Americas - Inventory Planner - Women's

Clarks•Needham, MA

30d•$53,000 - $65,000

About The Position

As the Inventory Planner, you will lead seasonal inventory forecasting across three seasons and oversee products from launch through end‑of‑life. You’ll play a key role in aligning inventory decisions with company budget targets and quarterly financial forecasts, working cross‑functionally to support overall business performance.

Requirements

Experience in footwear demand and supply planning, merchandising, buying
Knowledge of different business operating models – Retail, Franchise, Factory, MCR, Wholesale
Successful Demand and Supply Planning, Buying, and Merchandising experience
Experience in key distribution channels – wholesale, retail, franchise and digital
Understanding of overall business operations and supply chains
Strong organizational skills to coordinate feedback from a variety of sources
Practical understanding of demand planning and inventory management processes
Strong computer skills including the following tools:
Advanced Microsoft Excel (statements, linking, pivot tables, etc.)
Data warehouse/data mart query and report development tools
Ability to analyze trends and use that information to effectively plan and forecast
Strong analytical and verbal skills
Strong decision-making skills
Demonstrated expertise in planning systems and analytics platforms (SAP, Demand Manager, MFP, Business Objects, Power BI, D360)
Commercial Awareness
Analytical/ highly numerate and able to identify key information
Ability to problem solve and manage conflict situations
Excellent interpersonal and motivational skills
Team player, goal oriented
Ability to analyze, interpret and act on market intelligence
Commercial skills to maximize opportunities that ari
Customer Focus
Delivering Results
Planning and Organizing

Responsibilities

Collaborate with Wholesale and Retail Planning teams to support demand forecasts and create a supply forecast that fits within company receipt budget and factory capacities while considering factory lead-time.
Maintain Demand Manager Planning System consensus forecast at an article level which sends time phased Available to Promise signal to Customer Service and a Factory Purchase Plan signal to Supply Chain.
Analyze historical inventory cycles and distribution channels.
Adapt and react to market trends during each biweekly forecast/purchasing cycle.
Review demand forecast reports at account and channel distribution levels.
Deliver to Supply Planning monthly factory purchase plans for current buying season that fit within factory capacity and targeted receipt plans.
Support new ideas, processes, and be open to change as we find better ways to reduce inventory while still servicing our customers and aligning to company receipt plans.
Share best practices and communicate information as needed.
Responsible for executing monthly factory purchase order placement including: Creating monthly purchase orders and managing SKU profiles.
Analyzing customer orders at the SKU level to ensure proper inventory balance and agreement with the consensus forecast.
Plan and execute Direct Ship PO process in collaboration with customer service and supply planning.
Bundle by factory, container minimums and account transit times.
Support pre‑season planning by maintaining time‑phased, program‑level inventory placeholders.
Develop historical, time‑phased demand plans within the Demand Planning System to support seasonal Assortment Plan targets and inform preliminary capacity requirements for Supply Planning.
Partner cross‑functionally in weekly supply reviews with Supply Planning, Demand Allocation, and Inventory Planning teams to identify and address demand‑supply mismatches and drive continuous improvement.
Monitor in season available inventory to ensure targeted stock and replenishment styles reflect correct available picture in SAP, while working with cross functional teams to trouble shoot CTP pictures.
Responsible for ensuring the integrity of the data in the system including buffer stock setting, color/size/width profiles, planning, forecasting, and product life cycle flags to support seasonal assortment plans.