The Planning Manager is responsible for driving the financial performance, inventory strategy, and replenishment execution of Peter Millar's Essentials business. This role owns both planning and buying responsibilities for core styles across multiple channels, ensuring exceptional in-stock rates while optimizing inventory productivity, margin, and working capital.
This individual serves as the primary business owner for Peter Millar's core assortment, developing demand forecasts, inventory plans, purchase strategies, and replenishment actions that support long-term growth. The role partners closely with Merchandising, Sourcing, Operations, Distribution, Wholesale, Retail, and E-commerce teams to ensure product availability and a best-in-class customer experience.
The ideal candidate is a highly analytical and commercially minded leader who can balance customer service, inventory productivity, and financial performance. They are comfortable making large inventory investment decisions, thrive in a fast-paced environment, and can translate complex data into actionable business strategies. This individual will play a critical role in ensuring Peter Millar's core assortment remains available whenever and wherever customers want to buy it.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
Financial Planning & Forecasting- Develop annual, seasonal, and monthly sales, inventory, and receipt plans for the core business.
- Create and maintain demand forecasts at the style, color, size, and channel level.
- Analyze trends, customer demand, and historical performance to identify opportunities and risks.
- Partner with Finance and Merchandise Planning leadership to align forecasts with company objectives.
- Present business performance, forecasts, and inventory strategies to senior leadership.
Inventory Management & Replenishment- Own inventory health and availability across all distribution channels.
- Establish and manage safety stock targets, reorder points, and service-level objectives.
- Monitor inventory productivity metrics including weeks of supply, sell-through, fill rate, and stock-to-sales.
- Identify inventory risks and proactively implement mitigation plans.
- Drive inventory optimization initiatives that improve in-stock performance while reducing excess inventory.
Buying & Vendor Management- Execute purchase orders and replenishment buys for core styles.
- Collaborate with Sourcing and Production teams to manage lead times, capacity, and delivery schedules.
- Evaluate vendor performance and identify opportunities to improve supply chain responsiveness.
- Recommend inventory investments based on demand trends and business priorities.
- Support long-range capacity planning for strategic core programs.
Business Analysis- Analyze performance by style, category, channel, and customer segment.
- Identify opportunities for assortment expansion, inventory productivity, and revenue growth.
- Build reporting and dashboards that provide visibility into core business performance.
- Conduct scenario planning and sensitivity analysis to support decision-making.
Cross-Functional Leadership- Partner with Merchandising to define and maintain the core assortment strategy.
- Collaborate with Wholesale, Retail, and E-commerce teams to understand channel demand drivers.
COMPETENCIES:- Strong analytical capability with advanced Excel proficiency
- Experience operating within modern planning systems
- Ability to balance strategic thinking with detailed execution
- Comfortable driving structure and governance in a growing environment
- Strong cross-functional communication and influence skills
- Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to build and refine processes
- Advanced or Expert in Microsoft Excel (familiar with: creating variables, power query editor, and data models)
- Familiarity with forecasting methodologies and statistical models
DESIRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:- Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Supply Chain, Analytics, Merchandising, or related field.
- 5+ years of experience in merchandise planning, inventory planning, buying, replenishment, or supply chain planning.
- Strong analytical and financial acumen.
- Advanced Excel skills and experience with planning systems and business intelligence tools like PowerBi, Power Query, Excel Labs, SQL, large data models.
- Proven ability to manage large SKU assortments and inventory investments.
- Strong communication and presentation skills.
- Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to build and refine processes.
Preferred- Experience in apparel, footwear, or luxury consumer goods.
- Experience managing replenishment or never-out-of-stock businesses.
- Knowledge of forecasting and inventory optimization methodologies.
