What are the responsibilities and job description for the Director of Inventory Planning position at Lulus.com?
Join the LuCrew as Director of Inventory Planning and drive business success by leading sales, inventory, and margin strategies while evolving processes and mentoring the planning team.
Lulus Vision
At Lulus, our team is committed to offering the best possible service to our customers throughout the world. Our fun and casual work environment focuses on innovation and teamwork at all levels of the organization. We are always on the lookout for talented and dedicated people to join the Lulus team as we continue to build our community!
Our Commitment
Lulus is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and strives to create an organizational climate that fosters diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging so that all our team members can show up as their authentic selves and thrive. We are committed to increasing the representation of marginalized people across our team through hiring practices that value lived experience and unique perspectives. Our work environment embraces creative expression, collaboration, and connection without the expectation of assimilation.
Job Summary
The Director of Inventory Planning is responsible for overseeing the pre- and in-season planning of sales, inventory, and margin. They are expected to use analytics to solve complex problems and work closely with cross-functional teams to maximize the business as well as build templates, reports and processes in order to evolve the planning process and report results to upper management. They are responsible for managing the merchandise planning team in developing and executing against the open to buy.
This hybrid position is based out of our Los Angeles Office, with in-office days on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
What You’ll Do
Oversee, support, and develop the inventory planning team to accomplish company and department goals.
Take a leading role in managing inventory and work toward creating a collaborative, innovative and results-oriented environment with cross-functional teams.
Balance workload priorities across in-season and pre-season planning deliverables to ensure successful execution of inventory management (including buy planning, pre-season forecasting and bi-weekly re-forecasting).
Reconcile top-down & bottom-up department plans to division plans and forecasts.
Analyze pre-season plan and merchandising strategies for significant changes against previous year.
Create category level quarterly hindsight reports to drive strategic assortment decisions for future quarters and in-season management.
Own and drive the OTB planning process as well as work with the OTB platform vendor when needed to evolve the OTB based on changing business needs.
Identify, communicate, and execute tool and process improvement opportunities to the VP of Inventory Planning and Replenishment Buying.
Execution of site promotions as needed.
Provide support to leadership on special projects as needed.
What You’ll Need
Bachelor’s degree required (in Business or Finance preferred).
Minimum of 8-10 years of retail apparel planning and OTB management experience.
Minimum of 4 years of experience managing and motivating a team of at least 4 planners.
Strong excel skills, including (at a minimum) formulas such as sumifs, vlookups, etc. and pivot tables.
Strong analytical skills and ability to understand financial metrics and reporting.
Cultivate strong working relationships across multiple cross-functional partners to ensure business success.
Demonstrates an ability to set objectives and goals and organize work appropriately to meet and exceed their goals.
Anticipate risks and identify contingency plans and processes to prevent disruptions when risks occur.
Keen understanding of the core Lulus customer.
Entrepreneurial drive tempered by judgment and strong leadership skills.
Excellent communication; written, oral and group facilitation.
Professional, positive attitude.
Sense of urgency, highly detailed, and experience in meeting deadlines.
Must be able to work independently.
Ability to apply logical thinking and sound judgment to a wide range of practical problems.
Nice to Have - Bonus Points!
Planning experience within a fashion and/or ecommerce space is a plus.
What You’ll Love About Us
Great Company Culture - Where you can be your true authentic self!
Employee Bonus Plan for applicable roles
Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits
Voluntary Life & AD&D Insurance, Critical Illness, Short Term Disability
Prepare for the future - 401(k) plan with company matching
Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
Wardrobe Perks - 30% employee discount!
Recognition of employee birthdays and work anniversaries!
Work that stays at work - Genuine work/life balance
Rest and Relaxation - Generous Paid Vacation and Sick Time, Mental Health Days, and Paid Company Holidays
Paid Parental Leave
We’re ready to meet you! Come help us achieve our ambitious goals!
At Lulus, we believe our people are our greatest asset and we seek to structure competitive compensation offers to ensure that we can attract and retain the best talent. Our job postings include an annual base salary range for the role. The stated base salary range represents our good faith estimate as to what candidates are likely to expect, and we tailor our offers within the range based on several factors, including the selected candidate's educational and professional experience, industry knowledge, location, technical and communication skills, and other factors that may prove relevant during the selection process. Base salary is a part of a total compensation package, which, depending on the position, may also include an annual bonus and other benefit programs.
