Director Merchandise Planning Job Description
Director merchandise planning
provides support to the merchandise planning teams' planning and forecasting processes through maintenance and administrative JDA tasks.
Director Merchandise Planning Duties & Responsibilities
To write an effective director merchandise planning job description, begin by listing detailed duties, responsibilities and expectations. We have included director merchandise planning job description templates that you can modify and use.
Sample responsibilities for this position include:
Act as category-specific liaison with other merchant groups including merchandise financial planning, space planning, store operations and demand planning to ensure an alignment of goals and resources
Actively develops, coaches and mentors his/her Planning staff and provides leadership to the Planning organization the Division team
Demonstrates the ability to think globally and strategically, tactically, in the short and long term management of the business
Demonstrates flexibility and resilience
Duties will involve analyzing historical bookings, shipments and selling by utilizing Data Warehouse various Planning tool reports
Develops the tops down product strategies and financial plan inclusive of sales, margin and inventory from division to department and from globe to region
Responsible for building the assortment framework inclusive of style/sku targets, in store dates, good/better/best framework, and season code (time on offer)
Partners with Design, Merchandising and Production for developing into a range that delivers IMU%
Responsible for the management of basics inventory across the global markets ensuring the use of VMI
Responsible for delivering a flexible and responsive approach to inventory management inclusive of Test and Respond, Rapid Response and Open to buy
Director Merchandise Planning Qualifications
Qualifications for a job description may include education, certification, and experience.
Education for Director Merchandise Planning
Typically a job would require a certain level of education.
Employers hiring for the director merchandise planning job most commonly would prefer for their future employee to have a relevant degree such as Bachelor's and Collage Degree in Business, Finance, Merchandising, Education, Management, Accounting, Business/Administration, Marketing, MBA, Economics
Skills for Director Merchandise Planning
Desired skills for director merchandise planning include:
JDA Allocation
JDA Floor & Space Planning
Manhattan SWIFT – Forecasting & Replenishment
Inventory management and retail buying process
Merchandise assortment planning
Merchandise financial planning
Planning and Allocation Systems to guide strategic decisions impacting sales through inventory management
Private Brands – a strong advocate for exclusivity and Private Brand penetration
SAS Planning system
Decision support software
Desired experience for director merchandise planning includes:
4+ years’ experience in logistics or supply chain environment
Able to provide clear creative direction and critical feedback to Procurement Team
Creative innovative thinker eager to identify solutions and new opportunities
Technical skills in procurement with emphasis on forecasting, planning and replenishment
Ability to make timely decisions in fast-paced environment and react with urgency
Superior written and verbal communication, interpersonal, analytical and service skills
Director Merchandise Planning Examples
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Director Merchandise Planning Job Description
Job Description Example
Our innovative and growing company is looking to fill the role of director merchandise planning. Please review the list of responsibilities and qualifications. While this is our ideal list, we will consider candidates that do not necessarily have all of the qualifications, but have sufficient experience and talent.
Responsibilities for director merchandise planning
- Partners heavily with the lead Merchant and VP Global IM to develop the strategic Long Range Plan for the given product categories inclusive of product strategy and financial plan (sales, margin and inventory)
- Train, develop, and manage direct reports
- Partners with Merchandise Business Process Operations team on center of excellence services
- Serve as a key leader of the Outlet leadership team to drive and deliver sustainable, profitable growth for the Division
- Develop, execute, and communicate financial divisional plans, merchandise plans, and strategies to support the merchandising, marketing and financial objectives
- Responsible for pre-season forecast and in season management of planning forecasts, all on order, and receipt flow to ensure that available inventory meets open to buy strategy and maximizes cash flow and inventory utilization
- Define, direct, and manage promotional calendar for Outlet
- Develop and drive proper structure and processes with planning & allocations to maximize team productivity and results
- Financial and thought partner to Merchandising in creating strategic plans for product categories
- Responsible for delivering assortment plans consistent with merchandise strategies
Qualifications for director merchandise planning
- Is self-directed and uses tact and diplomacy in all interactions
- Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Access or other Data Warehouse / Business Intelligence tools
- Leads the development of new capacities and analytics that supports the development of pre-season assortment strategies, financial plans, and style level investments and in-season life cycle management
- 7-10 years’ experience in retail, preferably Inventory Management
- Proven success in managing and mentoring strong talent in analytical based roles, developing diverse and high performing leaders and teams
- Proven success in driving results through financial strategies
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Director Merchandise Planning Job Description
Job Description Example
Our company is hiring for a director merchandise planning. If you are looking for an exciting place to work, please take a look at the list of qualifications below.
Responsibilities for director merchandise planning
- Oversee the development of analysis, and revision of category plans for sales, margin realization, and inventory
- Oversee and approve plans related to merchandise selection, distribution and exit of businesses
- Build, cultivate and lead high performing, engaged, and winning Planning & Allocation organization
- Duties may change
- Establish and maintain commercial relationships with the SLT and Chief in Tower
- Take responsibility for the definition and management of IT budgets in support of the roadmap
- Lead the technology innovation into the tower by keeping aware of technology changes
- Be a trusted advisor to the Client Chief and their Exec team and be the IT lead on highly confidential or commercially sensitive projects
- As a leader on the merchandising team, responsible for leading and/or participating on various project teams
- Hire, train, and develop merchandise planners in division
Qualifications for director merchandise planning
- Experience analyzing reports and data to make decisions that will positively impact the business
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Technology field or equivalent working experience
- 12+ years working experience in functional/technical/application management, including all aspects of process development and execution
- Experience with similar retail applications is a must
- Knowledge of financial concepts, including ability to manage an operating budget
- Ability to effectively recruit, assess and develop personnel
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Director Merchandise Planning Job Description
Job Description Example
Our growing company is looking for a director merchandise planning. To join our growing team, please review the list of responsibilities and qualifications.
Responsibilities for director merchandise planning
- Global Brand Planning Seasonal Strategy, Financial and SKU Target Setting
- Oversee category-management based teams of Replenishment Analysts and Merchandise Planners to enable the business capabilities to have the right product in front of the right customer at the right time
- Lead Academy’s strategic merchandise planning processes and inventory levels from vendors through the distribution channel to stores to drive sales and profitability targets
- Achieve sales, profit and inventory related objectives through efficient planning and analysis for a specific category
- Build and maintain cross-functional partnerships across Stores, Distribution, Logistics & Merchants
- Guide teams through a category-specific strategic line review process to facilitate execution of its assortment plans, financial plans, store space instructions and store allocation parameters
- Guarantee effective fulfillment and reduction of out-of-stocks through standardization of replenishment and allocation methods and best practices
- Validates market research insights are incorporate into the assortment process
- Improve and empower merchant decision-making and inventory performance through merchant, planning and allocation reporting on key metrics such as sales, turns, in-stock, aging and network balance
- Responsibilities may change
Qualifications for director merchandise planning
- Detail-oriented, results-driven, highly motivated, and entrepreneurial
- Ability to collaborate, negotiate with and influence peers, members of a cross-functional team and senior management
- JDA Enterprise Planning & Allocation knowledge preferred
- Proficient in MicroStrategy or data warehouse systems
- MS Office Programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access), POG systems
- Minimum 8-12 years of progressive experience overseeing planning and inventory in a retail environment with a high growth retailer
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Director Merchandise Planning Job Description
Job Description Example
Our company is looking to fill the role of director merchandise planning. To join our growing team, please review the list of responsibilities and qualifications.
Responsibilities for director merchandise planning
- Weekly analysis of item selling/total sales by department as it relates to the greater company targets
- Direct monthly OTB meetings, maintain by department, seasonal OTB, recommend necessary receipt flow/markdowns and follow through with CFTs
- Manage in-season profitability in order to achieve or exceed seasonal plans
- Recommend future receipt adjustments, capitalize on future growth opportunities
- Ability to forecast run day-to-day operations
- Communicate planning strategies and opportunities to business leadership
- Collaborate with key cross functional partners to realize optimal profits for the Division, Company
- Manage and drive financial results that maximize sales, margin, and inventory to achieve our financial goals
- Collaborate with cross functional peers to develop and communicate a comprehensive inventory strategy that aligns future financial and product opportunities by business unit
- Oversee the development and execution of pre-season and in-season inventory plans and strategies that support merchandising, marketing and financial objectives
Qualifications for director merchandise planning
- Ability to build a business case and articulate financial concepts to non-financial business partners in a clear and concise manner
- Advanced computer skills to include MS Word, Excel, Power Point and Outlook
- Forecast & Replenishment, Financial Planning, and Allocation system experience preferred (ex
- Capable of nurturing strong cross-functional relationships
- Exemplify strong communication skills
- Partner with Geo Brand Merchandising to understand the potential application of analytics including information and data needs
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Director Merchandise Planning Job Description
Job Description Example
Our company is growing rapidly and is looking to fill the role of director merchandise planning. To join our growing team, please review the list of responsibilities and qualifications.
Responsibilities for director merchandise planning
- Oversee the development of monthly forecasts of sales, margin, and inventory to achieve business unit financial plans, proactively communicating results and action plans within the leadership team and cross functional partners
- Create a collaborative, innovative, and results oriented environment with peers, divisional, and cross functional partners
- Ensure team readiness, resource utilization and issue resolution for key milestones
- Manages Open to Buy process for the organization in line with leaderships direction and provides guidance to team
- Partners with the Director of Merchandising and Category Manager team on the financial planning and assortment planning process
- Oversees strategies that take into account demographic needs and business opportunities to maximize business by location / channel based on sales and stock performance
- Leads strategies and tactics to hit team in stock goals
- Ensures consistency among the assortments as it relates to the total store profile
- Ensures remodel stores and new stores are planned and supported to maximize business
- Provides additional leadership as necessary for Rental business in the B&O business Unit
Qualifications for director merchandise planning
- Identify trends and/or other patterns in the data
- Maintain KPI decision-support solutions and provide high-level analytics and fact-based insights to Geo Merchandising leadership
- Conduct financial analysis to understand the business impact of decisions and recommendations
- Share data with partners that corresponds to the level of the user and how they process information
- Complete seasonal analysis and provide fact-based insights at total geo, product engine, category or channel/tier level
- Represent Geo data analytics needs to Global team