VP, Planning (Hybrid)

The Vice President, Planning, champions new methods to identify planning improvements necessary to improve profits and profitability. They are out of the box thinkers who maximize gross margin dollars and inventory productivity by providing the overall financial direction of a category. The VP guides their team through the development of seasonal merchandise financial plans and by-door plans. They will work in partnership with DMM's/Merchandise Managers/Allocation Planners to maximize overall financial performance of product categories and to develop a collaborative team culture within their area of responsibility.

Essential Functions:

• Direct the development of divisional, departmental and bottom-up merchandise financial plans; work with Senior Management, Corporate Planning and team to ensure company EBITDA goals are met or exceeded.
• Lead team to drive assortment, pricing, profitability and inventory analytics to be used by Buying teams during the product and assortment planning processes (merchandise strategy, inventory planning, assortment & buy planning)
• Partner with the DMM/MM in the divisional monthly forecast meetings; manage opportunities and risks through the monthly forecast process
• Analyze historical and current trends to identify risks or opportunities and recommend strategies to increase sales and achieve business and financial objectives
• Build a high-quality planning team and maintain bench strength by developing partnerships, leading, coaching and providing constructive feedback
• Facilitate team environment between Buying, Merchandise Planning and Allocation organizations
• Lead initiatives to instill best practices and develop support infrastructure by evaluating techniques, processes and systems with management to identify improvement areas
• Lead and Exhibit Planning values

Education:

• Bachelor's degree and/or equivalent experience required

Work Experience:

• 6+ years of retail experience
• 3+ years of merchandising or financial planning experience

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Effectively manages a large scope of responsibility to achieve financial targets based on a sound knowledge of merchandising concepts
• Builds and maintains productive cross-functional relationships
• Prioritizes and manages workload and processes to meet company objectives
• Takes calculated risks to achieve results
• Fosters a strong team environment and works effectively with management
• Demonstrates extensive knowledge of the industry
• Provides broad market perspective on trends and business opportunities