Merchandise Planner
About The Position
Backcountry is looking for a Merchandise Planner to own open-to-buy planning, demand forecasting, and inventory management across multiple product categories. As Merchandise Planner, you will partner closely with Merchandising teams to build comprehensive merchandise plans, manage inventory levels, and deliver financial analysis that drives sales, margin, and inventory turn goals. In your first six months, success means owning the open-to-buy process for your division(s), building strong cross-functional relationships with merchandising partners, and delivering actionable recommendations that improve sales performance and inventory health. This is a lean team. You will own a lot, move fast, and make decisions with full end-to-end responsibility.
Requirements
- 3+ years of assortment, demand, or merchandise planning experience, including 2+ years in a retail ecommerce environment
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with exceptional aptitude for numbers and retail math
- High proficiency with Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, vlookups, or more advanced)
- Exceptional communication and presentation skills with the ability to distill complex information for various audiences
- Ability to build and maintain strong working relationships across cross-functional teams and influence key stakeholders
- Demonstrated daily use of AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, or similar) for real work – you iterate on prompts, evaluate outputs critically, and know when AI is the right tool
- Flexible and adaptive to changing priorities with the ability to organize and prioritize workload under pressure
Nice To Haves
- Softgoods planning experience
- Experience planning a mixed-brand business
- Knowledge of demand planning, allocation, and forecasting systems (e.g., JDA, Oracle, SAP, Anaplan)
- Exposure to relevant finance, analytical, and data management systems
Responsibilities
- Develop comprehensive merchandise plans that align with company goals, sales targets, and market trends for multiple product categories
- Manage Open-to-Buy meetings and monthly reviews with senior leadership
- Forecast demand using historical data, market trends, and customer insights to determine sales projections, inventory needs, and replenishment strategies
- Monitor inventory levels, analyze sell-through rates, and recommend actions to optimize on-order quantities, maximizing sales and inventory turnover while minimizing stock-outs and overstock
- Conduct regular financial analysis of sales performance, margin trends, and product profitability to identify opportunities and risks with actionable recommendations
- Manage the financial success of assigned division(s) by meeting sales, margin, and inventory turn goals
- Ensure structured reporting deliverables are met with accuracy, performance efficiency, and standardized best practices
- Analyze business data to surface actionable insights and present findings clearly to cross-functional stakeholders
Benefits
- Paid time off policies
- 401(k) match
- medical/dental/vision
- a variety of supplemental policies
- employee discounts across our portfolio of brands
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
Education Level
Associate degree
