Director of Planning

The Director of Planning is a senior leader responsible for leading the enterprise merchandise planning function and managing a high-performing planning organization. Reporting to the SVP/GMM, this role serves as the strategic financial partner to the VP/DMM organization, translating product and vendor strategies into disciplined financial plans that drive profitable growth, inventory productivity, and margin expansion.

This leader owns the end-to-end planning process — from long-range strategy through in-season execution — and provides financial governance and recommendations to support executive decision-making, including Open-to-Buy oversight.

Key Responsibilities-

Enterprise Planning Strategy

• Lead development of long-range (1–3 year) and annual merchandise financial plans in partnership with the SVP/GMM and VP/DMM peers.
• Translate corporate growth objectives into actionable plans across Sales, Gross Margin, Inventory, and Turn
• Establish financial guardrails that balance top-line growth with margin and inventory productivity.

Open-to-Buy & Financial Governance

• Own and manage the enterprise Open-to-Buy (OTB) process, providing recommendations and risk assessments to the SVP/GMM for final approval.
• Monitor commitments, receipts, and inventory liability to ensure alignment with financial targets.
• Identify emerging risks and opportunities, proactively recommending adjustments to protect profitability and cash flow.

Forecasting & Risk Management

• Lead pre-season and in-season forecasting processes incorporating sales trends, promotional strategies, product launches, cost changes, and market conditions.
• Drive timely reforecasting and scenario planning to support executive decision-making.
• Provide financial validation during quarterly strategy reviews and brand sign-off meetings.

Inventory & Markdown Strategy

• Develop inventory investment strategies that optimize in-stock performance while protecting margin and turn.
• Oversee markdown and aging strategies to maximize sell-through and minimize margin erosion.
• Ensure inventory plans align with inbound capacity, promotional calendars, and channel strategies.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Partners laterally with VP/DMM peers to align vendor, class, and assortment strategies with financial objectives.
• Collaborate with Allocation and Supply Chain to optimize product flow across stores and digital channels.
• Partners with Finance to align annual, monthly, and in-season financial plans, ensuring consistency between merchandise strategy, corporate forecasts, and financial reporting.
• Support new and remodeled store openings through disciplined assortment and inventory planning.

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing planning team, including hiring, performance management, and succession planning.
• Establish clear accountability standards and elevate analytical rigor across the planning organization.
• Build scalable processes, tools, and reporting that enhance visibility and decision quality.

Performance Management

• Monitor and drive key KPIs including Sales, GM%, Inventory Turns, GMROI, Markdown, and Working Capital efficiency.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives that strengthen enterprise financial performance.

Education & Experience

Bachelor’s degree required.

8–10+ years of progressive merchandise planning experience, including direct people leadership.

Demonstrated ability to influence senior cross-functional leaders and translate financial insights into actionable business strategy in a multi-channel retail environment.

Physical Requirements:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions-

▪ Sit for more than 6 hours per shift

▪ Use hands to finger, handle and feel

▪ Reach with hands and arms

▪ Talk and/or hear

▪ Stand for up to 2 hours at a time periodically

▪ Walk or move from one location to another

▪ Occasionally may need to climb, balance, stoop, kneel, or crouch

▪ Lift and/or move up to 10 pounds regularly and up to 25 pounds occasionally

▪ Punctuality and regular attendance consistent with the company’s policies are required for the position.

▪ Average work week is 40 hours, which can vary depending on business need.

▪ The work environment for this position is a moderately noisy office setting.

General Information:

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, and skills required of personnel so classified. DTLR, Inc. provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

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