Reporting to the VP, Merchandising, the Manager, Planning & Allocations is responsible for leading the merchandise planning and inventory management function across ecommerce, retail and wholesale. This role owns the financial planning framework, demand forecasting, inventory investment strategy and allocation philosophy that enables Left On Friday to achieve profitable growth while maximizing inventory productivity.
As the leader of the Planning & Allocation team, this role develops planning processes, coaches the team, drives cross-functional alignment and partners closely with Merchandising, Retail, Operations, Finance and Marketing.
This role balances strategic thinking with strong analytical execution and is responsible for building a scalable planning function that supports the next stage of growth. In this role, you will get to work with a small, brilliant team on one of the most desirable, fast growing DTC brands out there today!
Core Responsibilities:
Financial Planning & Forecasting
- Lead topline sales planning across all channels and countries.
- Own annual, seasonal, monthly and weekly sales forecasts.
- Develop inventory investment strategies that support revenue, margin and inventory turn objectives.
- Partner with Merchandising to establish seasonal assortment financial plans.
- Own Open-to-Buy (OTB) planning and inventory flow.
- Develop scenario plans to support changing business conditions.
- Agile and able to embrace new systems as the business evolves
- Monitor performance against plan and recommend actions.
Merchandise Planning
- Oversee category financial plans.
- Guide assortment architecture from an inventory perspective.
- Partner on buy quantities and receipt planning.
- Review productivity by category, collection and channel.
- Ensure inventory supports financial targets.
Allocation Strategy
- Develop allocation philosophies across Ecom, Retail and Wholesale.
- Establish store grading strategies.
- Define launch allocation strategies.
- Lead lifecycle inventory strategies.
- Develop transfer and rebalancing strategies.
- Drive inventory productivity improvements.
Team Leadership
- Lead, coach and develop the Planner and Allocator.
- Establish planning calendars and business cadence.
- Review work for accuracy and strategic alignment.
- Build a culture of curiosity, accountability and continuous improvement.
Business Analysis
- Own weekly business reviews.
- Present forecasts, risks and opportunities to leadership.
- Provide recommendations around inventory investments.
- Lead post-season hindsight analysis.
- Identify opportunities to improve margin and inventory productivity.
Process & Systems
- Develop scalable planning processes.
- Partner on implementation of future planning technology.
- Improve reporting automation.
- Maintain planning tools and templates.
- Champion data integrity.
Key traits/experience we’re looking for:
- Bachelor’s degree
- 5+ years experience in a similar role within a fashion apparel environment
- Analytical Skills: Ability to analyze data and derive actionable insights.
- Strategic Thinking: Experience in developing effective planning and allocation strategies.
- Sales Planning: Background in driving sales planning processes and revenue forecasting.
- Inventory Management: Expertise in developing inventory plans and managing stock allocation.
- Collaboration: Proven ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams.
- Communication Skills: Strong verbal and written skills for conveying insights clearly.
- Process Improvement: Track record of identifying and implementing planning process improvements.
- Data Analysis: Proficiency in analyzing historical sales data for demand forecasting.
Work Location: Vancouver, BC
Hybrid - Work from home and in person
Typical hiring range for this position: $110,000 to $140,000 CAD
