Senior Merchandise Planner

Department: Planning

Reports To: Senior Director of Planning & Analytics

General Position Summary

The Senior Merchandise Planner is responsible for developing, managing, and optimizing sales, inventory, and Open-to-Buy (OTB) strategies across assigned product categories for Avara’s ecommerce and retail channels. This role plays a critical part in driving profitable growth through forecasting, open-to-buy management, inventory optimization, and actionable business insights.

The Senior Merchandise Planner owns category-level forecasting, inventory productivity, and in-season business management, ensuring buying decisions and inventory investments align with sales targets, margin objectives, and evolving customer demand. This individual proactively identifies risks and opportunities, develops strategies to maximize sales and full-price selling, and partners cross-functionally to ensure the right product, inventory depth, and timing support business objectives.

Working closely with Merchandising, Buying, Marketing, Finance, Ecommerce, and Operations, the Senior Merchandise Planner serves as a strategic business partner, delivering clear analysis and forward-looking insights that influence decisions across the organization. The ideal candidate is highly analytical, commercially minded, detail-oriented, and thrives in a fast-paced, high-growth retail environment.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

1. Merchandise Planning

• Own category-level sales, inventory, margin, markdown, and Open-to-Buy plans to support monthly, quarterly, seasonal, and annual financial objectives.
• Develop and maintain financial plans by department, class, and subclass, translating company targets into actionable merchandise strategies.
• Build quarterly and seasonal forecasts in advance of buying seasons to establish purchase requirements, inventory investment, and sales expectations.
• Maintain and manage OTB to balance planned receipts, inventory levels, sales demand, and margin objectives while preserving flexibility to respond to business trends.
• Forecast sales, inventory, and margin performance throughout the season, incorporating current results, historical trends, product performance, promotional activity, and changing business conditions.

2. In-Season Business Management

• Lead weekly analysis of business performance against plan, prior year, and forecast, identifying emerging risks and opportunities across sales, inventory, and margin.
• Develop clear, actionable recommendations to address performance gaps, maximize sales opportunities, and protect profitability.
• Proactively manage inventory positions, identifying opportunities to increase depth in productive categories and styles while mitigating excess inventory in underperforming areas.
• Translate business trends into financial and inventory actions, adjusting forecasts, purchase strategies, receipt timing, and inventory priorities as needed.
• Evaluate promotional and markdown opportunities in partnership with Merchandising, balancing sales acceleration, inventory clearance, and gross margin objectives.

3. Inventory Strategy & Product Lifecycle Management

• Develop exit strategies for key product platforms, including markdown recommendations, promotional support, inventory liquidation, and end-of-life planning.
• Evaluate the performance of major styles and product platforms to inform replenishment, reorder, cancellation, and exit decisions.
• Provide guidance on purchase cancellations, receipt shifts, inventory reductions, and incremental buys based on current performance and projected demand.
• Partner with Allocation to optimize inventory placement and availability across channels.
• Balance the need to support new product launches and seasonal assortment transitions with the financial responsibility of managing existing inventory.
• Continuously evaluate reporting processes, analytical tools, and planning methodologies to improve efficiency, consistency, and accuracy.
• Establish a forward-looking perspective on category performance, anticipating future risks and opportunities rather than relying solely on historical results.

4. Reporting, Analytics & Business Insights

• Own the development and delivery of weekly, monthly, quarterly, and seasonal reporting on sales, inventory, margin, and financial performance against plan and prior year.
• Provide clear visibility into business performance, forecast accuracy, inventory exposure, and projected financial outcomes.
• Build and maintain analytical models, reporting tools, and forecasting methodologies that improve planning accuracy and decision-making.
• Synthesize large volumes of data into concise business narratives, identifying the underlying drivers of performance and recommended actions.
• Present findings and recommendations to leadership and cross-functional partners, communicating both immediate actions and longer-term strategic implications.
• Continuously evaluate reporting processes, analytical tools, and planning methodologies to improve efficiency, consistency, and accuracy.
• Establish a forward-looking perspective on category performance, anticipating future risks and opportunities rather than relying solely on historical results.
• Demonstrate ownership, initiative, and independent judgment while escalating significant financial or inventory risks appropriately.
• Support the continuous evolution of Avara’s planning processes, analytical capabilities, and inventory management strategies as the business scales.

Job Required Knowledge & Skills

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business, Economics, Operations, Statistics, Merchandising, or a related field required.
• 5+ years of experience in retail merchandise planning, inventory management, financial planning, or retail financial analysis.
• Demonstrated experience managing category-level sales and inventory plans, forecasting, and Open-to-Buy.
• Experience in e-commerce, omnichannel retail, or apparel merchandising preferred.
• Experience presenting financial analysis and influencing business decisions across cross-functional teams.

Technical & Analytical Skills

• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel
• Strong understanding of retail math and financial metrics, including sales, gross margin, markdowns, sell-through, inventory turnover, weeks of supply, and OTB.
• Ability to develop financial models, evaluate scenarios, and quantify the impact of buying, inventory, and promotional decisions.
• Ability to synthesize complex data into clear insights, identify root causes, and recommend financially sound actions.
• Strong forecasting skills and the ability to evaluate historical performance alongside current trends and future demand.

Business Acumen & Collaboration

• Demonstrated ability to independently manage competing priorities in a fast-paced, high-growth retail environment.
• Proactive problem-solving skills, sound financial judgment, and a strong sense of urgency.
• Ability to communicate effectively and influence decisions at multiple levels of the organization.
• Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills, including the ability to tell the story behind the numbers.
• Ability to identify critical stakeholders, build collaborative partnerships, and drive alignment around business objectives.
• High level of ownership, accountability, attention to detail, and commitment to continuous improvement.