Director, Merchandise Planning

**Director, Merchandise Planning**

at Babylist Oakland, California, United States **Director, Merchandising Planner**

Babylist is seeking an inventory planning leader to join our growing E-Commerce team and lead and scale our inventory strategy through our next phase of growth.

As the Director of Merchandise Planning, you will be a key business partner to Merchandising, Supply Chain and Operations, Finance, and strategic brand partners to drive sales while maximizing inventory return on investment and profitability. You will develop, execute and communicate financial plans and strategies that support the merchandising and financial objectives of the company, including sales, margin, and inventory. You will be responsible for the development and execution of processes and systems that are used to effectively manage inventory performance across drop ship and owned inventory fulfillment channels. You will lead a talented and driven team that is accountable for the successful execution of planning and forecasting of inventory as well as build plans for hiring, training, and ongoing development to support rapid and sustainable long term growth. You will report directly to the Chief Merchandising Officer.

We are excited about you because you are a positive leader, a change driver, are passionate about product and user experience, thrive in a fast paced and ever-evolving environment, think creatively, and are an analytical thinker.

**What You've Done**

* 7-10 years of experience in a retail planning and allocation or buying capacity, preferably with a multi-channel retailer.

* 6+ years experience managing and leading a team

* You have a deep understanding of Inventory Management principles and systems in any or all Retail, eCommerce, and Wholesale

* You have deep knowledge of distribution, transportation, and supplier manufacturing principles

* You possess the ability to operate and thrive both strategically and tactically in a high-energy, fast paced environment.

* You have excellent business judgement, with the ability to dive in and quickly understand the root cause and identify scalable solutions.

* You have led or have been a key participant in Open to Buy or S&OP process and meetings

* You have experience leading, defining, and executing to pre-season strategy

* You are able to navigate complex issues where analysis of situations requires data and an in-depth evaluation of multiple variable factors

* You have superior analytical skills and can interpret meaningful themes and trends from quantitative data.

* You are an Excel wizard, who can manipulate and analyze data to come up with actionable insights.

* You are flexible and can adapt to changing priorities. You are able to find efficiencies and improvements to make existing processes more successful.

* You have strong written and oral communication skills and can work effectively with the entire team including merchandising, operations, and customer service

* You have a passion for e-commerce. You can be scrappy and are comfortable wearing many hats.

* You are able to collect, analyze, package and present information to stakeholders in a way that permits them to make an informed decision and take measurable action

* You have a four-year college degree or equivalent

* Local candidates preferred, remote ok too

* Travel: If remote, occasional travel to Oakland HQ for strategy meeting and social events

**What You'll Do**

*Strategy and Financial Planning*

* Define, set, and execute to financial targets and KPIs (revenue, profitability, inventory turns)

* Lead, develop, and communicate comprehensive inventory strategies and processes in alignment with multiple channels, department plans, key inventory targets, and financial goals.

* Responsible for sales, gross margin, stock, and inventory turn goals

* Proactively identify opportunities and risks within division, departments and classifications and recommend actions within week, month, quarter and year to maximize business results

* Oversee development of LRP strategy and financials for division/multiple departments

* Responsible for the strategic development and oversight of detailed seasonal financial plans that meet or exceed company financial objectives for sales, margin, inventory, and bottom line profitability

* Establish and communicate financial guardrails with Merchant partners

* Oversee in-season processes to maximize financial outcomes, including the Open to Buy (OTB) process, incorporating current trends and future expectations to maximize opportunities and mitigate risks. Presents forecast and action plans to E-commerce team, cross-functional leaders.

* Actively participate in seasonal business reviews and hindsight strategy meetings.

* Communicate sales, margin, receipt, markdown and inventory information and concerns at weekly business meetings

* Partner with Operations to drive cost savings initiatives through freight and logistics optimizations

* Develop strategies in coordination with the SVP of Supply Chain on the in season execution of inventory flow and management across our expanding fulfillment network as well as long term scaling initiatives

* Develop strategies in partnership with Merchandising leadership to develop future product and inventory strategies that support long term company objectives

*Future Planning and Improvement*

* Work with key interfaces to evolve and execute the planning vision through implementing systems, improving processes, and training/coaching the planning team

* Lead planning team through the implementation of ERP and demand planning tools and adoption into day to day planning process and seasonal strategies

* Recommend system, tool, and process improvement to drive efficiency

* Strategize new business processes to drive financial goals and strategies

* Develop and nurture strong cross functional partnerships; driving business results and inspiring a culture of transparency, collaboration, and accountability.

*People Management and Talent Development*

* Hire, mentor, develop, motivate, and uplevel planning talent that will lead and deliver performance excellence while supporting a diverse environment

* Provide performance-based and developmental feedback and perform annual evaluations

* Create staffing plans and evolve planning team structure to support scaling business growth

* Cultivate a collaborative, innovative and results-orientated environment for division and cross-functional teams

**About Babylist**

At Babylist, we help expecting parents get exactly what they need for the arrival of their new baby. We have a large and rapidly growing user base of passionate parents-to-be who are making important purchasing decisions for one of the biggest events in their lives, which is both exciting and overwhelming. Our core product is our universal baby registry. Currently 25% of first-time expecting families in the United States actually create a baby registry at . In 2019 over $300 million worth of gifts will be purchased off of Babylist registries.

**Why You Will Love Working at Babylist:**

* We get stuff done

* We have a real impact on peoples lives

* We're passionate about our users and we genuinely appreciate them

* We work at a sustainable pace for long-term success (yes, were profitable)

* We are growing and have meaningful opportunities for career advancement

* Were a technological and data-driven business

* We are doers, but also thinkers

* We believe in autonomy and reward taking initiative

* We have smart, experienced leadership that is always open to new ideas

**Benefits:**

* Competitive pay

* Competitive health benefits including company-funded HRA for vision and dental

* 401(k), FSA plans and disability insurance

* Flexible, paid parental leave policy

* Easy access to BART including commuter assistance

* We work at a sustainable pace. In general we dont work late or on weekends and mo