Saks Fifth Avenue Buyer, Lifestyle
- Employment
- Full-Time
- Seniority
- Manager
- Department
- Merchandising, Buying & Planning
- Posted
- Aug 18, 2026
About Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue is a premier luxury department store and a cornerstone of the Saks Global portfolio. Renowned for a carefully curated assortment of designer fashion and high-touch client service, the brand blends immersive in-store experiences with an elevated digital offering across its North American locations.
Buyer, Lifestyle at Saks Fifth Avenue — multi-brand luxury retailer seeking experienced merchandise buyer for strategic category leadership and team management.
Role & Responsibilities
- Develop category and pre-season planning strategies in collaboration with Merchandise Planners, informed by past performance, trend analysis, and brand insights, executing strategy throughout the selling season
- Build customer-centered assortment frameworks and allocation strategies using insights from stores, digital channels, customer databases, and fashion forecasting; provide guidelines for allocation teams
- Set strategies for product display, flow, launch timing, and full-price selling windows in alignment with Planning and Marketing guardrails
- Lead market preparation activities and attend market appointments to select merchandise in alignment with budget constraints and category direction from senior leadership
- Coordinate buys with brand partners, collaborate on exclusive merchandise offerings, manage day-to-day communication on in-season brand performance and trending styles, and resolve escalated order management issues
- Review daily performance reports and partner with Planning teams to identify trending products, categories, and brands; execute in-season optimization levers and prepare bottoms-up context for monthly business reviews
- Serve as business owner by continuously negotiating with brand partners throughout the season to improve performance through style swaps, exclusive capsules, return authorizations, matrix expansion, and markdown strategies
- Mentor and provide hands-on training to Associate Buyers, Assistant Buyers, and Coordinators, equipping them with business acumen and practical skills necessary for career advancement
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent retail experience
- 5+ years of experience in a buying office with strong understanding of buying operations and retail strategy
- Proven business acumen with strong financial, analytical, and strategic planning capabilities
- Expertise in retail mathematics including markup, margin planning, open-to-buy (OTB), weeks of supply (WOS), turnover (T/O), gross margin return on investment (GMROI), and assortment planning
- Demonstrated leadership and team management capabilities in fast-paced, dynamic environments
- Excellent communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills with ability to build strong internal and vendor relationships
- Strong customer focus with results-driven mindset and ability to manage ambiguity
- Highly organized with strong planning, prioritization, and conflict management skills
- Strategic thinking capability with agility to adapt to changing business needs
- Willingness to travel internationally as needed
Skills
Experience
5+ years of buying office experience with demonstrated understanding of buying operations, retail strategy, and vendor management in a multi-brand luxury retail environment.
Education
Bachelor's degree or equivalent retail experience
Workplace
The role is situated in United States of America, United States of America, USA.
Benefits
Comprehensive benefits package including medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, 401(k) retirement plan, basic life insurance, supplemental life insurance, disability insurance, and voluntary benefits (critical illness, hospital, and accident insurance); employee discount available.
Culture
Saks Fifth Avenue emphasizes a high‑standard, client‑centric retail culture that fuses creative visual storytelling with commercial rigor. The environment rewards initiative and offers cross‑functional career mobility across retail, digital and corporate disciplines within the Saks Global portfolio.
About Cerulean
Cerulean is the definitive career portal for the global luxury industry. We match exceptional professionals with exclusive opportunities at the world's most prestigious brands. From haute couture and fine watchmaking to prestige beauty, hospitality, and boutique retail, Cerulean centralises luxury employment to help you find the career for which you were destined.
Frequently Asked Questions
The luxury industry is characterised by a diverse and nuanced nomenclature. Esteemed houses frequently employ proprietary terminology, and even within a single organisation like Saks Fifth Avenue, titles may vary across global markets to reflect local conventions. To ensure absolute clarity, Cerulean assigns a standardised, industry-coherent canonical title to every listing. However, it is worth noting that this role is functionally synonymous with «Merchandise Buyer», «Category Buyer», «Buying Manager», «Merchandising Director», and other variations. Our sophisticated search architecture anticipates these variations, ensuring that inquiries using related terms will seamlessly yield the exact roles you desire.