Director, Global Merchandise Planning

Levi Strauss & Co.•San Francisco, CA

8d•$167,300 - $245,400•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, Global Merchandise Planning sets global planning strategy, leads leaders, and shapes the financial and inventory architecture that brings brand vision to life across direct-to-consumer (DTC) and Wholesale. Reporting to the VP, Center Demand and Operations, this role translates long-term brand and consumer strategy into scalable, profitable, and inventory-efficient plans that support sustainable growth across regions, categories, and channels. The Director establishes the global merchandise planning vision and operating model across categories and product tiers; owns long-range planning, seasonal frameworks, investment guardrails, forecasting, financial rollups, and milestone governance; and leads multi-season product lifecycle strategy. The role also develops planning leaders, partners with senior stakeholders across functions, improves global planning practices and systems, and communicates strategies, risks, and opportunities to executive audiences. This is a hybrid position based at the company's San Francisco, California headquarters. The typical schedule is three days in the office per week, usually Tuesday through Thursday, with in-office attendance subject to business needs.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Finance, Business, Retail Management, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
10–15+ years of experience in merchandise planning, financial planning, or inventory management.
5+ years of experience leading leaders.
Proven ability to operate at a global, enterprise level, set strategy, lead transformation, and influence senior stakeholders.
Deep understanding of planning metrics, financial levers, and inventory economics, with the ability to translate insights into action.
Strong experience presenting to and partnering with senior leadership.
Advanced Excel skills and experience with planning systems.
Ability to drive adoption of new tools and capabilities.
Must be legally authorized to work in the United States at the time of hire and must not require current or future employment visa sponsorship.

Responsibilities

Set the global merchandise planning vision and operating model across multiple categories and product tiers, aligned with brand strategy, consumer insights, and market dynamics.
Own and influence long-range planning, seasonal frameworks, and investment guardrails while balancing growth, profitability, and inventory health.
Provide enterprise leadership on forecasting, financial rollups, and milestone governance, ensuring rigor, consistency, and transparency.
Lead multi-season product lifecycle strategy and invest/divest decisions to maximize assortment productivity and respond to consumer demand.
Advise senior leadership on strategic tradeoffs, including growth versus margin, breadth versus depth, and speed versus efficiency.
Lead, coach, and develop Managers and Senior Planners, building a succession pipeline and establishing performance standards and development pathways.
Foster a high-performance culture grounded in curiosity, accountability, collaboration, results, integrity, inclusivity, and constructive challenge.
Partner strategically with Global Merchandising, Product Development, Regional/Cluster Planning, Supply Chain, and Finance.
Influence product, assortment, and investment decisions through data-driven insights, scenario planning, and executive storytelling.
Align global and regional teams on integrated execution, decision rights, and tradeoff resolution.
Represent Global Merchandise Planning in senior leadership forums and shape outcomes and alignment.
Integrate DTC and Wholesale planning models into cohesive ways of working and establish best-in-class global planning practices.
Improve planning tools, processes, and systems to drive accuracy, speed, and scalability.
Embed in-season read-and-react and post-season hindsight capabilities to inform future strategy and investment decisions.
Lead change initiatives that evolve planning from executional support to strategic advantage.
Translate complex financial and planning data into clear narratives for executive decision-making.
Present strategies, risks, and opportunities to VP- and SVP-level stakeholders and facilitate discussions that drive alignment, accountability, and action.