Vice President, Merchandising, Planning

Vice President, Merchandising, Planning & Allocation

North America | Global Specialty Retailer

NextPlay Jobs is partnering with a global specialty retailer undergoing a significant brand transformation and organizational rebuild. We are seeking a Vice President, Merchandising, Planning & Allocation to lead all North America efforts across Merchandising, Planning, Allocation, and Analytics.

This is a rare opportunity to join a well-known consumer brand at a pivotal moment, influencing strategy, shaping assortments, and driving profitable growth on a large scale.

About the Company

Our client is an established global retail organization known for its strong brand identity, broad product assortment, and multi-channel customer experience. With decades of category leadership, the company is investing heavily in modernizing its North American business, elevating merchandising capabilities, and building out a high-performance leadership bench.

Role Overview

The Vice President, Merchandising, Planning & Allocation will be responsible for developing and executing the merchandising and financial strategy across the North America business.

This leader will drive product vision, optimize inventory flow, strengthen financial plans, and build analytics capabilities that fuel data-driven decision-making. Reporting to the Senior Vice President of the function, this role will influence everything from assortment architecture to demand forecasting to store execution.

A blend of creativity, commercial acumen, and operational excellence will be critical.

Key Responsibilities:

Merchandising & Financial Planning

• Build annual and seasonal merchandise financial plans aligned with corporate objectives.
• Develop financial frameworks linking assortment, margin targets, and sales expectations to KPIs.
• Enter and manage buy plans to ensure alignment between merchandising intent and inventory capacity.
• Guide category-level decisions using trends, customer insights, and financial analysis.
• Ensure strong partnership and communication flow between merchandising, planning, and allocation.

Store Planning & Allocation

• Partner with Store Planning and Allocation to ensure optimal product placement across the fleet.
• Develop inventory strategies that balance demand, store capacity, and productivity.
• Oversee inventory flow to improve sell-through, reduce out-of-stocks, and maximize margin return.

Analytics, Reporting & Insights

• Lead analytics and reporting support for merchandising and planning functions.
• Review weekly performance, identify risks/opportunities, and adjust plans accordingly.
• Prepare weekly and monthly business summaries for executive leadership.
• Manage reporting related to consignment or vendor-supported programs.
• Enhance dashboards and reporting systems that improve visibility into sales, inventory, and margin.
• Provide Finance, Operations, and Marketing with accurate, actionable business insights.

Leadership & Collaboration

• Lead, coach, and elevate talent across merchandising, planning, and analytics.
• Partner cross-functionally with Finance, Supply Chain, and Operations.
• Champion a culture of creativity supported by data discipline.
• Present insights, recommendations, and performance results to executive leadership.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Merchandising, Analytics, or related field (MBA preferred).
• 10+ years in retail merchandising, planning, or analytics with 5+ years in senior leadership.
• Demonstrated success building financial plans and frameworks that improve profitability.
• Strong understanding of merchandise planning, open-to-buy management, and retail financials.
• Proven experience improving inventory flow and collaborating closely with allocation and store planning.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and cross-functional influence skills.
• High proficiency in Excel and comfort with analytics tools and retail KPIs.
• Thrives in a fast-paced, evolving environment with competing priorities.

To Excel in This Role

• Strong process orientation
• Effective team leadership
• Problem-solver with a solutions-focused mindset
• High accountability and ownership
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills

Why This Opportunity

This executive will directly shape the future of a well-known retail brand at a transformative moment. It's an opportunity to:

• Build merchandising strategies that define the next era of the company
• Lead the modernization of planning, allocation, and analytics
• Drive profitable growth and operational excellence
• Influence senior leadership and play a key role in the organization's rebuilding efforts

If you are a strategic, data-driven retail leader who thrives on building, optimizing, and inspiring teams, this is a role where your impact will be felt immediately