Planning Manager

Fleur du Mal is a luxury lingerie and ready-to-wear brand founded in 2012 that celebrates women who exude power, while embracing their femininity and sensuality. The brand is distributed online at fleurdumal.com, in Fleur du Mal boutiques, and with top retailers. POSITION OVERVIEW The Manager, Planning plays a key role in driving inventory productivity, supporting merchandise buy execution, and ensuring inventory investments align with sales and financial objectives across E-commerce and Retail. Reporting to the Director of Planning, this role will manage replenishment and Open-to-Buy activities, provide analytical support for seasonal merchandise buys, and partner cross-functionally to optimize inventory flow throughout the product lifecycle. The ideal candidate is highly analytical, commercially minded, and comfortable translating sales and inventory data into actionable recommendations. This individual will work closely with Planning, Merchandising, Allocation, Supply Chain, Finance, Retail, E-commerce, and Marketing to identify opportunities, mitigate inventory risks, and support profitable growth. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES REPLENISHMENT MANAGEMENT Partner with the Director of Planning to identify recut and replenishment opportunities for high-performing styles based on projected weeks of supply, sales trends, and production lead times. Analyze historical sales and projected inventory by size to recommend recut quantities and size ratios, balancing demand with lead-time considerations. Monitor sell-through, stock-to-sales ratios, weeks of supply, and product performance to identify inventory opportunities and risks. Recommend and support reallocation and replenishment actions across retail stores to maximize sales and improve inventory productivity. Proactively identify potential stock-outs and excess inventory and recommend actions to optimize availability. OPEN-TO-BUY MANAGEMENT Partner with the Director of Planning in managing the Open-to-Buy (OTB) process, ensuring inventory investments align with sales, margin, inventory, and cash flow targets. Actualize and reforecast OTB based on current business performance, sell-through trends, regional demand, and new product performance. Identify opportunities and risks to sales and inventory plans and communicate recommendations to key stakeholders. Review inventory composition, aging, and product performance to make markdown and inventory disposition recommendations. Support scenario planning to evaluate the financial and inventory impact of changes in sales trends, receipts, and product performance. MERCHANDISE BUY EXECUTION Collaborate closely with the Director of Planning to support the execution of seasonal E-commerce and Retail merchandise buys. Provide store-level sales insights, historical performance, and regional trends to inform buy quantities, assortment breadth, and depth. Ensure buy plans are aligned with store capacity, regional demand, channel needs, and product lifecycle expectations. Assist in reconciling seasonal buy plans with replenishment and allocation strategies to optimize inventory flow following initial delivery. Evaluate inventory needs across E-commerce and Retail to support productive channel-level inventory investments. Maintain clear communication among Merchandising, Supply Chain, Retail, and other stakeholders throughout buy preparation and delivery execution. CROSS-FUNCTIONAL COLLABORATION Partner with Merchandising, Supply Chain, Finance, and Store Operations to ensure alignment between merchandise plans, inventory distribution, and financial goals. Collaborate with the E-commerce team to align online product availability, inventory needs, and delivery timelines. Partner with Marketing to align inventory plans and product availability with product launches, campaigns, and key marketing moments. Communicate inventory opportunities, risks, and recommended actions clearly to cross-functional stakeholders. Support the Director of Planning in translating business performance into actionable inventory and merchandise strategies. SYSTEMS & PROCESS MANAGEMENT Manage allocation and replenishment systems, including Toolio, ensuring rules, parameters, and data inputs are accurate and aligned with business needs. Maintain planning tools and reporting used to monitor sales, inventory, replenishment, and OTB performance. Support testing and implementation of planning system enhancements, upgrades, and new functionality. Identify opportunities to improve planning, replenishment, allocation, and reporting processes to increase accuracy and efficiency. Help establish scalable planning processes and best practices as the business grows. QUALIFICATIONS 5+ years of experience in merchandise planning, inventory planning, allocation, or a related retail planning function, preferably within fashion, apparel, luxury, or specialty retail. Strong understanding of Open-to-Buy, replenishment, inventory management, merchandise planning, and retail KPIs. Demonstrated ability to analyze sales and inventory performance and translate findings into actionable business recommendations. Experience supporting merchandise buys across E-commerce and brick-and-mortar retail channels. Strong understanding of size-level selling, weeks of supply, sell-through, stock-to-sales ratios, inventory turn, and markdown management. Advanced Excel or Google Sheets skills; experience with Toolio or similar merchandise planning systems and GoodDay ERP strongly preferred. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with exceptional attention to detail. Ability to balance financial objectives with merchandising and customer considerations. Strong communication and collaboration skills with the ability to work effectively across multiple functions. Highly organized and able to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, evolving environment. KEY SUCCESS MEASURES Success in this role will be measured by the ability to improve inventory productivity and availability, accurately manage and forecast OTB, identify timely replenishment and recut opportunities, support productive merchandise buys, minimize excess and aged inventory, and strengthen alignment across Planning, Merchandising, Retail, E-commerce, Supply Chain, and other cross-functional partners. Location: This role is NYC-based and requires 4 days per week in-office. #J-18808-Ljbffr