VP, Regional Merchandise Planning

Overview

The Vice President of Regional Merchandise Planning, Inventory Management & Allocation ROW will lead the development and execution of integrated strategies across merchandise planning, inventory management, and retail allocation, ensuring alignment with the company’s global goals. This role has direct accountability for driving yearly revenue growth, sell-thru, and profitability objectives, with a focus on optimizing the entire merchandise lifecycle and maximizing return on investment (ROI).  The role is highly interactive with multiple contacts including regional planning directors, Sales, merchants, digital merchandising, retail store operations, marketing as well as finance, supply and inventory planning leads. 

What You'll Do

• Lead the Integrated Business Planning (IBP) process for the ROW regions, ensuring alignment with global business and financial strategies. Drive key decisions across regions that enable the company to meet its overarching goals of growth, profitability, and operational efficiency. 
• Own and drive the development of regional merchandise planning processes for wholesale, retail, and digital channels. Lead the creation of merchandise plans that align with corporate forecasts, incorporating market insights, historical performance, and forward-looking trends. 
• Own the Key Account Planning process for significant wholesale clients, establishing proactive, forward-looking plans based on customer sell-out data. Collaborate with global and regional stakeholders to ensure alignment and seamless execution. 
• Oversee the interpretation of global plans at the regional level, including Merchandise Financial Plans and rolling 13-month inventory plans. Manage Slow/Non-moving, Excess, and Obsolete goods to optimize inventory. 
• Determine strategies and tactics to achieve collaboratively owned targets for forecast accuracy, revenue growth targets, inventory management and service levels. 
• Define and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) that not only track performance but drive business performance, identifying opportunities for continuous improvement. Leverage data-driven insights to inform critical decisions in merchandise planning, inventory management, and allocation to maximize profitability and reduce operational risk. 
• Oversee trading operations to ensure compliance with regional regulations and company policies.  Optimize trading process to enhance profitability and operational efficiency. Implement and manage trading strategies to capitalize on market opportunities. 
• Lead, develop, and mentor a high-performing regional team, with a focus on driving business results and fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous growth. Establish a strong pipeline of future leaders within the organization through succession planning and leadership development programs. Ensure that the regional team is aligned with global priorities, leveraging cross-functional relationships to achieve shared business goals. 
• Collaborate with regional sales, marketing, product, and finance teams to shape and drive the regional merchandise strategy, ensuring alignment with global initiatives and strategic objectives. Serve as the primary decision-maker in product flow, inventory levels, and forecasting to meet evolving market demands. 
• Develops positive and influential relationships with the core cross functional team (Merchandising, Product, Region/Channel, Finance and Marketing) to ensure consensus to product flow and inventory levels required to support regional needs. 
• Leads analytics, forecast reconciliation, adjustments and recommendations during regional buy roll-ups and final regional buy reviews. 
• Approves the final buy for their region in partnership with Regional Finance and Channel leads. 
• Leads inventory execution; safety stock, prebuild, inventory turns, execution, and on-time/in-full delivery of global purchase order process for all channels. 
• Key interface for Global Planning, Regional Sales and Global Merchandising leads.  
• Key contributor to mid- and long-term Global Planning Strategy 

What You'll Bring to the Table

• BS or BA in Business, Supply Chain, or relevant field of study– or equivalent years of relevant and related experience; MBA preferred. 
• 15+ years of experience in a multi-channel merchandise planning and inventory management leadership role, with a proven track record in developing and executing strategic business plans that drive profitability and operational excellence. 
• At least 5+ years of senior leadership experience within a global, matrixed organization, demonstrating the ability to influence senior leadership and drive organizational transformation. 
• A minimum of 5 (preferably 10+) years of executive experience in direct-to-consumer in both merchandising and/or merchandise planning & allocation including both digital and retail planning & allocation.   
• Deep executive experience in merchandising, planning and trading is a must to be able to read and react to business trends. 
• A demonstrated ability to transform and streamline business processes, leveraging best practices in merchandise planning and inventory management to scale operations and achieve business objectives across multiple regions.  
• Excel in working in fast paced business including weekly analytics, reporting, insights, actions and read & react with profitable demand driving activities and inventory management.   
• Proven ability to lead across all levels of the business, from high-level strategic planning to day-to-day execution and detailed analytics. Adept at analyzing business performance, identifying key drivers of success or failure, and using these insights to shape strategy and influence critical decision-making. 
• Strong drive for action and results, consistently taking initiative to identify opportunities and drive business transformation. Proactively seeks solutions and delivers results with urgency and focus. 
• Demonstrated proven experience - Industries:  Footwear, Apparel, Sports or similar brand/retailer; Channels – wholesale, retail, ecommerce; Global Reach:  North America, EU, Asia 
• Responsible and accountable for leading and developing an outstanding team of professionals and their teams. Achieves high levels of engagement through positive motivation. 
• Proven ability to influence stakeholders at all levels, including C-suite executives, and navigate complex, matrixed organizations. Skilled in building relationships and driving decision-making across all tiers, from peers to senior leadership.