Director of Planning & Merchandising

Kinn Studio•Los Angeles, CA

4d•$150,000 - $175,000•Hybrid

About The Position

This is a new, senior role that fuses two skill sets: merchandise planning and finance. You own the financial planning and inventory engine the company runs on. You will keep the engine running from buy through delivery, own the cash plan and the P&L planning, and turn our numbers into decisions: what we can afford, what we should buy, and what happens next. As we add locations and inventory complexity, we need a single, trusted owner for forecasting, cash, and the buy. This is an outcome-ownership role, not a reporting role. We are not looking for someone to produce spreadsheets and hand them up for someone else to decide. We are looking for someone who builds the plan, makes the recommendation, and owns the result. You will report to the CEO initially, and to a President/COO as that role is filled.

Requirements

Genuine passion for both the math behind the numbers and the product itself.
Product and brand obsession is a must: you are naturally analytical, you live in the details of inventory and sell-through, and you can speak simply and clearly about the actuals and the reality of what is happening with our product.
You love driving the business, not just reporting on it
7+ years in FP&A, planning, or finance, with real ownership (not just support) of forecasting, budgeting, and inventory planning
Direct experience in a consumer, retail, or inventory-heavy business, ideally in the $10M to $100M range
You have personally owned an inventory buy or merchandise plan, not just modeled one
Comfortable making recommendations and standing behind them
Strong enough operationally to partner with retail, production, and our accounting team, not just report on them

Nice To Haves

Experience in jewelry, fashion, or a business where raw material cost (such as gold) materially moves margin
Experience with consignment or wholesale reconciliation

Responsibilities

Financial planning, forecasting, and re-forecasting across DTC and all retail locations
Annual budgeting and the annual operating plan; revenue, margin, inventory, and cash flow targets
Cash flow planning and management, including reviewing cash against plan and flagging unexpected expenses
Inventory planning and the buy: building the open-to-buy and monthly purchase plan, modeling unit and cost scenarios (including gold price sensitivity), recommending what we purchase, and issuing purchase orders to vendors
Reviewing inventory purchase invoices and approving COGS invoices against the buy plan and expected cost
Confirming billings are correct, including wholesale and consignment sales reconciliation against partner reporting
Monthly COGS by channel and inventory-on-hand accuracy, partnering with our accounting team on the reconciliation
Store-level economics: contribution and EBITDA by location, to inform where we invest and expand
Channel and marketing economics at the portfolio level: spend versus budget, marketing as a percent of revenue, blended CAC, and channel contribution (not in-channel campaign decisions, which sit with the brand and ecommerce teams)
The five-year dynamic model and the analysis that makes major decisions, including new store evaluation, defensible
Cross-functional partnership with the design and production teams on what we make and how much, translating demand and sell-through into assortment and buy quantities