Ford Assistant Merchandiser

Ford Assistant Merchandiser

MSX has been a trusted partner to leading vehicle manufacturers, their retailers, and mobility organizations globally for more than 30 years. Our unwavering commitment is to help our clients transform their businesses and effectively manage operations in the areas of: Sales Performance; Repair Optimization and Compliance; Parts and Accessories Sales Performance; and Consumer Engagement. With our global teams, industry expertise, and the power of technology, we design and deliver tailored, sustainable, and innovative solutions and services that help our clients optimize their operations and captivate their customers.

Job Description

Job Overview

We are seeking an agile, analytical, and highly organized Assistant Merchandiser for a temporary/contract assignment supporting one of the world's leading Global Automotive OEMs / Mobility Brands.

In this contract role, you will sit at the intersection of business strategy, project management, and partner collaboration. You will play a pivotal role in supporting revenue goals, managing complex product development timelines, and translating market trends into actionable commercial recommendations for branded merchandise. This role requires an active, hands-on presence to coordinate with local partners and directly support regional brand activations.

Business Acumen

· Drive Performance: Support the achievement of key commercial metrics, including revenue, profit, and growth targets for branded portfolios.

· Financial Guardrails: Contribute to critical pricing, costing, and margin analysis across all product assortments.

· Risk & Opportunity Management: Track real-time performance against business plans, proactively surfacing potential risks and untapped opportunities to leadership.

Partner Management & Event Support

· Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work collaboratively across a diverse network of internal and external teams—including agencies, program operators, fulfillment partners, designers, licensees, and vendors—to successfully execute new product assortments.

· Timeline Enforcement: Direct and manage critical deadlines with suppliers to deliver new product assortments strictly on schedule.

· Local Event & Activation Support: Provide on-the-ground, hands-on support for local brand activations, corporate events, and regional product launches, ensuring the right merchandise is delivered, displayed, and managed in the right quantities at the exact right time.

Project Management

· Multi-Project Execution: Simultaneously deliver multiple projects across the end-to-end product development and marketing calendar.

· Milestone Tracking: Monitor project milestones, program budgets, and dependencies, proactively escalating risks before they impact program delivery.

· Data Integrity: Maintain highly accurate, up-to-date project documentation, master files, and workflow trackers.

Analysis

· Commercial Diagnostics: Conduct deep-dive analyses—including sell-through, assortment, and financial analysis—to back business decisions with data.

· Stakeholder Reporting: Translate complex data sets into clear, concise, and visual recommendations and reporting for corporate stakeholders.

Market Insights & Global Trend Analysis

· Consumer Centricity: Maintain a deep understanding of consumer insights and market dynamics driving customer demand for branded corporate merchandise and lifestyle products.

· Trend Translation: Continuously monitor global lifestyle, automotive enthusiast, and fashion trends, summarizing their direct implications for the future product assortment.

Qualifications

· Education: Bachelor's degree required.

· Industry Experience: Minimum of 2–3 years of experience in Product Development and/or Retail Merchandising.

· Relationship Management: Minimum of 2–3 years of hands-on Partner/Vendor Management experience.

· Project Delivery: Strong project management background, with a proven history of successfully delivering complex projects on time and under budget.

· Technical Systems: High proficiency in MS Excel alongside merchandising, planning, and reporting tools.

· Logistics & Availability: Ability to work onsite in Dearborn, MI four days a week (M-Th) and flexibly support local, in-person events as needed.

Preferred Qualifications

· Prior merchandising experience specifically with a large-scale corporate brand, lifestyle retailer, or automotive brand.

· Exposure to working within a complex, global corporate operational landscape.

· Background in Direct-to-Consumer (DTC), brand loyalty programs, and/or e-Commerce retail environments.

· Practical experience supporting brand activations, corporate events, or major product launches with targeted merchandise.

· Direct hands-on experience with Shopify and Square POS platforms.

· Formal Project Management experience or training.

Additional Information

Key Competencies

· Comfort with Ambiguity: Thrives in a fast-paced, evolving corporate environment and is consistently willing to push past convention to solve problems.

· Cross-Functional Collaboration: Builds strong, trusting, and effective working relationships across matrixed internal teams and external partners alike.

· Bias for Action: Moves quickly, takes extreme ownership of tasks, and proactively drives temporary contract projects to successful completion.

· Commercial & Analytical Thinking: Seamlessly connects data patterns and macro consumer trends directly to business outcomes.

· Organization & Attention to Detail: Masterfully manages multiple deliverables and tight deadlines without sacrificing quality.

MSX International is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer committed to employing a diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and protected veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.