed focus on innovation, product, culture and growth. Trust. Quality. Reliability. (TQR) defines how we build products and how we operate. Golf State of Mind reflects where we are going as a brand. Job Summary: Sun Mountain is looking for an apparel-focused merchandiser who can help connect Product, Sales and Marketing and bring a strong commercial point of view to our growing apparel business. Reporting directly to the Director of Product, this role supports assortment planning, SKU efficiency, demand and buy recommendations, product launches, market feedback and in-market execution. Apparel experience is strongly preferred; accessories experience is a plus. This is not a desk-only merchandising role. We want someone who is as interested in where golf culture is going as they are in what the numbers say. You should understand the game, follow the brands, personalities, places and trends shaping modern golf, and be curious about what golfers are wearing, buying, talking about and traveling to experience. Some days you will be deep in a sales or inventory file. Other days you may be visiting an account, helping merchandise a sales meeting or independently representing Sun Mountain from a 10x10 booth at an industry event. The role is designed for someone early in their career who wants broad exposure and real responsibility. The Director of Product owns product strategy, line architecture, development and final assortment decisions. This person helps make those decisions better by bringing commercial intelligence, disciplined follow-through and market feedback into the process—and then helping Product, Sales and Marketing execute together. Duties/Responsibilities: · Support the Director of Product in building seasonal apparel assortments, with additional exposure to accessories, across style, color, size, price point and channel. · Own day-to-day SKU discipline and assortment productivity. Identify duplication, unnecessary complexity, gaps and opportunities to make the line tighter, more productive and easier to sell. · Track apparel performance by style, color, size and channel, including sales, sell-through, weeks of supply, inventory, margin, reorders and aged inventory. Turn the data into clear recommendations on what to chase, hold, reduce, discontinue or expand. · Partner with Sales and planning on seasonal and in-season buys and reorders using sales history, sell-through, weeks of supply, lead times, inventory position, account opportunities and future demand. · Help build and maintain forecasts and buy recommendations at the style, color and size/SKU level, along with size curves, color buys and seasonal merchandising tools with a high level of accuracy. · Support key-account and channel assortment planning, helping determine the right product, color and depth for wholesale, green grass, strategic accounts and DTC. · Create a consistent feedback loop with sales reps, retailers, green-grass accounts and consumers and translate what they are seeing into useful product and merchandising recommendations. · Serve as a day-to-day conduit between Product, Sales and Marketing, keeping teams aligned on product priorities, timing, samples, pricing, launch needs and follow-up. · Help translate product into a clear commercial story: what matters, who it is for, why it wins and how it should be presented and sold. · Monitor product from launch through replenishment and eventual markdown or exit. Identify early winners, risks and inventory imbalances and help coordinate the right response across Product, Sales and Marketing. · Maintain a simple commercial view of the apparel business so the team can quickly understand sales, inventory, forecast accuracy, SKU productivity and where action is needed. · Stay tapped into golf culture across green grass, retail, Tour, creators, golf travel, emerging brands and the broader lifestyle around the game. Bring a point of view on what is next. · Travel to key accounts, sales meetings, trade shows, buying events and golf-industry events. Independently represent Sun Mountain at select smaller events, including booth setup, merchandising, product presentation and on-site execution. · Bring useful feedback back from the market. After events and account visits, capture what customers responded to, what competitors are doing and what the team should consider next. · Support cross-functional projects that do not sit neatly within one department but matter commercially. Keep owners, deadlines and next steps clear and help get things across the finish line. · Be willing to do what it takes. Sometimes that means building a thoughtful product recommendation; sometimes it means carrying boxes, setting up a booth and talking golf all day. Required Skills/Abilities: · Strong interest in apparel merchandising, product, retail and consumer brands; apparel experience strongly preferred and accessories experience a plus. · Commercial curiosity and a natural desire to understand what sold, why it sold, what is not working and what the business should do next. · Working knowledge of merchandising, assortment planning, demand planning, inventory management, open-to-buy concepts and product lifecycle fundamentals. · Strong analytical skills and attention to detail, with confidence working in Excel with SKUs, sales data, inventory, sell-through, weeks of supply, pricing, size curves and imperfect information. · Strong verbal, written and presentation skills, with the confidence to work with internal teams, customers, sales reps, golf professionals and consumers. · Highly organized and able to manage multiple priorities, follow through on details and keep cross-functional work moving without constant direction. · Comfort navigating ambiguity and turning both quantitative and qualitative information into a clear recommendation or next action. · Collaborative, low ego and willing to move between analytical work, product work and hands-on execution depending on what the business needs. · Genuinely tapped into golf. You do not need to be a scratch golfer, but you should understand the game and have a strong feel for modern golf culture. · Willing and able to travel regularly, including occasional early mornings, evenings and hands-on event setup or teardown. · High integrity, good judgment and alignment with Sun Mountain’s TQR standard: Trust. Quality. Reliability. Physical Requirements: · Ability to sit at a desk for long periods of time · Ability to work at a computer/keyboard for long periods of time · Regular walking, standing, bending, kneeling, and reaching to organize sample closets, set up showrooms, or prep apparel for presentation meetings. Qualifications: · 2–4 years of experience in apparel merchandising, buying, planning, product, sales, retail, brand marketing or a related consumer-product role. · Golf-industry experience is a plus, but demonstrated golf knowledge, curiosity and cultural awareness are important. · Bachelor’s degree preferred but not required; relevant experience and demonstrated capability matter more than a specific field of study. · Experience in a fast-paced, growth-oriented consumer brand is a plus. Success in This Role: Success is measured by whether Sun Mountain makes better commercial decisions and executes them more effectively. This person will help us build a tighter and more productive apparel assortment, improve seasonal buys and reorders, identify winners and problems earlier, connect what Sales is hearing with what Product is building and Marketing is communicating, and ensure our priorities are supported by the right inventory at the right time without unnecessary SKU complexity. The best person for this role will develop a strong point of view—backed by both data and time spent with customers—about what we should make more of, what we should make less of and what we should not make at all. Benefits: · Competitive salary and bonus opportunity · Health, dental, and vision insurance · 401(k) retirement plan · Paid time off and holidays · Employee discounts on company products · Professional development opportunities Sun Mountain Sports is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, color, race, ethnic background, age, religion, marital status, national origin or creed, physical or mental disability, or any other protected status established by law. Sun Mountain Sports participates in E-Verify. To learn more about your rights and responsibilities under E-Verify, please visit www.e-verify.gov.
