Job Description
Job Description
Role Overview
This role is designed for a senior planning leader who thrives as both a strategist and an executor. The Director will own financial and inventory planning across direct-to-consumer channels, including physical retail and digital commerce, while also maintaining direct accountability for a defined business segment. Success in this role requires the ability to set direction at a high level and simultaneously engage deeply with weekly performance data and operational details.
Core Responsibilities
Business & Financial Planning
- Define and drive annual and seasonal financial plans across direct-to-consumer channels, balancing revenue growth, margin performance, and inventory efficiency.
- Maintain hands-on ownership of forecasts, reforecasts, and open-to-buy decisions for a specific portfolio or category.
- Translate enterprise-level financial targets into actionable, bottom-up plans.
Leadership & Team Development
- Lead and develop a team of planners, providing guidance on forecasting accuracy, analytical rigor, and execution discipline.
- Establish clear performance expectations while fostering skill development and career progression.
- Serve as both coach and contributor, modeling best practices through personal ownership of deliverables.
Inventory & Channel Optimization
- Direct inventory allocation and flow strategies across retail locations and e-commerce platforms.
- Ensure inventory positioning supports store productivity, digital demand, and seasonal objectives.
- Identify risks related to overstock, shortages, or imbalanced assortments and implement corrective actions.
Analytics & Performance Management
- Conduct regular business reviews focused on trend analysis, performance drivers, and risk mitigation.
- Perform detailed style-, color-, and category-level analysis for assigned areas of responsibility.
- Guide the broader team in identifying insights that inform future planning decisions.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Partner closely with merchandising, buying, store operations, digital teams, and marketing to align plans with assortment and promotional strategies.
- Represent planning perspectives in leadership discussions and planning forums.
- Influence decision-making through data-driven recommendations.
Process & Systems Enhancement
- Identify opportunities to improve planning processes, tools, and workflows.
- Support enhancements to forecasting, inventory, and financial systems to increase efficiency and scalability.
- Balance process rigor with the flexibility required in a fast-paced retail environment.
Required Experience & Skills
- Bachelor's degree in business, finance, merchandising, or a related field.
- Extensive experience in retail or wholesale planning within an omnichannel environment.
- Demonstrated people leadership experience, including team development and performance management.
- Advanced proficiency in Excel and strong working knowledge of planning and forecasting platforms.
- Deep understanding of retail financial metrics, inventory planning, and open-to-buy management.
- Proven ability to manage leadership responsibilities while maintaining individual ownership of critical deliverables.
Key Attributes for Success
- Hands-On Strategic Leader: Comfortable moving between long-term vision and detailed execution.
- Strong Communicator: Able to clearly articulate insights and recommendations to senior leaders and operational partners.
- Analytical Problem Solver: Proactively identifies challenges and drives solutions grounded in data.
- Highly Organized: Effectively manages competing priorities across team leadership and direct business ownership.