The Panther Group is seeking a 6 month + W2 Contract To Hire, Product Management Manager to work with one of our partners in retail. This position is Hybrid in New York city near Penn Station. This role is a Merchandising Technology role focused on Inventory Optimization and Retail Analytics.

Kind Note: This role does NOT accept Visas (OPT, H1b, etc.) and we do not work with C2C (Corp to Corp) or third party recruiters.

Your focus will be on:

Product Management – Merchandising & Planning

• Subdomains include: Retail Info/Data and Analytics
• Buying / Planning including size and packaging
• In-season Inventory Optimization
• Optimization - inventory optimization, mark down optimization, size and packaging optimization.

For the Product owner over Markdown Optimization, candidates must have:

• Merchandising background
• The right expertise would be focused on demand forecasting - advanced analytics - not on the supply chain side of the house
• Will be responsible for predictive analytics. This will drive sending the right styles, right colors, and right sizes to the right locations at the right time– Based on the analytics.
• Will have experience with product allocation / planning / mark down.
• Ideal candidate needs to be autonomous - come from the retail side that has experience with actual brick and mortar stores, primarily focused on inventory, how do we reduce waste and drive sending the right styles, right colors, and right sizes to the right locations at the right time
• Candidate will own this product line AND, in an iterative manner, drive enhancements to the system, process and data.
• This candidate would be making recommendations that build the capabilities – they will drive changes to the current system and/or drive building a new allocation system. Always to optimize efficiency and drive higher profits.
• Candidate will not write API’s or reports BUT must know what’s possible to do with technology to drive appropriate technology changes to continuously improve the process.

Ideal candidate would be asking themselves questions like:

• What should we buy - what technology will enhance when and how much of each product we should be buying?
• What's the health of the process / inventory and how is it performing?
• What can we be doing differently to optimize profit?
• What price - where should it be to, again, optimize profit?

Candidate Requirements:

• 7 plus years (with flex for the right person) product management
• Must be mature, comfortable presenting the C-Suite / VPs
• Must have brick and mortar experience.
• Experience as a retail / inventor planner, allocator, or buyer and now a product manager that has worked in the retail brick and mortar space.
• Prior experience with data analytics, inventory optimization
• Experience with larger retailers preferred

Education:

Bachelor's degree required; an MBA or Master's degree is a plus.

Technical Expertise:

• Familiarity with leading inventory optimization and retail advanced analytics platforms
• Working knowledge of API integrations, data governance, and advanced data modeling techniques
• Understanding of retail merchandising processes, including assortment planning, pricing, and allocation

The pay rate for this role is $70 - $73 an hour with a conversion rate of base salary of $170,000+ bonus