Director - Merchandise Planning & Commercial Inventory Strategy

A market leading multi-brand retail and distribution platform operating at regional scale, managing a diverse portfolio across fashion, lifestyle and beauty categories. The organisation is known for its strong brand partnerships, omni-channel growth and continued investment in systems, people and commercial capability.ResponsibilitiesLead and drive the end to end merchandise planning strategy across multiple brands, categories and channels including stores and digitalDeliver annual and seasonal merchandise financial plans, budgets, forecasts and OTB frameworks aligned to revenue and margin targetsDrive in-season trading performance through active monitoring of sales, sell-through, stock cover and margin, adjusting plans and intake as neededOperate and optimise OTB controls to manage spend, reduce risk and protect profitability across business unitsRun inventory and intake planning processes including purchase order flow, stock phasing and replenishment frameworksCreate and implement planning policies, processes and governance to improve accuracy, speed and cross-functional alignmentLead planning system and data improvement initiatives including SAP and related planning toolsInfluence senior stakeholders across Buying, Finance, Commercial and Digital functions to support fact-based decision makingQualificationsExtensive experience in merchandising leadership ideally within a complex department store or multi-brand retail environment; track record in luxury retail planning environment is a must, with fast fashion considered as secondaryMandatory background in fashion retail planning, with additional beauty category exposure viewed as a strong advantage. Clear planning and merchandising career path - not a buying profile with limited exposure to planning functionsDemonstrated ownership of OTB, forecasting, budgeting and in-season inventory management across multiple categories and channelsHands-on experience with SAP planning systems is highly preferredComfortable working in evolving and partially manual planning environments and leading process and system transformationHighly commercial and trend-aware, able to engage credibly with Buying leadership on fashion performance and category directionPeople-centric leadership style with experience building and developing high-performing planning teams#J-18808-Ljbffr