H-1B Visa Associate Merchant Jobs
Associate Merchant jobs with H-1B visa sponsorship sit at the intersection of retail strategy, data analysis, and supply chain decision-making. Employers filing H-1B petitions for this role typically structure it around degree-level duties in business, economics, or merchandising analytics, making specialty occupation classification viable when the position is built correctly.
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Get Access To All JobsWhy You Belong Here
At Victoria’s Secret & Co, you’ll join a world-leading specialty retail brand recognized globally for innovation and excellence in lingerie and fashion. You’ll work alongside industry leaders to set the standard for what a retail brand can achieve, placing customers at the center of everything we do to create products and experiences that bring them joy.
We believe everyone deserves a place where they truly belong. We celebrate individuality and know that your passion, experience, and unique perspective strengthen our team and business. Here, you’ll be empowered to perform, grow, and engage through unmatched opportunities to develop your skills, gain real-world experience, and learn from the best in the business.
Description
Your Role:
The Associate Merchant supports the Merchant/Leader in delivering the volume and growth expectations of a book of business, through comprehensive management of a collection, and understanding and applying their financial acumen. They are the subject matter expert in areas including, but not exclusive of, assortment fashion content, SKU management, testing initiatives, competitive intelligence and customer intimacy. Influences leadership by sharing a strong, merchant point of view that is derived from customer insights, competitive patterning and hind sighting. Possesses strong leadership skills as he/she is ultimately responsible for driving cross-functional communication and motivating the team to be customer focused, innovative, fast, and team oriented in their work.
Your Impact:
System Management & Execution
- Drive accuracy of product detail through excellent execution and management of assortment documentation and communication, with emphasis on MAT tool execution
Product
- Supports the merchant/leader in delivering financial objectives and maximizing volume/profit by leveraging intuitive client insights when building seasonal strategies.
- Drives decisions around assortment edits/distortions by market.
- Partners with Planning on assortment investments and recommended action plans.
- Maximizes customer experience by driving execution of all sales education, marketing, and visual requests for the product category (pre-season and in-season).
- Understands customer intimacy and competitive environment; proactively seeking knowledge through exposure and travel to market as well as collaborating with partner merchant counterpart.
- Supports seasonal hind sighting process by driving the communication of regional customer insights to influence go-forward strategies.
- Drives the communication of product detail to cross functional partners.
- Supports key meetings through deck preparation and completion of ad hoc requests, always staying agile and flexible.
Leadership & Strategy
- Partners with the Merchant/Leader in driving the International brand businesses by connecting financial patterns and market insights to identify growth opportunities, while maintaining the replication model.
- Contributes to the success of the category through replicating and adapting brand strategies in markets around the world while meeting or exceeding the financial goals.
- Provides recommendations and gains alignment from merchant leaders to influence work streams of cross-functional teams to support key initiatives.
- Drives category business by “outside of the box” thinking that connects the lines between financial patterns and market/store insights to identify growth opportunities.
- Leads day to day communication between all members of the team.
- Acts as the category expert in key brand & cross-functional meetings, driving prioritization and distortion.
Customer
- Demonstrate an ability to turn Customer insight into actionable recommendations as it relates to assortment strategy.
- Understand the customer’s lifestyle by staying on top of trends, social media, and pop culture as it specifically relates to the customer.
- Engage in competitive patterning in order to understand the current competition/market trends and influence product strategy while making business recommendations.
Financial
- Partners with Merchant/Leader in developing the line to support the financial goals of business.
- Understands and helps influence sales and growth targets, recognizing opportunities for incremental growth and risk management.
- Collaborates across departments to build and cascade seasonal hind sights, focusing on impact to forward strategy by leveraging and understanding historical data to ensure business is compared appropriately to last year.
- Drives category alignment and collaboration with planning partners.
- Analyzes, interprets and reports financial results on a weekly basis to influence business strategy.
- Understands product trends and historical data at the category level in order to manage in season opportunities.
- Acts as the expert of store/regional performance by analyzing size and market trends and making appropriate recommendations.
Collaboration, Communication and Partner Support
- Maintains strong line of communication with field team and directly partners with regional teams when applicable through business reviews, assortment strategy cascades, regional analysis, premium and pricing studies, buy weeks, monthly TBs, etc.
- Builds productive relationships with US Brand counterparts to facilitate exchange of information, share best practices, and stay abreast of assortment strategy updates.
- Establishes and maintains strong partnerships with cross functional teams by building rapport and communicating effectively.
- Possess category/business knowledge in order to gain internal buy-in.
- Plans and leads cross functional team meetings and calls.
- Consistently demonstrates open mindedness and free thinking when problem solving.
- Regularly share customer insights and business recommendations in cross functional forums.
Talent
- Effectively on-boards new cross functional partners.
- Motivates the team to ensure effective performance and growth with consistent on-the-job feedback and training.
- Acts as a role model within the company by coaching and teaching team members to work together and remain focused.
- Demonstrates mentoring and strong leadership to the Merchant team and cross functional partners.
Click here for benefit details related to this position.
Minimum Salary: $81,600.00
Maximum Salary: $107,100.00
VS&Co provides a range of compensation for this role as shown. Your actual salary will be determined by a number of factors, including: your specific skills and experience, geographic region, or other relevant factors.
Qualifications
Your Experience:
- Bachelor’s degree in Fashion Merchandising or a related field
- 2+ years with Brand Development and Merchandise Buying
- Strong presentation and communication skills
- Demonstrated ability to influence across different levels
- Proven strategic, analytical and creative thinking skills
- Demonstrated passion for delivering results while maintaining flexibility
- Anticipate next, ability to course correct and address change
- Solid management experience and proven leadership to inspire a team with unquestionable integrity and trust
- Intimate understanding of competition, target customer and the brand specific trends
- Ability to adapt well to diverse audiences and environments
- Proficiency in MS Office/Word/Excel/PowerPoint/Outlook
- International experience a plus
We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with arrest records, conviction records, or other criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of any applicable state and local laws. Please see links: California Fair Chance Act, Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, Philadelphia Fair Chance Law, San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance
An equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate in hiring or terms and conditions of employment because of an individual’s race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, sexual orientation, marital status or any other protected category recognized by state, federal or local laws. We only hire individuals authorized for employment in the United States.
Why You Belong Here
At Victoria’s Secret & Co, you’ll join a world-leading specialty retail brand recognized globally for innovation and excellence in lingerie and fashion. You’ll work alongside industry leaders to set the standard for what a retail brand can achieve, placing customers at the center of everything we do to create products and experiences that bring them joy.
We believe everyone deserves a place where they truly belong. We celebrate individuality and know that your passion, experience, and unique perspective strengthen our team and business. Here, you’ll be empowered to perform, grow, and engage through unmatched opportunities to develop your skills, gain real-world experience, and learn from the best in the business.
Description
Your Role:
The Associate Merchant supports the Merchant/Leader in delivering the volume and growth expectations of a book of business, through comprehensive management of a collection, and understanding and applying their financial acumen. They are the subject matter expert in areas including, but not exclusive of, assortment fashion content, SKU management, testing initiatives, competitive intelligence and customer intimacy. Influences leadership by sharing a strong, merchant point of view that is derived from customer insights, competitive patterning and hind sighting. Possesses strong leadership skills as he/she is ultimately responsible for driving cross-functional communication and motivating the team to be customer focused, innovative, fast, and team oriented in their work.
Your Impact:
System Management & Execution
- Drive accuracy of product detail through excellent execution and management of assortment documentation and communication, with emphasis on MAT tool execution
Product
- Supports the merchant/leader in delivering financial objectives and maximizing volume/profit by leveraging intuitive client insights when building seasonal strategies.
- Drives decisions around assortment edits/distortions by market.
- Partners with Planning on assortment investments and recommended action plans.
- Maximizes customer experience by driving execution of all sales education, marketing, and visual requests for the product category (pre-season and in-season).
- Understands customer intimacy and competitive environment; proactively seeking knowledge through exposure and travel to market as well as collaborating with partner merchant counterpart.
- Supports seasonal hind sighting process by driving the communication of regional customer insights to influence go-forward strategies.
- Drives the communication of product detail to cross functional partners.
- Supports key meetings through deck preparation and completion of ad hoc requests, always staying agile and flexible.
Leadership & Strategy
- Partners with the Merchant/Leader in driving the International brand businesses by connecting financial patterns and market insights to identify growth opportunities, while maintaining the replication model.
- Contributes to the success of the category through replicating and adapting brand strategies in markets around the world while meeting or exceeding the financial goals.
- Provides recommendations and gains alignment from merchant leaders to influence work streams of cross-functional teams to support key initiatives.
- Drives category business by “outside of the box” thinking that connects the lines between financial patterns and market/store insights to identify growth opportunities.
- Leads day to day communication between all members of the team.
- Acts as the category expert in key brand & cross-functional meetings, driving prioritization and distortion.
Customer
- Demonstrate an ability to turn Customer insight into actionable recommendations as it relates to assortment strategy.
- Understand the customer’s lifestyle by staying on top of trends, social media, and pop culture as it specifically relates to the customer.
- Engage in competitive patterning in order to understand the current competition/market trends and influence product strategy while making business recommendations.
Financial
- Partners with Merchant/Leader in developing the line to support the financial goals of business.
- Understands and helps influence sales and growth targets, recognizing opportunities for incremental growth and risk management.
- Collaborates across departments to build and cascade seasonal hind sights, focusing on impact to forward strategy by leveraging and understanding historical data to ensure business is compared appropriately to last year.
- Drives category alignment and collaboration with planning partners.
- Analyzes, interprets and reports financial results on a weekly basis to influence business strategy.
- Understands product trends and historical data at the category level in order to manage in season opportunities.
- Acts as the expert of store/regional performance by analyzing size and market trends and making appropriate recommendations.
Collaboration, Communication and Partner Support
- Maintains strong line of communication with field team and directly partners with regional teams when applicable through business reviews, assortment strategy cascades, regional analysis, premium and pricing studies, buy weeks, monthly TBs, etc.
- Builds productive relationships with US Brand counterparts to facilitate exchange of information, share best practices, and stay abreast of assortment strategy updates.
- Establishes and maintains strong partnerships with cross functional teams by building rapport and communicating effectively.
- Possess category/business knowledge in order to gain internal buy-in.
- Plans and leads cross functional team meetings and calls.
- Consistently demonstrates open mindedness and free thinking when problem solving.
- Regularly share customer insights and business recommendations in cross functional forums.
Talent
- Effectively on-boards new cross functional partners.
- Motivates the team to ensure effective performance and growth with consistent on-the-job feedback and training.
- Acts as a role model within the company by coaching and teaching team members to work together and remain focused.
- Demonstrates mentoring and strong leadership to the Merchant team and cross functional partners.
Click here for benefit details related to this position.
Minimum Salary: $81,600.00
Maximum Salary: $107,100.00
VS&Co provides a range of compensation for this role as shown. Your actual salary will be determined by a number of factors, including: your specific skills and experience, geographic region, or other relevant factors.
Qualifications
Your Experience:
- Bachelor’s degree in Fashion Merchandising or a related field
- 2+ years with Brand Development and Merchandise Buying
- Strong presentation and communication skills
- Demonstrated ability to influence across different levels
- Proven strategic, analytical and creative thinking skills
- Demonstrated passion for delivering results while maintaining flexibility
- Anticipate next, ability to course correct and address change
- Solid management experience and proven leadership to inspire a team with unquestionable integrity and trust
- Intimate understanding of competition, target customer and the brand specific trends
- Ability to adapt well to diverse audiences and environments
- Proficiency in MS Office/Word/Excel/PowerPoint/Outlook
- International experience a plus
We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with arrest records, conviction records, or other criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of any applicable state and local laws. Please see links: California Fair Chance Act, Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, Philadelphia Fair Chance Law, San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance
An equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate in hiring or terms and conditions of employment because of an individual’s race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, sexual orientation, marital status or any other protected category recognized by state, federal or local laws. We only hire individuals authorized for employment in the United States.
See all H-1B Visa Associate Merchant Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new H-1B Visa Associate Merchant Jobs.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding H-1B Visa Sponsorship in Associate Merchant
Frame your degree for specialty occupation
An Associate Merchant role qualifies as a specialty occupation only when duties map directly to your degree field. Document how your coursework in business, economics, or supply chain analytics drives the analytical and planning tasks in your job description before USCIS reviews the petition.
Look up prevailing wages before negotiating
Your employer must certify your offered wage meets or exceeds the prevailing wage for the role and worksite. Run the SOC code for buyer or merchandise planner roles through OFLC Wage Search to understand the wage level tiers before your offer conversation.
Target retailers with active LCA filing history
Use Migrate Mate to browse Associate Merchant and buyer roles at employers with verified H-1B LCA filing history, so you're applying to companies that have already built the sponsorship infrastructure for this occupation rather than ones encountering it for the first time.
Confirm each worksite gets its own LCA
If your role involves working across distribution centers or store locations in different metro areas, each worksite requires a separate certified LCA. Raise this with your employer before the I-129 is filed, not after a site change triggers a compliance gap mid-status.
Build a credential file that ties duties to your degree
Collect transcripts, course descriptions, and a written summary showing how your merchandising, analytics, or supply chain coursework directly supports each core duty listed in your offer letter. USCIS RFEs for buyer and merchant roles often target exactly this degree-to-duty connection.
Plan your timeline around the 60-day grace period
If a retail employer withdraws sponsorship mid-process or a job is eliminated, you have a 60-day grace period to find a new H-1B employer, transfer status, or depart. Identify backup employers with open merchant roles before your current petition reaches a critical stage.
H-1B Visa Associate Merchant: Frequently Asked Questions
Does an Associate Merchant role qualify as an H-1B specialty occupation?
It depends on how the employer structures the position. When an Associate Merchant role centers on data-driven assortment planning, financial analysis, and vendor negotiation requiring a bachelor's degree in business, economics, merchandising, or a related field, it can qualify as a specialty occupation. Generic retail buying duties without degree-level analytical requirements typically do not meet USCIS's specialty occupation definition, so the job description architecture matters.
Which employers sponsor H-1B visas for Associate Merchant roles?
Large national retailers, e-commerce companies, and consumer goods organizations are the most consistent H-1B sponsors for merchandise planning and buying roles. These employers already have immigration counsel and established LCA filing processes. Browse Migrate Mate to see which companies have verified H-1B LCA filing history specifically for merchant and buyer-category positions.
How does the LCA requirement work for a multi-location merchant role?
Each metropolitan statistical area where you perform work requires its own certified Labor Condition Application. If your Associate Merchant role involves regular work at a corporate office, a distribution center, or vendor sites in different cities, your employer must file separate LCAs for each location before you work there. A single LCA tied to headquarters does not cover other worksites.
What documents should I prepare to support an H-1B petition for this role?
You'll need official transcripts and course descriptions showing your degree directly relates to the merchant role's analytical duties, a detailed offer letter specifying degree-level responsibilities, and any professional credentials in supply chain or retail analytics. If your degree title isn't an exact match to the role, a credential evaluation and a written degree-to-duty analysis can strengthen the specialty occupation argument significantly.
How long does H-1B status last for an Associate Merchant job?
H-1B status is initially granted for up to three years and can be extended for an additional three years, reaching a six-year maximum under standard rules. Extensions beyond six years are possible only if a PERM labor certification or I-140 immigrant petition has been filed on your behalf and meets the qualifying timelines set by USCIS. Status is tied to the specific employer and position, not transferable automatically if you change roles or companies.