Our retail client is looking to bring on a Sr. Merchandising Planner to their team on a fulltime basis. The role will be hybrid (4x a week onsite) in Oakland, CA.

About the Role As a Merchandise Planner you'll be a critical part of a cross-functional team that owns the P&L for one of our product categories (e.g. Shoes, Apparel, Accessories, Beauty). You'll work closely with Buyers, Designers, Finance, and Operations to decide which products to carry and how to allocate inventory investment across them. You'll analyze sales, inventory, and website data to uncover insights that guide the rest of the team and ensure that we have the products our customers want, when they want them.

A great candidate will have outstanding critical thinking and problem solving skills, a deep understanding of how to use data to drive decisions, and advanced Excel skills including the ability to work with extremely large data sets. The ideal candidate will also have experience with inventory planning processes/ tools (category/ assortment planning, open-to-buy, re-orders, clearance/ markdowns, etc.) in an apparel business, the ability to collaborate effectively with and manage execution across multiple teams, and experience managing inventory in apparel or another high-SKU category with size or color variations.

Responsibilities

Analyze sales, inventory, and website data to uncover insights that guide product assortment and inventory decisions
Execute inventory planning processes including category/assortment planning, open-to-buy, re-orders, clearance/markdowns, etc.
Drive revenue growth by efficiently allocating inventory investment based on sales trends Improve inventory efficiency/ turnover by developing buy plans for seasonal and everyday products
Recap and analyze sales results and variances to plan on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis
Performs independent analysis and recommends courses of action to drive profitable sales
Experience planning inventory for apparel or another high SKU count category
Knowledge of inventory planning processes (assortment planning, open-to-buy, re-orders, markdowns, etc.) and retail math Ability to collaborate effectively with and manage execution across multiple teams Prior experience in a start-up organization Passion for and experience in the fashion industry

Qualifications

Requires minimum of 3+ years merchandise planning experience involving sales and inventory planning, sales forecasting, and OTB 4-year college degree required
Outstanding critical thinking and problem solving skills A deep understanding of how to use data to drive decisions
Demonstrated experience gathering and manipulating data to answer questions and solve problems Advanced Excel skills including the ability to work with extremely large data sets, Pivot Tables, v lookups, and logical formulas
Strong organizational and time management skills; able to effectively manage multiple priorities
Excellent verbal and written communication skills
Comfort with ambiguity and passion/excitement for building new tools and processes Preferred

Senior Merchandise Planner