Merchandising & Category Management SME (Contractor)

About the role

Turing, an AI company, is looking for a Merchandising & Category Management Subject Matter Expert to design, evaluate and calibrate high-fidelity retail tasks, scenarios and benchmark solutions. Depending on depth of retail experience, candidates are considered for an Expert Contributor or a Senior Specialist / Reviewer track within the functional evaluation pods.

Key responsibilities

• Benchmark task authoring: design realistic, high-difficulty retail exercises, assortment planning scenarios, promotional strategy models and planogram challenges with gold-standard solution sets.
• Rubric application and scoring: apply evaluation rubrics set by the Functional SME Lead to assess and score retail planning submissions.
• Review and calibration: take part in peer calibration sessions, incorporate structured feedback, iterate on task designs and help resolve edge cases in retail math or allocation logic.
• Commercial modeling: build and evaluate scenarios using core retail KPIs such as sell-through rates, GMROI, open-to-buy, margin mix and inventory turnover.

Required profile

• 3-15 years of hands-on experience in retail merchandising, buying, category management or inventory allocation.
• Demonstrated expertise in assortment architecture, product allocation and merchandise financial planning.
• Practical experience creating and analyzing assortment plans, visual planograms and promotional calendars.
• Strong written communication skills and proven ability to work under peer review and adapt to calibration feedback.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience; experience in AI evaluation, data annotation, content review or quality assurance is preferred but not required.

Required skills

• Foundational retail calculations: GMROI, turn, markdowns, margin impact, weeks of supply.
• Assortment planning, planograms and promotional calendar analysis.

What we offer

• Contract engagement of 12 weeks.
• At least 4 hours per day and up to 40 hours per week, with 4 hours of overlap with PST.

To apply, candidates must submit a Job Interest Form and complete an assessment; final selected candidates are contacted about next steps and onboarding.