SVP & GMM, Buying & Planning

Serving the needs of all families with young children,
Carter's Inc. is the largest North American apparel retailer exclusively for babies and young children, encompassing Carter's, OshKosh B'gosh, Skip*Hop and Little Planet brands. Meaningful work, constant learning, genuine people, and a community guided by core values that promote inclusion and innovation is in everything we do. There are many reasons to build your career at Carter's.

How You'll Make An Impact
The Senior Vice President & General Merchandising Manager, Buying & Planning will lead omni-channel retail functions driving innovation and profitability in retail buying and planning, sales forecasting, inventory management, strategic pricing, and retail promotions. This leader will be responsible for the strategy and execution of assortment, merchandise profitability spanning inventory buys, pricing, promotions, store allocation and merchandising operations. They will align internal teams around business goals and the product vision driving cultural, operational and process changes to meet business goals.

This role reports to the Chief Retail and Digital Officer, has 4 direct reports, and a total team of 95+. The role is based in our Buckhead office.

Buying and Planning Strategy (70%):

• Develop and manage seasonal buys with a strategic focus to ensure top line, bottom line and sell through objectives are met to support organizational financial plans
• Drive profitable and innovative omni-channel buying strategies to capitalize on market share and expand the brand's reach
• Partners closely with leaders in Design and Merchandising to deliver a line structure that meets the customer's needs and business expectations
• Collaborate with cross functional teams across to ensure optimal profitability through inventory availability, visual merchandising, promotional effectiveness that meets consumer demand
• Lead multi-channel planning strategy and retail store integration, ensuring seamless customer experiences, execution of brand vision and product across all touchpoints
• Create and lead the development of the weekly/daily promotional plans both pre-season and in season through collaborating with marketing supporting financial plans
• Lead long-range planning processes and oversee division sales, margin, and inventory targets to meet corporate goals
• Deliver forecasting efficiencies and reduce manual work by leading continuous improvement efforts and proactively anticipating and addressing opportunities

Pricing and Merchandising Operations (30%):

• Manage P&L across multiple channels, optimizing inventory, pricing strategies, and promotional plans to meet sales goals on all channels
• Develop dynamic pricing strategies considering various geo/segment-specific considerations to optimize revenue and customer satisfaction
• Oversee pricing tests to evaluate pricing hypotheses, model mechanics and pricing levels for vendor segments and market types
• Partner with Finance to ensure pricing and revenue strategies align with financial goals and targets
• Leverage consumer insights, market data, and store analytics to inform decisions and drive growth
• Use data-driven insights to tailor store-specific strategies to support the customer experience
• Enhance operational efficiencies within North America stores and eCommerce
• Support the systematic ability to localize and segment product assortments via current suite of tools as well as adhoc reporting
• Ensure new ideas are piloted, scaled and embedded to deliver future growth
• Manage multi-year enhancements, build business cases and ROI to upgrade, change or enhance current automation and systems

Must Have
WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU IF:

• 15+ years of leadership experience in retail buying and merchandise planning, inventory management, and omni-channel strategy.
• Expertise in managing large-scale operations~800M+ optimizing both multi brand physical/digital footprints
• Proven ability to independently identify high-impact opportunities and lead them to execution across operational teams; present strategic recommendations and performance insights to C-level executive
• Strategic thinker with strong business acumen, consistently translating insights into enterprise-level action and measurable impact.
• Exceptional leadership and team management skills, with demonstrated success in influencing cross functional stakeholders and building high performing teams.
• Financial Acumen and P&L Management; deep knowledge and proven execution of buying, financial planning, budget management, sales forecasting, and profitability analysis.
• The ability to lead and inspire a team of ~100 FTEs while fostering alignment across various business units
• Bachelor's degree in business

Preferred Skills And Experience

• Experience working in fast-paced, large-scale retail companies with multiple brands or product lines
• Experience in industries like apparel, fashion, or consumer goods would be highly valuable
• Background in driving exceptional customer experiences; including developing strategies to meet evolving consumer expectations both in-store and online, ensuring consistency and quality
• Experience in leading through large-scale organizational transformations

Carters is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law.