Merchandise Financial Planning SME

Orangepeople•Beverly Hills, CA

About The Position

Bring your planning expertise to the decisions that move the business forward. We are looking for a Merchandise Financial Planning subject matter expert for merchandise financial planning across multiple categories or a full division. They set planning strategy, own the financial outcomes, and are the go-to person on planning methods, systems, and best practices.

Requirements

Merchandise financial planning expertise across multiple categories or a full division.
Ability to set planning strategy and own financial outcomes.
Expertise in planning methods, systems, and best practices.
Experience building and owning long-range, annual, and seasonal plans for sales, gross margin, inventory turn, and receipts.
Ability to translate company strategy into actionable financial targets.
Experience defining and standardizing planning methods, calendars, and governance.
Expertise in inventory and OTB strategy, including open-to-buy oversight and setting inventory investment and flow strategies.
Experience in forecasting accuracy and in-season decision-making, including weekly and monthly reforecasting.
Ability to build scenario and risk models.
Experience presenting business reviews, plan proposals, and performance insights.
Ability to influence category strategy, pricing, and assortment investment with data-backed recommendations.
Experience leading requirements, implementation, and improvement of planning tools such as Toolio, Invent.ai, Anaplan, Oracle RPAS/RDF, Blue Yonder, or o9.
Experience with AI-driven forecasting and inventory optimization.

Responsibilities

Lead strategic financial planning – Build and own long-range, annual, and seasonal plans for sales, gross margin, inventory turn, and receipts across divisions. Turn company strategy into financial targets the business can act on.
Act as planning SME – Define and standardize planning methods, calendars, and governance. Serve as the expert resource for planning questions across merchandising, finance, and supply chain.
Drive inventory and OTB strategy – Oversee open-to-buy at the division level. Set inventory investment and flow strategies that improve turn, reduce aged inventory, and support key selling periods.
Own forecasting accuracy and in-season decisions – Lead weekly and monthly reforecasting. Build scenario and risk models, and give senior leadership clear recommendations on chase, cut, and promotional decisions.
Advise leadership – Present business reviews, plan proposals, and performance insights. Influence category strategy, pricing, and assortment investment with data-backed recommendations.
Champion planning systems and analytics – Lead requirements, implementation, and improvement of planning tools such as Toolio, Invent.ai, Anaplan, Oracle RPAS/RDF, Blue Yonder, or o9. Use AI-driven forecasting and inventory optimization to improve accuracy.
Participate in OP monthly team meetings and participate in team-building efforts.
Contribute to OP technical discussions, peer reviews, etc.
Contribute content and collaborate via the OP-Wiki/Knowledge Base.
Provide status reports to OP Account Management as requested.