Assistant Buyer Development Program - 2024 Start Dates - Burlington Stores

***This role is currently available only for our Los Angeles, California buying office location.***

Starting a new career is a big deal, and at Burlington, we love big deals! If you always hop on the latest trends and notice all the little details, have a passion for retail, and are prepared to join a team for the long haul, we encourage you to apply for our 2024 Assistant Buyer program. You will analyze a business area and develop relationships with vendors to bring in the best products and values for our customers.

Our Burlington

In 1972, Burlington Stores operated as a family-owned coat business, and over the years, we expanded and transitioned to be one of today's leading off-price retailers, operating in clothing, baby items, home goods, and much more.  Centered on five tenets, “Our Burlington” defines who we are as an employer, and what’s important to us as a team, and it guides us toward becoming an even stronger competitor in the off-price channel.

Additional information is available at: https://burlingtonstores.jobs/our-burlington/

Our Development Program

Our Assistant Buyer program opportunity is a starting point for a career journey in Buying and here is a peek at what you can expect:

• A hands-on training and onboarding program for your first 12 weeks in which you will be placed in a business area to start applying your knowledge and skills.
• Being a part of an onboarding class with peers who will be starting in the same role and start date as you. Classes typically begin in Winter or Summer months.
• A mentor who will help guide and support you through training and beyond.
• Shadowing opportunities with various buying teams both in market and in the office.
• A hybrid model that is 1 day in-office, 2 days in market, 1 day comp shopping, and 1 day remote per week. This schedule can be subject to change. (Relocation benefits are available for those who are eligible).

 Our Day in the Life of an Assistant Buyer

• Select and procure merchandise in conjunction with your Buyer in the assigned business area of responsibility to  determine the overall mix of products for each buying area to ensure that the final mix is ultimately customer oriented and curated to achieve a set profit plan.
• Provide operational support to your Buyer such as presenting on category performance and the "why" behind sales trends, and compiling data in Excel to analyze sales reports to draw key takeaways.
• Travel to market visits to select and negotiate products that meet the customers’ needs and are priced competitively.
• Monitor industry trends, evaluate the competition, and current market performance, and conduct competitive shopping to be able to proactively vocalize recommendations.
• Independently build vendor relationships and establish a positive relationship to effectively influence vendors to solve problems and follow up with orders.
• Manage a large magnitude of email streams across a diverse vendor database and in turn, be able to communicate and give updates to managers regarding vendor feedback.
• Maintain planned receipt flow consistently which consists of tracking when merchandise is being received and using judgment to make flow issue callouts to buyers when needed, ensuring adherence to scheduled shipping windows, and negotiating late shipping discounts.
• Own the administrative functions for your business area which include entering, updating, managing, tracking, and organizing purchase orders to ensure timely delivery, communicating late deliveries to the Buying team, setting up new vendors with routing guides, and pre-ticketing information.
• Collaborate for success; teamwork within our department is key to success and you will work with several functional areas within the department for input, and ideas, and to execute your assignments.

Our Assistant Buyers

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (Merchandising, Marketing, Business).
• Affinity for retail math, product/merchandising, and building a career in Buying.
• Basic understanding of Microsoft Office programs with advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel  including pivot tables and VLOOKUP.
• Fundamental understanding of retail math.
• Data-driven problem-solver who can build  and maintain productive partnerships by living our core values.
• Can think critically with high attention to detail and  listening, oral, and written communication skills.
• Ability to recognize, analyze, and quantify market trends.
• Ability to prioritize tasks to meet deadlines and operate with a high sense of urgency.
• Ability to negotiate with vendors to acquire the best prices for customers.
• A self-starter who takes initiative with a sense of curiosity, adaptability, and courage to always be a student of the business.

We are headquartered in New Jersey and have buying offices in New York and California. With our offices located in New Jersey and California, reliable transportation is required as Burlington is not easily accessible by public transportation. Our buying teams regularly travel to market as well as various other locations to perform market research and competitive shopping. Based on the needs of the business, you may need to travel to area stores that do not match the schedules for public transportation.

Our Compensation and Benefits

• An annual salary of $66,560 plus a bonus with the eligibility for an annual performance-based merit increase.
• A benefits package with a generous PTO plan, a range of affordable health insurance options (medical, dental, vision), and a company-matched 401(k).
• Paid holidays and Early Fridays all year round.
• An associate discount for in-store purchases.
• Professional development opportunities for long-term career growth. There is potential for our Assistant Buyers to continue to move up positions within their Buying careers to Divisional Merchandise Manager and beyond.

Our Caring Company

At Burlington, we stand for equality and the dignity of each person. We embrace the many facets of diversity that strengthen our communities and our company. We believe that everyone deserves to be treated with respect and understanding. Through our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council, our Council members share valuable insights and feedback, propose new initiatives, and serve as ambassadors to help amplify the impact and scope of our company’s DEI efforts.

Additional information is available at: https://www.burlington.com/about/id/

Attention: Applicants seeking to be considered for this role will undergo an assessment that incorporates the use of artificial intelligence.   Click here to learn more.