Sr Manager, Central Planning

Job Summary

JOB DESCRIPTION

The Senior Manager of Central Planning will be responsible for providing forecasting and business analysis support to the Planning, Allocation, Merchandising and Sr. Leadership teams to help drive overall profitability. This role will utilize both quantitative and qualitative analysis to evaluate current business performance and make recommendations to support future goals and plans. This position serves as a key partner to many of our internal organizations such as Merchandising, Finance, Marketing, Strategy & Analytics, Direct Sourcing, Product Development and Store Operations. They will support the Senior Director of Central Planning and Analytics in the development and implementation of strategies/processes to improve merchandise planning and forecasting, pricing/markdown strategies and execution as well as ROI analysis. The Senior Manager of Central Planning will be expected to leverage an analytical mindset to make critical business decisions that will impact the company on a large scale.

Essential Functions

• Analyze complex financial and operational information to provide accurate and timely recommendations to management for decision making purposes
• Drive key operational and milestone processes across the organization (OTB, Milestone meetings, class plan reviews, Strategy alignment, Pre-season planning etc.)
• Leads company-wide product lifecycle management clearance process/analysis by prioritizing MD cadence and partnering with Leadership and Merchandising teams
• Provides Ad Hoc analysis and recommendations as needed by the Sr. Director of Corporate Planning and Analytics
• This individual will drive consistency of planning tools, forms, and processes across the organization with focus on data accuracy
• Calculates the financial impact of current and future reinvents for entire product lifecycle from pre-season impact for targets, to in-season reporting and analysis of performance
• Provides product and store attribute analysis to support assortment planning and buy planning
• Develop associates through coaching, mentoring, performance management and skill development to ensure job satisfaction and career development
• Coordinates cross functionally with Merch Ops to escalate systems issues, coordinate recaps/decks for corporate meetings and participate in development of future merchandising /planning systems.
  
  

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
• 10 years' experience in a retail environment, preferably in Merchandise Planning or FP&A with at least 2 years of management experience.
• Relationship Management: Able to build constructive and effective relationships with a broad and diverse group of business partners.
• Process Management: Can identify and articulate the processes necessary to perform efficiently and align resources effectively.
• Financial and Business Acumen: Ability to evaluate financial and business indicators and translate data into actionable information to drive results; proficiency in retail math.
• Problem Solving / Decision Quality: Able to use rigorous methods to find solutions to complex issues.
• Analytic Skills: Ability to think objectively and interpret meaningful themes from quantitative and qualitative data.
• Solid understanding of merchandising, store operations, supply chain and marketing principles and their integration with the planning and buying activities
• Possess strong organizational and time management skills along with attention to details
• Demonstrates strong listening skills and crafts targeted and effective verbal and written communications