Demand Planner Direct Assortment

Job Description

Job Description

Who You Will Work With: You will work with teams in Assortment Planning, Merch Financial Planning, Marketplace, and Finance to create robust rolling forecasts based on both quantitative and qualitative sales, inventory, and margin data. Who We Are Looking For: We are seeking a Lead Client Direct Assortment Planner to develop comprehensive bottom-up merchandise plans. In this role, you will partner with Assortment Planners, Merch Financial Planning, Marketplace, and Finance teams to create product lines that are profitable, productive, and aligned with consumer needs. Key responsibilities include developing pre-season style color plans to support business and consumer goals, and optimizing in-season performance through robust rolling forecasts and collaborative weekly planning with marketplace partners. You will ensure that seasonal buys are fully aligned with retail sales, inventory, and market expectations, including specific requirements for store, flow, and size. What You Will Work On

• Develop seasonal plans and monthly forecasts for sales, margin, and inventory at the style/color level using analytics.
• Create and execute strategies to achieve financial goals and manage open-to-buy forecasts, informing both manufacturing and in-season optimization.
• Deliver seasonal buys aligned to sales, inventory, and market requirements, accounting for store specifics.
• Partner with stakeholders globally and regionally to optimize business health throughout the product lifecycle, including responsive offerings.
• Recap and analyze business results versus forecast weekly, and update in-season sales and inventory forecasts monthly.
• Analyze data to provide actionable insights for product forecasting and in-season optimization.
• Monitor and report on forecast variance weekly, developing action plans and identifying risks and opportunities.
• Support inventory planning and management activities on a monthly and seasonal basis.
• Collaborate with marketplace teams to actively manage products, including the close-out process and aging inventory, maximizing consumer demand and marketplace objectives.

What You Bring

• Experience with statistical forecasting, data science, and modern planning techniques to enhance decision making both before and during the sales season.
• Strong background in assortment planning, as well as financial, product, and inventory planning.
• Ability to influence others and develop compelling data-driven communications.
• Strong critical thinking and analytical skills, capable of assessing market opportunities and addressing financial gaps from a bottom-up perspective.
• Proven problem-solving ability, with a track record of developing accurate plans that optimize key trade-offs and outcomes.
• Current knowledge of consumer and marketplace trends.
• Typically, a Bachelor's degree and 3-5 years of directly relevant experience. Advanced academic degrees or additional experience may substitute for part of this requirement.
• Well-versed in brick-and-mortar store planning with global or international experience.
• Highly analytical, comfortable making data-driven decisions, and adept at managing competing priorities and multiple deadlines in a fast-paced environment.

Additional Information

• The role is onsite at company headquarters with a traditional hybrid model (Fridays remote).
• This is a retail planning position for value stores, demanding a high workload and the ability to juggle multiple priorities and deliverables, often with time-sensitive deadlines and presentations.
• The role also offers the opportunity to work with an iconic brand, requiring a mindset that thrives in a high-energy, "work hard, play hard environment.