Merchandise Planning Manager

We are seeking a strategically minded Merchandising & Planning Manager to lead the execution of inventory, assortment, and allocation strategy for our complex product portfolio. This role is responsible for turning high-level business goals into actionable merchandising plans, managing day-to-day operational decisions, and overseeing team members responsible for execution.

The ideal candidate thrives at the intersection of analytics, strategy, and operations, can make data-informed decisions in a fast-moving environment, is able to quickly pivot to changing launch plans, and has experience managing and developing team members while ensuring alignment across leadership and cross-functional teams.

• Develop and maintain comprehensive merchandise financial plans, including sales, inventory, and receipts aligned to business goals.
• Analyze historical performance, trends, product life cycles, and forward-looking indicators to guide demand forecasts and inventory strategy.
• Build, validate, and refine SKU-level forecasts, leveraging advanced analytical frameworks and cross-functional inputs.

• Directly manage the Associate Buyer, providing guidance, prioritization, and decision support for day-to-day execution.
• Own daily store allocation strategy, ensuring optimal inventory distribution across channels and locations.
• Oversee inventory processing, including return-to-vendor (RTV) management, work order coordination for product repairs or rework, and other operational processes as needed.
• Monitor inventory health, manage transfers, and make allocation decisions to prevent stockouts or overstock.
• Ensure operational decisions align with overall business strategy without requiring escalation for routine issues.

• Partner with Buying, Product Development, Finance, Marketing, and Data teams to ensure alignment on product launches, promotional plans, assortment decisions, and inventory flow.
• Collaborate with analytics and data teams to enhance forecasting tools, dashboards, and visibility into product performance.
• Communicate key insights, risks, and opportunities to leadership, providing actionable recommendations.
• Track in-season performance and dynamically adjust plans to maximize sell-through while protecting margins.
• Lead weekly and monthly performance reviews, including sales, turns, open-to-buy, and inventory metrics.
• Identify opportunities to improve and scale planning tools, processes, and operational workflows for efficiency, accuracy, and scalability.

• 5+ years of experience in merchandising, inventory planning, or merchandise operations in a fast-paced DTC or retail environment.
• Proven ability to lead, manage, and develop team members.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; advanced with Excel
• Experience making data-informed decisions in complex or nuanced inventory environments.

• Experience managing allocation strategy for multi-channel retail.
• Familiarity with product lifecycle management and forecasting methodologies.
• Experience collaborating across Buying, Product, and Finance teams.
• Comfort working in a high-growth, fast-moving environment with complex products.