Product Manager, Merchandising Systems

About Us:

Rent the Runway (RTR)  is transforming the way we get dressed by pioneering the world’s first Closet in the Cloud. Founded in 2009, RTR has disrupted the $2.4 trillion fashion industry by inspiring women with a more joyful, sustainable and financially-savvy way to feel their best every day. As the ultimate destination for circular fashion, the brand now offers infinite points of access to its shared closet via a fully customizable subscription to fashion, one-time rental or ownership. RTR offers designer apparel, accessories and home decor from 700+ brand partners and has built in-house proprietary technology and a one-of-a-kind reverse logistics operation. Under CEO and Co-Founder Jennifer Hyman’s leadership, RTR has been named to CNBC’s “Disruptor 50” five times in ten years, and has been placed on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list multiple times, while Hyman herself has been named to the “TIME 100” most influential people in the world and as one of People magazine’s “Women Changing the World.”

About the Team:

The RTR product team is data-driven, experimental, iterative, and customer-obsessed. We're energized by defining new behavior in the rental ecosystem and are constantly looking for new ways to delight our customers. We believe in and embody RTR’s core values  - including thinking of ourselves as founders, dreaming big, being scrappy but not crappy, fostering debate and honest conversations and bringing our authentic selves to work every day.

About the Role: 

As a Product Manager for Merchandising Systems, you will create capabilities that power Rent the Runway’s inventory advantage. We’ve built the world’s first and largest closet in the cloud; you will make it the smartest by optimizing key steps of the inventory lifecycle. You will partner with engineering, product design, data science, analytics and business stakeholders (the buying team, fashion operations and site merchandisers) to develop best-in-class solutions  for deciding how to allocate hundreds of millions of dollars in inventory spend.. We have a constantly growing treasure trove of data about the fit, durability and desirability of garments. You will leverage this to build smart feedback loops and automate hundreds of decisions about what styles to buy each season, how many units, how to distribute across sizes and business models  - ensuring we’re optimizing ROI and increasing value for all players in the circular economy. Besides making our planning and buying processes smarter, you will also streamline them and increase efficiency by integrating with purchase order management, EDI data transfer and other industry-standard systems that reduce overhead for our fashion team as well as our designer partners.

What You’ll Do:

• Lead cross-functional teams through continuous product discovery and delivery.
• Cultivate a deep knowledge of all the steps in the inventory lifecycle, especially planning and purchasing. Shadow our planners and buyers to understand how they work and  identify pain points and opportunities to streamline their workflows.  
• Work with Design and Engineering to architect software solutions to workflow challenges. Develop frameworks to ruthlessly prioritize and make sound build vs. buy and sequencing decisions.
• Get hands on with our data; partner with Data Science & Analytics to dive deep and find insights that fuel product innovation.
• Drive execution and ensure the team delivers the desired business outcomes efficiently.
• Communicate plan and progress to key internal partners and executives. Actively listen and respond to feedback.  
• Define, monitor and measure launched products to maintain a tight learning loop that continually informs the product development process.
• Maintain a solid pulse on market trends and conduct ongoing evaluations of relevant 3rd party offerings, to ensure our systems and processes are best-in-class.
• Contribute to creating a learning culture and a fun, rewarding workplace where people can realize their full potential.

About You:

• 3+ years of product management experience, ideally in  merchandising, retail e-commerce, supply chain or inventory planning.
• Ability and willingness to travel (in the future) to our international office in Galway, Ireland! 
• You're a builder. You are excited about creating new products that deliver significant business impact. 
• You thrive in change. You are entrepreneurial in spirit with a passion for disruption. 
• You create vision and clarity from complexity and ambiguity.  You are comfortable and energized by uncharted problems.
• You’re both a high level strategic thinker and a roll-up-your-sleeves operator who does what it takes to get things done and deliver results.
• You’re constantly learning. You run experiments to validate assumptions and mitigate risks.  You are flexible and able to change direction as you learn.
• You're analytical. You turn data into actionable insights. 
• You're a strong communicator. From engineers to executives, you know how to talk and listen in remote & in-person environments. 
• You’re a relationship builder who engages well with stakeholders, understands their objectives and constraints and earns their trust.
• You enjoy getting technical. You’re comfortable working with engineers day-to-day and able to participate in technical discussions. You have basic knowledge of SQL, experiment design, and using self-service analytics tools (like Google Analytics or Looker) to make decisions
• You have experience working in scrum/agile management methodologies.

Benefits:

At Rent the Runway, we’re committed to the wellbeing of our employees, and aim to create a workplace that fosters both personal and professional growth. Our inclusive benefits include, but are not limited to:

• Paid Time Off including vacation, paid bereavement, and family sick leave - every employee needs time to take care of themselves and their family.
• Universal Paid Parental Leave for both parents + flexible return to work program  - because we know your newest family member(s) deserve your undivided attention.
• Paid Sabbatical after 5 years of continuous service - Unplug, recharge, and have some fun!
• Exclusive employee subscription and rental discounts -  to ensure you experience the magic of renting the runway (and give us valued feedback!).
• Comprehensive health, vision, dental, FSA and dependent care from day 1 of employment - Your health comes first and we’ve got you covered.
• 401k match - an investment in your future.
• Company wide events and outings - our team spirit is no joke - we know how to have fun!
• Hybrid Work - when our corporate employees return to the office post COVID they will have the option to work remotely 2-3 days a week, in accordance with Company policies. 

COVID-19 VACCINE REQUIREMENT:

RTR is requiring all US corporate employees to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 in order to work in person, unless an employee requires a reasonable accommodation for medical or religious reasons.  If you believe that you may require an accommodation, please apply for any roles that interest you and if hired, you will receive information on how to request a reasonable accommodation after your start date. RTR will evaluate all such requests in accordance with Company policy and applicable law.   

Rent the Runway is an equal opportunity employer. In accordance with applicable law, we prohibit discrimination against any applicant or employee based on any legally-recognized basis, including, but not limited to: race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, lactation, childbirth or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, age (40 and over), national origin or ancestry, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, genetic information (including testing and characteristics), veteran status, uniformed service member status or any other status protected by federal, state or local law.

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