Associate Buyer – Bike

At Backcountry, our mission is to connect people to their passions. Our four online stores—Backcountry, Competitive Cyclist,Moto Sportand,Steepand Cheap—aim to supply our customers with the gear, knowledge, and inspiration necessary to get out there and chase down life’s greatest moments. We do this by providing the biggest and best assortment of premium outdoor products, superior shopping experience, personalized Gearheadexpertise, lightning-fast andaccuratefulfillment, and inspirational, informative, and community-centered content.

Backcountry is seeking an experienced Associate Buyer to drive procurement and purchasing activities for our Bike division. This is a strategic role where passion for cycling meets retail expertise, focused on ensuring our company maintains a competitive edge in the market. The ideal candidate brings deep experience in the bike industry, strong analytical capabilities, and a forward-thinking, AI-driven approach to merchandising and vendor partnerships.

The Associate Buyer will develop and execute sourcing strategies for bike products across hard goods, soft goods, and accessories, ensuring product assortments and vendor partnerships align with financial targets and Backcountry branding. This role will collaborate cross-functionally with Planning, Marketing, and Operations to drive revenue growth and margin improvement. The scope of the role will include all the digital channels including Backcountry, Competitive Cyclist, Steep & Cheap and Market place.

• Manage pricing, category/brand mix, and seasonal selection of inventory for bike categories to ensure a diverse, high-quality merchandise assortment.
• Negotiate discounts, terms, pricing policies, and promotional periods with bike industry vendors to maximize gross margin and support differentiated product stories.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with vendors, fostering partnerships for product innovation, exclusivity, and competitive advantage.
• Mark vendor catalogs for SKU/PO worksheet creation; build POs (Qty/Dollar/Style Allocation, Size/Color Breakout) and ensure on-time submission to vendors.
• Manage timely PO edits, past dues, and carry out all PO type builds and maintenance (Pre-season, ASAP).
• Work with Marketing to brainstorm and hindsight promo concepts and performance; help set up the promotional cadence for bike categories.
• Pick SKUs/links, review all rules pages, QA promo functionality, review and react to performance, and identify risks in promotional calendar.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Marketing, Creative, and Operations to develop compelling product campaigns and promotions that drive brand engagement and revenue growth.
• Work with Planning to set pre-season pricing strategy; manage in-line/in-season pricing (promo periods, price matching, promotional calendar management).
• Manage end of season price-break dates and communicate all in-season and end of season price breaks to marketing team.
• Work with Planning to establish pre-season PO receipt flow and inventory allocation; set in-season sell-through targets and pricing strategy for slow movers.
• Manage aged and toxic inventory, Return to Vendor (RTV), and mark-down dollar requests with vendors to optimize inventory health.
• Review and optimize color thumbnails displayed on PLP and search pages; oversee boosting/sort order for responsible brands/categories.
• Set up Cross Sell/Up Sell tools, manage backorders, review and optimize site taxonomy and facets, and utilize Kit Calculator as required per category.
• Conduct regular product performance reviews, identifying opportunities for growth and improvement.
• Leverage sales data, trend analysis, and consumer analytics to forecast demand and develop data-driven procurement plans.
• Monitor key KPIs, buying trends, and vendor metrics; utilize reporting platforms to detect trends and prescribe action plans to maximize profitability.
• Stay abreast of bike industry trends, competitor activities, and consumer preferences to inform merchandising decisions.

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Merchandising, Supply Chain Management, or related field preferred.
• 2-3 years of relevant bike industry…