E-commerce Operations Associate (San Diego)

E-commerce Operations Associate

Location: San Diego, CA (Part-time to Full-time/Hourly)

Hourly Range: $20 - $30

About Us:

EMURJ is a curated luxury fashion e-commerce destination, featuring established and emerging designers across ready-to-wear, shoes, and accessories. Our perspective is defined by a thoughtful edit—elevated, directional, and made personal.

The Role:

We are seeking a sharp, hardworking, and exceptionally organized E-commerce Operations Associate to support the day-to-day operations of our online business. This is an early-career role with significant hands-on responsibility and room to grow.

Previous e-commerce experience is helpful but not required—we are prepared to train the right person. More important is the ability to learn quickly, exercise good judgment, work carefully, and take ownership of tasks through completion.

The position combines physical work—including fulfilling orders, processing returns, and receiving inventory—with computer-based responsibilities such as maintaining records, coordinating shipments, and working with product and order data in Google Sheets and Shopify.

The ideal candidate takes pride in doing careful, thorough work and understands the attention required when handling fashion merchandise. They should be comfortable managing several workflows at once, communicating clearly with customers and partners, and following every task through to completion.

Room to grow with us: EMURJ is a small team, and this role is designed to grow as the business does. For someone who excels at the coordination and systems side of the work (e.g. partner shipments, invoices, inventory records, chargebacks, finding better ways to get things done etc.) there is real potential to take ownership of EMURJ's operations as we expand, including helping hire and train a teammate to take on day-to-day fulfillment and inventory handling.

What You'll Be Doing:

Order Review & Fulfillment:

• Review incoming orders for potential fraud or other risk indicators.
• Pick items accurately from their assigned inventory locations.
• Perform a careful quality-control inspection of every item before shipment.
• Photograph each item to document its condition before it is packed.
• Thoughtfully apply security tags and strings without damaging the product or interfering with its presentation.
• Select the appropriate packaging for each order and pack items securely using tissue, padding, and other protective materials.
• Prepare orders for shipment and ensure every package meets our presentation and quality standards.

Returns & Customer Support:

• Receive and process returned merchandise.
• Carefully examine returned items to confirm that they meet our return-policy requirements.
• Document the condition of rejected returns and clearly and professionally communicate the decision to customers.
• Respond to general customer inquiries as needed.

Partner Shipment Coordination:

• Coordinate the shipment of customer orders and incoming inventory from our partners, most of whom are based overseas.
• Follow up with partners to confirm the availability of items and determine when they are ready to ship.
• Review partner invoices for accuracy and resolve errors or discrepancies.
• Coordinate with the finance team to ensure invoices are paid when required for shipment.
• Prepare import shipping labels and supporting documentation.
• Schedule shipment pickups and follow each shipment through the necessary operational steps.

Incoming Inventory:

• Receive and process incoming inventory from partners.
• Check shipments against the associated records and identify missing or incorrect items.
• Print product barcode labels and apply them carefully to each item.
• Assign products to the correct inventory locations.
• Place merchandise into inventory locations in an accurate, organized, and accessible manner.
• Record each item's location using internal tools and systems so products can be found and fulfilled efficiently.

Chargebacks & Documentation:

• Review and respond to payment chargebacks.
• Gather order records, tracking information, photographs, customer communications, and other supporting evidence.
• Prepare clear and complete chargeback documentation for submission.
• Maintain organized records of chargeback activity and outcomes.

Stylist & VIP Relationships:

• Manage day-to-day operational relationships with stylists and VIP clients.
• Coordinate product pulls for potential purchase.
• Track pulled merchandise and maintain accurate records of outstanding items.
• Carefully pack outgoing pulls and process returned merchandise.
• Collect and process payment for purchased items.

Operational Coordination & Supplies:

• Monitor stock levels and replenish shipping boxes, tissue paper, packing paper, padding, shipping labels, product labels, security tags, lint rollers, and other fulfillment materials.
• Keep operational and inventory areas clean, orderly, and well organized.
• Help identify and resolve operational issues as they arise.

Product Data & Catalog Coordination:

• Coordinate closely with the copywriter/catalog specialist to ensure product and inventory information is accurate and complete.
• Upload product information to backend systems.

AI & Workflow Automation:

• Learn to build, test, and maintain practical workflows using AI agents and tools such as ChatGPT Work, Claude Cowork, Google Sheets, Shopify, and other operational systems.
• Use AI to organize information, reconcile data, prepare documentation, summarize exceptions, and accelerate recurring operational tasks.
• Measure the effectiveness of new workflows and refine them as business needs evolve.

Availability & Workload:

This is an hourly role that may range from part-time to full-time, depending on the candidate's capabilities and availability.

We're looking for availability Monday through Friday, at least 4 hours a day, with the potential to grow to full-time.

Benefits: For team members working at full-time capacity, benefits such as medical coverage may be offered.

The position involves a combination of physical, hands-on work and detail-oriented administrative coordination. It requires spending time standing, moving throughout the inventory area, retrieving and organizing merchandise, and carefully packing and processing products. It also requires focused computer-based work, clear communication, and the ability to manage several active workflows at once.

What You'll Bring:

• The ability to balance hands-on physical work with administrative and organizational responsibilities.
• A sharp, resourceful mindset and the ability to learn new processes quickly.
• A strong work ethic, dependable follow-through, and a willingness to take ownership of both routine and unexpected tasks.
• Strong working knowledge of Google Sheets.
• Exceptional organizational skills.
• Meticulous attention to detail and a careful approach to handling merchandise.
• Sound judgment and the ability to identify potential problems or inconsistencies.
• Clear, professional written and verbal communication skills.
• The ability to work independently while coordinating effectively with customers, partners, and internal team members.
• Comfort learning and working with order-management tools, shipping platforms, Shopify, and other digital systems.
• Interest in growing into a larger operations role.

Bonus Points That Will Make You Stand Out:

• Previous experience in e-commerce operations, retail operations, order fulfillment, or inventory management.
• Hands-on experience with Shopify.
• Experience inspecting, handling, and packaging fashion merchandise.
• Familiarity with fraud review, payment disputes, or chargeback documentation.
• Experience coordinating shipments.
• Experience working directly with stylists, VIP clients, or vendors.
• Experience using AI agents—including ChatGPT Work and Claude Cowork—to automate and streamline workflows.