Assistant, Buyer

About the Company

Centric Brands is a lifestyle brand collective that creates, sources, markets, and sells products across women’s, men’s, and kids’ apparel, accessories, entertainment, and beauty. The company emphasizes customer focus, innovation, creativity, analytical thinking, collaboration, and respect.

Role Overview

The Assistant Buyer will support the Associate Buyer in developing seasonal and core assortment buys and in improving sell-in and sell-through results to help the division meet or exceed its financial and margin goals. The role works closely with Sales, Design, and Production across major boys’ sportswear brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica, Calvin Klein, Lucky Brand, GAP, Faherty, Guess, and Timberland.

Key Duties

• Prepare seasonal development timelines for Spring, Summer, Fall, Holiday, and Transitional periods, covering the full product lifecycle from SKU planning through distribution center delivery, and share them with cross-functional teams through calendar invites.
• Work with Sales to build SKU plans at the classification level that align with sales and margin targets, reflect business direction, historical performance, and seasonal trends, and coordinate with Design to avoid excess product development.
• Take part in CAD reviews and feasibility discussions, and provide guidance on sell price and MSRP to support costing while maintaining a central pricing reference for Sales.
• Partner with the VP of Sales and Design leadership to shape customer-specific assortments, including pricing and channel mix across full-price, off-price, and specialty accounts, in line with budget goals.
• Develop seasonal buy-plan files containing style, material, pricing, tier ranking, prepack, shipping, and quantity information, and create order forms for Sales to use during market appointments.
• Gather and enter initial orders before buy meetings, support Sales leadership during meetings with ATS and speculative buy inputs, reconcile final buy totals such as sales dollars, units, gross margin, and net margin, and move approved data into QuickBase for Production sign-off.
• Oversee core non-replenishment inventory across brands including Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica, Calvin Klein, Lucky Brand, Guess, and Timberland to support year-round needs.
• Upload complete buy data into SAP with accurate details for materials, units, categories, and silhouettes, coordinate bulk ordering with Sales, and track completion of the order pool.
• Work with a freelance copywriter to finalize CADs and revised buy templates after buy sign-off.
• Maintain the Sample & Licensing Tracker for sample requirements and account-specific imaging needs, share status updates with Production, and follow samples through completion.
• Coordinate sample preparation for market appointments and showroom presentations, and keep sample storage organized and easy to access.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate brings strong analytical ability, solid organization, sharp attention to detail, and the capacity to manage multiple deadlines across teams. Success in this role also requires advanced Excel capability, effective cross-functional communication, and the ability to stay accurate while handling several priorities in a fast-moving retail setting.

Benefits and Perks

Centric Brands offers a competitive salary package and a broad benefits program that includes medical, dental, and vision coverage, matching 401(k), Summer Fridays, generous paid time off, merchandise discounts, and career development opportunities. Additional engagement opportunities include the Centric Cares social impact program and internal groups such as Be Green, Be Giving, and Be Celebrated. The company also supports diversity, equity, and inclusion through workshops, resources, and conversations.

Compensation

The annual base salary range for this position is $60,000 to $65,000. Final compensation may vary based on education, professional experience, industry knowledge, location, technical ability, communication skills, and other relevant factors. Depending on the role, total compensation may also include commission, annual bonus, and other sponsored benefit programs.

Equal Opportunity and Application Notice

Centric Brands is an equal opportunity employer. The company will only contact candidates who applied through its official careers site for interviews, offers, or onboarding. The interview process may include live interaction by video conference or telephone with a recruiter and/or company employees. Applicants are never asked to pay money during recruitment. Suspicious activity should be reported to local law enforcement and/or the Federal Trade Commission job scam resources.