Merchandise Planner

JCrew • New York, NY

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

As a Planner, you’ll develop and execute the financial strategy for your department, partnering with Merchants and Allocators to optimize sales, margin, and inventory performance. You’ll use your analytical expertise to build financial plans, forecast results, and provide clear insights that influence business decisions. This role requires strong collaboration, the ability to synthesize data into actionable strategies, and the confidence to guide cross-functional partners toward achieving both short- and long-term goals.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree
• 4+ years of experience in merchandise planning, allocation, or financial analysis
• Strong analytical, financial modeling, and Excel skills
• Proven ability to translate data into insights and influence cross-functional partners
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with strong presentation abilities
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and comfortable managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment

Nice To Haves

• Experience planning across multiple categories or channels
• Advanced proficiency with planning tools and retail analytics systems
• Demonstrated success managing OTB and seasonal investment strategies
• Understanding of retail metrics such as sell-through, turn, and inventory-to-sales ratio

Responsibilities

• Partner with the manager to develop pre-season financial strategy that connects to and supports the total Madewell goals
• Build preseason sales, margin, and inventory plans by department and class using historical data and current trend insights
• Develop a bottom-up style plan, in partnership with Merchandising, making recommendations on rank, depth of buy and flow timing
• Summarize tops-down vs bottoms-up plans, incorporating key metrics such as markup, average unit cost, margin rate, available inventory, discount rates, and sell-through
• Present preseason plans and financial recommendations during investment and line review meetings
• Provide weekly updates on sales, margin, and inventory performance versus forecast at both a high level and style level
• Partner with Merchandising Allocation and Assortment Planning to make data-driven decisions that optimize product flow, pricing, and receipt management
• Prepare in-season forecasts and lead monthly OTB meetings, recommending forecast adjustments based on trend analysis
• Analyze sell-through and inventory-to-sales ratios, proposing pricing and promotional actions to maximize profitability
• Partner with Merchandising on opportunities to chase into or adjust future on-order to maximize margin outcome

Benefits

• Health & Well-being - Eligible associates and family members receive medical, dental, prescription and vision insurance, family planning (fertility, adoption & surrogacy support), fitness discounts, medical travel and more.
• Associate Discount - We love our products just as much as you do! That’s why we offer a great associate discount across all of our brands (J.Crew, J.Crew Factory, and Madewell).
• Summer Fridays - In addition to our hybrid work model, we also close our office at 1:00 PM every Friday during the Summer months.
• Community Impact - We support the communities where we live and work through our philanthropic efforts and the J.Crew Cares Program.
• Winter Break - In addition to our PTO package, J.Crew Group offers a winter break at the end of December to eligible full-time associates at the Home Office to provide time to refresh and recharge.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees