Senior Category Planning Manager, EMEA

Since 1906, New Balance has empowered people through sport and craftsmanship to create positive change in communities around the world. We innovate fearlessly, guided by our core values and driven by the belief that conventions were meant to be challenged. We foster a culture in which every associate feels welcomed and respected, where leaders and creatives are inspired to shape the world of tomorrow by taking bold action today.

The Senior Category Planning Manager, EMEA is the commercial planning lead for New Balance’s consumer performance and lifestyle categories. You will own the full seasonal planning cycle — from pre-season strategy to in-season trading and post-season hindsight — ensuring category ambition transforms into commercial results across all EMEA channels and markets. Sitting within the centralised EMEA Sales Planning function, you act as the bridge between Brand, Merchandising and the commercial organisation.

You define how the category sells: building seasonal sales frameworks, investment logic, channel targets and in-season action plans that drive growth, healthy distribution and strong sell-through. This role is ideal for someone who is highly analytical, commercially sharp and deeply connected to product, consumer and market.

• Build and own the seasonal category sales plan for all EMEA channels: wholesale, DTC and e-commerce.
• Translate Brand and Merchandising priorities — key franchises, seasonal stories, range architecture — into clear commercial frameworks and revenue targets.
• Define option counts, depth-by-channel and investment levels to drive strong sell-in and healthy sell-through.
• Present and align plans with the Commercial Planning Director and senior commercial stakeholders, clearly articulating assumptions, risks and opportunities.

• Lead the Sales Planning contribution to the category GTM process from range sign-off to sell-in execution.
• Build seasonal sell-in toolkits: channel targets, assortment guidance and story prioritisation by account tier.
• Partner with Marketing to align sell-in plans with seasonal activation calendars and key consumer moments.
• Support market and account teams in sell-in preparation and coordinate allocation recommendations for constrained or launch product with Sales Planning and Supply Chain.

• Own the in-season performance view across EMEA: weekly sell-through, inventory levels, reorders, best/slow sellers and markdown exposure.
• Identify risks and opportunities at category and franchise level and drive proactive commercial actions — reorders, stock rebalancing, exit strategies.
• Lead regular in-season category reviews with the Sales Planning Director and cross-functional partners.
• Work closely with market and account planning teams to resolve distribution health issues.

• Develop deep expertise in category dynamics: consumer profiles, seasonal demand patterns, franchise lifecycle, competitive positioning and market trends.
• Translate consumer insight and competitive intelligence into actionable commercial recommendations.
• Produce regular category market intelligence reports and contribute structured insight into global GTM and product creation processes.

• Act as the category planning authority within the central Sales Planning function.
• Ensure category dynamics are accurately reflected in the EMEA rolling forecast and annual commercial plan.
• Partner with Finance to align revenue and margin assumptions with EMEA financial targets.
• Build strong cross-functional relationships with Merchandising, Marketing, Customer…