Key Account Manager & Merchandiser (w/ a sense… at Shinesty · Denver

The ideal candidate combines the commercial instincts of a salesperson with the analytical and product skills of a well-trained merchant/buyer.

About Shinesty

At Shinesty, our mission is to force the world to take itself less seriously. We make people laugh first and sell second. Our mothers don’t always approve of what we do, but the millions of people we’ve entertained over the years do. We're best known for Ball Hammock® pouch underwear, bold prints, and an irreverent brand voice, with an assortment spanning underwear, socks, swim, loungewear, apparel, and accessories. Wholesale is one of our largest growth opportunities, and we're building the team to turn strong initial retailer performance into larger assortments, more departments, and chainwide expansion.

The Role

You will own, grow, and strengthen Shinesty's most important retail partnerships. This is not a passive account-management role: you're accountable for understanding each retailer's business, improving sell-through, increasing reorders, expanding assortments, and earning additional doors.

You'll work on a two person team with our Key Account Executive, who is primarily responsible for opening new accounts and relationships.

Our new-business sales lead owns: prospecting and opening new retail accounts, securing meetings with new buyers, leading initial sell-in presentations, negotiating the first commercial commitment, and cross selling new products where categories are bought by different functions within one organization.

You own: account strategy and buyer communication, reorders and sell-through performance, marketing activations, merchandising, door expansion, forecasting and execution, and long-term revenue growth.

Both of you will participate in important pitches and expansion opportunities. The retailer should experience one coordinated Shinesty team with clear internal ownership and no dropped handoffs. Your success will be measured as a team.

Key-account growth

• Own the day-to-day and strategic relationships with assigned wholesale accounts once they are handed over.
• Build annual and seasonal account plans covering revenue, assortment, doors, departments, and promotions.
• Grow revenue through reorders, expanded assortments, new categories, and increased door penetration.
• Identify underperforming stores, products, and programs, and build clear plans to fix them.
• Turn strong sell-through into persuasive expansion recommendations for buyers and senior merchants.
• Ensure we get pre-books from key accounts in advance of production.

Buyer relationships

• Build trusted relationships with buyers, merchants, planners, and allocators at each account.
• Develop a detailed understanding of each retailer's customer, assortment strategy, calendar, and internal decision-making.
• Lead recurring business reviews, line reviews, and sell-through conversations on a consistent cadence.
• Present performance and opportunities in a way that helps buyers advocate for Shinesty internally.

Assortment & merchandising strategy

• Use account-, SKU-, and door-level data to recommend the right products, quantities, pricing, and promotions.
• Partner with design, product, and merchandising to build retailer-specific assortments and represent wholesale in internal planning.
• Analyze sales, margin, inventory, turns, weeks of supply, and units per door per week.
• Identify assortment gaps that could unlock meaningful wholesale growth.

Replenishment & forecasting

• Monitor sell-through, inventory levels, and order patterns across accounts to spot replenishment needs before the retailer does.
• Build and maintain replenishment forecasts and reorder recommendations with planning and supply chain.
• Track fill rates, in-stocks, and lead times; flag risks to on-time, in-full delivery.
• Maintain accurate account forecasts by retailer, category, and season, and keep account plans, pipelines, and next actions current in our CRM.

Particularly Relevant Backgrounds

We're especially interested in candidates who trained as a Buyer, Merchant, or Merchandise Manager in a respected retail development program and have since moved — or want to move — to the brand side. Category experience in men's apparel, underwear, socks, accessories, outdoor, gifting, or seasonal is a plus, as is familiarity with retailers like Tractor Supply, Scheels, Boot Barn, Murdoch's, Dick’s, Bass Pro, or other like retailers.

What We're Looking For

• 5–10 years in retail merchandising, buying, or wholesale account management.
• Comfort selling to retail buyers and asking for what you want
• Experience owning a category, a major retailer relationship, or a meaningful portion of a retail business.
• Strong retail math: sales, margin, inventory, turns, weeks of supply, markdowns, units per door per week.
• Proven ability to turn analysis into a clear commercial recommendation and present it to buyers or senior retail stakeholders.
• Excellent communication, relationship-building, and negotiation skills; able to influence without formal authority.
• High ownership, urgency, and follow-through; comfortable in an entrepreneurial company without big-company support structure.
• Willingness to travel for retailer meetings, line reviews, store visits, and trade shows.

You May Not Be the Right Fit If

• You view account management primarily as responding to retailer requests.
• You're uncomfortable selling - asking a buyer for more doors, more assortment, or a larger commitment.
• You rely on relationships without supporting recommendations with data or you're highly analytical but don't enjoy selling and presenting.
• You wait for opportunities to be assigned rather than actively identifying them.
• You're uncomfortable representing a bold, irreverent consumer brand.

What Success Looks Like in 12 Months

• Account plans and a consistent business-review cadence in place for every assigned strategic retailer.
• Net revenue retention above 120% on your assigned account base — existing accounts grow, they don't leak.
• Reactivated or rebuilt the majority of assigned accounts that lapsed or declined in the prior year.
• Measurably improved reorder rates, assortment depth, and units per door per week across priority accounts.
• At least one new department or category launched within multiple existing retail partners.
• Forecast accuracy and wholesale demand visibility materially improved for planning and operations.
• > 60% of prebooks placed before the season deadline.

• Work from home (please note travel is expected, extensively at some points)
• 2027 On Target Earnings: $100k-$140k (please note this is a mix of base and sales-based bonus/commission)
• Laptop + whatever other equipment you need
• Access to any AI platform that will make you better at your job
• Medical, dental, vision insurance
• Dog-friendly office
• Flexible PTO, no need to accrue time take as much as you’d like
• Flexible working hours, get your work done and generate results
• Discounted and free products
• Work every day with an incredibly smart, fun, and creative team