Senior Wholesale Demand and Merchandise Planner (icebreaker)

Job Description

Senior Wholesale Demand and Merchandise Planner (icebreaker)

Location: Denver, CO

We are looking for a skilled Senior Wholesale Demand and Merchandise Planner to join our VF Family.

Come join our icebreaker team at VF’s world headquarters in Denver, Colorado! 

Position Summary:

The Senior Wholesale Demand and Merchandise Planner is an integral role for the North America business, responsible for developing demand and inventory plans that support the Financial, Merchandising and Marketing objectives of the North America business. This includes creating plans and forecasts of sales and gross margin by channel/department/classification as well as forecasting activities for style/colors associated with the US Wholesale business. You will work cross-functionally with Merchandising, Sales, Finance, Operations and Supply Planning.

Key Responsibilities:

• Drive financial results that maximize sales, inventory and profitability. Manage the financial success of the NORA Wholesale business by meeting sales, gross margin, and inventory turn goals.
• Create pre-season sales, and gross margin plans by department and channel that support product strategies.  Reconcile top-down to bottom-up department plans.
• Responsible for NORA Wholesale SKU level forecasting and forecasting accuracy that drive supply plan and bottoms up financial forecasts
• Maintain NORA Wholesale in-season demand plans by reviewing historical and current trends weekly and adjusting monthly demand plans as required then summarizing forecast changes to stakeholders identifying risks and opportunities by department.
• Create pre-season sales, and gross margin plans by department and channel for the entire IB NORA business that support product strategies.  Reconcile top-down to bottom-up department plans.
• Partner closely with the North America merchant to execute pre-season merchandise planning. Build assortment demand plans at the regional/channel/category/sku level, leveraging historical sales analysis that you will develop.
• Maintain planning related reference documents related to the North American assortment
• Develop and/or improve upon planning tools, processes and reporting to be utilized by the North American planning teams and channel leads
• Manage demand against the committed supply plans and communicate shortages/excesses to the customer service and sales teams. Respond to inventory shortages/excesses by pursuing trading opportunities between sales channels and recommend actions such as markdowns to ensure closing stock position and EOL sell down targets are met.
• Manage one direct report, who plans the Canada business. Provide coaching and development opportunities to the analyst.

Skills for Success: 

• Experience and a deep understanding of what it takes to effectively plan, buy and manage inventory in a high growth model
• Experience supporting the generation of profitable growth in retail and/or eCom
• Strong analytical ability and problem-solving capability and skill
• Possesses an ability to understand financial measurements and how to impact them
• High level of commercial acumen and proven track record of effective qualitative and quantitative judgement and decision making
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills and appetite to learn new systems
• Strong relationship building, communication, time management and prioritization skills
• Outstanding customer service standards and skills
• Versatile with the ability to adapt to change and successfully work with ambiguity
• Consumer-centric mind-set with prior retail experience preferred
• Proven to thrive in a fast-paced, high-pressured creative environment

• Educational/ Position Requirements:  3-5 years

• BA or BS degree in Supply Chain, Business Management or related field
• 3-5 years related experience in demand and/or merchandise planning experience desired, preferably in the Apparel industry
• Equivalent years of experience in a substantially similar industry may be considered in lieu of a degree to be determined by the nature of the specific job and the hiring manager’s criteria

• Special Requirements: 

• Travel estimated at 5% of the time

• Salary Range:

  Annual Incentive Eligibility:

  This position is eligible to participate in VF's Annual Incentive Plan. Incentive Plan awards are contingent upon (1) achievement of your individual objectives and (2) VF achieving its' Corporate and business level financial objectives.

  Long Term Incentive Eligibility:

  This position is not eligible for long term incentive.

  Benefits at VF:

  You can review a general overview of each benefit program offered, including