Director of Buying/Planning/Allocation

Location: New York,New York,United States

About this role

If you love details, enjoy building (and fixing) great Excel models, and thrive on bringing structure to chaos, while leaving something better than you found it—this role is for you.

You'll be the central force managing our production operations, planning processes, and allocation strategy. You’ll partner closely with Buying, Production, Product Development, and cross-functional teams to make smart, timely inventory investment decisions that ensure products reach the market at the right moment. Working closely with our CFO, you'll evaluate, optimize, and where needed, rebuild key planning and allocation tools. 

What will you do?

• Buying

  • Manage our Purchase Order tracking spreadsheet ("Open CT" Google sheet)

    • Ensure formulas are accurate and functioning properly

    • Enter new Work In Progress (WIP) items

  • Create Purchase Orders

    • Project unit quantity buys per SKU for both Core and Collection items

    • Use benchmark data to translate SKUs into size buys

    • Generate PO details and partner with Production Operations to send to factories for confirmation

  • PO Maintenance

    • Monitor key dates including Ex-Factory (XFTY) dates and potential stock-outs

    • Proactively identify and address production timeline issues

   

• Planning

  • Conduct Monday/Tuesday sales and inventory reporting

  • Present insights at the weekly "Product + Sales Weekly" meeting on Tuesdays

  • Monitor and manage aged inventory

  • OTB (Open-to-Buy) Monthly Forecasting + Actuals

  • Manage Presale Verbiage

  • Collaborate with Production Operations to activate presales when appropriate

  • Liaise with E-Commerce and Marketing Teams to support promotion planning and coordinate cross-functional promotional activities

  • Create costing targets and work with the product development team to ensure we hit our margin goals.

  • In partnership with Dir. of Merchandising, create a buy plan that maximizes sales, sell-through, and our margin goals.

• Allocation

  • Conduct weekly store replenishments on Tuesday with feedback from Retail team

  • Manage RTB (Return to Building) Process.  Instruct inventory transfers from stores back to warehouse

  • Support ad-hoc allocation needs

    • Fulfill special inventory allocation requests for trunk shows, pop-ups, and other events

• Explore and Implement Process Improvements

  • Build automated reporting in 42 Technologies

  • Evaluate and potential implement an inventory management tool (e.g., Prediko)

  • Create a full Planning process map (daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly tasks)

  • Document workflows to ensure consistency and future knowledge transfer

Who are you?

• You have advanced Excel and Google Sheets expertise—you can build complex models and troubleshoot anything

• 6-9 years of experience in production operations and planning & allocations (fashion/apparel experience strongly preferred)

• You have experience with inventory management software and reporting tools (Prediko, 42 Technologies, or similar a plus)

• You have an analytical mindset with the ability to translate data into actionable insights

• You are highly detail-oriented with an ability to create clear documentation

• You have Shopify experience

• Location: New York City (hybrid work arrangement may be available)

• Start date: ASAP

Rate: $135,000-$160,000

About our company

M.M.LaFleur is a female-founded womenswear company based in New York City.