Merchandise Planner

Opportunity Overview

Handshake is seeking seasoned merchandise planning professionals to contribute to AI research through flexible, part-time contract work. This role is designed for experts who can apply practical knowledge from inventory planning, markdown strategy, and promotional planning to assess AI-generated outputs and share feedback that improves how AI models understand real retail merchandising processes.

This is an ongoing, project-based engagement that can be balanced with your existing work.

What You'll Do

• Apply your merchandising expertise to develop advanced training questions and scenarios grounded in authentic retail planning workflows.
• Assess AI-generated answers for correctness and for how well they match real-world merchandising and planning practices.
• Write clear, structured feedback that supports stronger model performance.
• Work independently and complete tasks at a flexible pace, with no fixed schedule or minimum hourly commitment.

Qualifications

• At least 2 years of professional experience in retail merchandising or merchandise planning, ideally as a Merchandise Planner or Senior Merchandise Planner.
• Practical experience with demand forecasting, in-season reforecasting, markdown optimization, and promotional campaign planning.
• Excellent written communication and strong attention to detail.
• Comfort working autonomously in a remote, asynchronous setup.