MERCH PLANNING PRODUCT MANAGER - REMOTE
A National Consumer Goods organization is seeking an experienced Product Manager with a strong background in Merch Planning (i.e. Inventory Management; Inventory Planning) to support sales & inventory forecasting, item buy planning, and merchandise financial planning capabilities. Initially, most of your focus will be on implementing the Fulfillment and Merch Financial Planning SaaS solution working alongside program management, organizational change management, engineering and business partners. You will be accountable for defining business requirements, establishing future state processes, and outlining a product roadmap to support this implementation and beyond. You will also be responsible for managing delivery through a Scrum framework, leveraging Agile ceremonies, measuring results, and constantly iterating on improving the Merch Planning processes. In addition, as the Merch Planning Product Manager you will be the expert on the company’s Merch Planning rules and processes and works to discover and develop solutions that meet business goals and stakeholder needs and constraints.
Responsibilities:
- Support and strengthen revenue and inventory optimization through the discovery and
delivery of innovative applications, services, and strategic analytics that support the merch planning pipeline
- Partner with all key stakeholders, especially Merch Planning, Allocation, Store Planning,
- Merchandising, Finance, eCommerce, Supply Chain, and Marketing departments to build alignment and collaboration necessary to design and deliver best in class solutions that drive revenue while improving our inventory positioning.
- Execute “best in class” Technology product management methodology, continually bringing new methodologies and techniques to improve product quality and speed to market.
- Lead and motivate a product team to constantly improve key performance indicators
- Lead by example in all aspects of performance and development to encourage professional growth and associate satisfaction, fostering a supportive learning environment.
- Manage the product backlog and opportunity backlog to consistently innovate in ways that improve the business
- Establish and conduct continual discovery cycles for the product that maximizes business value, industry trends and the full resources of the product team.
- Manage vendors and partners to maximize the ROI and profitability while continually bringing innovative enhancements to our planning suite.
- Act as the liaison between the Technology Department and eCommerce, Retail Store, Supply Chain, Marketing and Merchandising Departments to ensure a seamless customer experience across all channels.
- Possess a complete understanding of the Merch Planning pipeline, inclusive of preseason and in-season planning, OTB and MF, and TD/BU reconciliation.
? Possess a strong understanding of the most up-to-date vendor offerings that these processes, as well as the analytical components that drive these modern solutions.
- Work closely with management and the product team to define a compelling product, a path to market, and evangelize that vision within the team and across the company.
- Identify, evaluate and recommend external vendors to support vision and roadmap where appropriate and manage vendor relationships including contract negotiations and renewals
- Prioritize all defects associated with the product and/or that are impacting business partners with appropriate urgency and consideration of current backlog.
Requirements:
- 5 years of Merch Planning (Inventory Management) experience, with a minimum of 2 of those years in a product management position.
- Bachelor’s degree in business or equivalent work experience
- Project management skills and the ability to research and coordinate information efficiently - Project Management Institute certification a plus
- Extensive knowledge of retail Merch Planning best practices and strategies
- Strong understanding of systems design, programming and analytics tools
- Possess a complete understanding of industry trends, the competition, relevant technologies and emerging issues for retail, ecommerce, omnichannel and in store digital solutions.
- Possess a deep understanding of the Merch Planner function, based on constant interaction and feedback.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
- Excellent organizational skills, detail-oriented
- Strong communication, leadership and interpersonal skills
- Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Google Platform, Jira, Confluence and Smartsheets
- Excellent oral and written communication skills (English)
- Implementation of 3rd party software desired
- Project Management Institute certification a plus
- Understanding of data science and statistical modeling
- Ability to travel between 1x/quarter - 1x/month
