Vans: Senior Manager- Global Planning, Apparel & Accessories

Now that you’ve found the job description, what’s next?

Vans is the original brand rooted in the authentic lifestyle of skateboarding. We are driven by our mission to inspire and empower everyone to live “Off The Wall” – embracing the youthful spirit of freedom, non-conformity, and relentless progression. Yesterday’s “Off The Wall” moment is today’s new normal, and at Vans, we believe in constantly outdoing ourselves. Together with our communities across the globe, our vision is to push culture forward because we believe that the pursuit of progression never ends. We are constantly inspired by the future generation of positive catalysts within our community.  

So, before we get to the job details, take a minute to learn a little more about us – our values and our culture. If you can see yourself working side-by-side with a team of people who think and live “Off the Wall,” Vans just may be the place for you.

To learn more about our values and our culture, visit Vans Careers or www.vans.com.

What will you do?

A day in the life of a Sr. Manager, Global Apparel & Accessories Planning at Vans looks a little like this.

We are seeking a seasoned and strategic leader to help create and scale our end-to-end merchandise planning processes across global markets. Focused on our global apparel & accessory lines, this high-impact role will be instrumental in driving sales, margin, and inventory optimization while aligning with the company’s strategic goals and providing financial framework to our product organization. Global Planning will be a new capability organizationally, so this individual will not only take part in the establishment of this function, but will broadly educate cross-functional partners on how Planning will enables aspects of their function.

Reporting directly into the Head of Global Planning this leader keeps the apparel & accessory businesses on track to achieve financial objectives by aligning regional & global plans, and ensuring product availability meets demand. Key responsibilities include creating bottoms-up product level plans and top-down merchandise financial plan (MFP), maintaining forward-looking perspective on consumer demand, collaborating on capacity planning, and optimizing inventory.

Let’s break down that day-in-the-life a bit more.

• LRP – Create long-term financial ambition / targets (e.g., sales, margin, inventory, assortment breadth, etc)

• Seasonal strategy & financial goals - Translate LRP to create top-down MFP (setting line target to drive revenue and margin) incorporating regions' inputs. Additionally, construe LRP/MFP to create product level plans (style, color, attribute, etc).

• Line architecture - Support global merch on building line architecture & align on global line plan. Validate line plan against MFP

• Seasonal planning - Develop & consolidate demand forecasts (with regional planning, global merch, supply chain, & finance).

• Capacity planning - Collaborate with Supply Chain and Finance on resource allocation, raw material forecasting, margin, capacity planning

• In-season management – Analyze inventory across regions, recommending product introductions & exits to meet demand, with consumer perspective with sell-through

• Season hind-sighting - Seasonal roll-ups across regions, in partnership with global planning, to drive global visibility & drive adjustments for future seasons

• Talent upskilling - Coach, develop, and build a best-in-class planning organization

• Global Market Alignment - Adapt global strategies to meet unique needs of individual markets, balancing global consistency and local relevance. Monitor market trend, competitor activity, and customer behavior to inform planning decisions.

• Data-Driven decision marketing - Utilize advanced analytics and market data to inform planning decisions and identify growth opportunities. Establish KPIs to monitor performance across sales, margin, and inventory levels. Continously refine forecasting models to improve accuracy and agility.

• Leadership and Team Development - Lead and mentor a global team of merchandise planning professionals, fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration. Build and scale processes to support growth across regions and product categories. Drive change management initiatives to implement new tools, technologies, and methodologies.

• System and data governance - working closely with DT

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