Senior Manager, Strategic Inventory Analyst, Watches, Fine Jewelry

At Chanel, we are focused on creating an inclusive culture that nurtures personal growth, contributing to collective progress. We believe the uniqueness of each individual increases the diversity, complementarity and effectiveness of our teams. We strongly encourage your application, as we value the perspective, experience and potential you could bring to CHANEL.

Senior Manager, Inventory Management - Watches and Fine Jewelry

• Opportunity to increase collaboration with Retail Operations, Supply Chain & After Sales in Piscataway and Global Sales Administration in Paris
• 5 different distribution channels : WFJ Boutiques, Fashion BTQs, Lease BTQs, Dept Stores and Independent retailers, Consigned Inventory with a specific strategy of PJ expansion in Wholesale distribution, in parallel to the development of our retail business (own and Fashion)
• Strong ambition of growth for the US in the coming years: the focus is to drive scale in the WFJ category
• 3 different product categories with different operating models: Watches, PJ and HJ: rich yearly plan of product launches + necessity to support core business
• Need to balance strong growth ambition with profitability: opportunities to improve inventory levels, processes and efficiency (KPIs tracking, processes and systems, dashboards…)

What Impact can you create at Chanel:

• Build and implement the right strategy to deploy efficiently our inventory in all Networks (WFJ btqs/Fashion btqs/MBB/MBS/MBR) for Watches <50k$ and Precious Jewelry:

• Keep a maximum level of service for the boutiques
• Leverage this efficiency to maximize sales opportunities and increase profitability
• Provisions for Obsolescence
• Simplify and consolidate the product & information flows for all the business partners by being the owner of the inventory activities (Retail vs Wholesale Arbitration/Replenishment/Transfer)
• Inventory Rollforward to estimate Purchases
• Partner with Finance to plan the inventory-related lines of the P&L and help to clarify the methodology:
• Define and monitor key indicators to measure our performance & build action plans for improvement

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading a team (2 direct reports)
• Leading the Sales & Operations Planning process for the division with the US WFJ leadership team:

• Share the key indicators on our inventory levels
• Coordinating the boutiques transfer request process (Define the rules, arbitrate when necessary)
• Partnering with Finance to consolidate and review unbilled sales for monthly accruals.
• Clarifying the calculation of the inventory rollforward, using the Supply Chain forecast and the Model stock validated with Global by product collection
• Coordinating the overstock action plan with Retail Operations and Piscataway
• Consolidating and fulfillment of product requests for all networks (Retail and Wholesale)
• Managing the monthly rebalancing process for Retail doors
• Partnering with Accounting team to reconcile outstanding consignment invoices and payments made on account.
• Align our sales ambitions with our inventory: allocate when necessary between Retail and Wholesale, build an action plan for overstocks, alert on shortages
• Manage the weekly replenishment of Retail (WFJ/FSN/MBB/MBS) doors: run the auto replenishment system (ARS), coordinate with Piscataway the fulfillment of replenishment orders, invoice the MBS sell out weekly (including Mobile concept)
• Building and sharing the appropriate KPI and dashboards to monitor inventory levels, order backlogs and lead-times
• Overseeing mobile concept inventory movement (product requests, replenishment, and account flip)
• Tracking the Purchase Orders backlog with Global and Piscataway
• Lead the Wholesale replenishment process: send Purchase Order proposal to all external Wholesale partner in collaboration with Sales team, consolidate POs and invoice
• Reviewing the methodology of the inventory obsolescence calculation, leveraging your knowledge of overstock situations
• Share workload visibility for Warehouse, monitor SLAs indicators and coordinate action plan
• Collaborating with IT (Local & Global) to improve and/or implement the systems used for inventory management (MMS / AX / ARS)

You are energized by:

• Guiding and developing team members by providing leadership, coaching and development
• Working in a fast-paced environment where you can demonstrate your agility, flexibility and resiliency while constantly looking for more efficiency
• Navigating complexity and ambiguity and being able to work autonomously
• Working cross-functionally and cultivating impactful relationships with key stakeholders to drive the success in all our networks

Key skills and leadership attributes…

• Providing support and optimizing the day to day role of our boutique teams, understand our offer and collections and allocate the right products at the right place at the right time
• Being resilient, navigating the pressure of requests by assessing their relevance
• Handling multiple distribution channels and understanding the dynamics of each: Retail, Lease, Fashion Retail and Multi Brand Retailers
• Building trust and bringing visibility to retail teams on the inventory situation by enabling a concise and seamless communication
• Being curious and resourceful to efficiently manage the tasks with the tools available (Excel, Power BI)

What you can bring to the team…

• PowerBI knowledge is a plus
• Systems knowledge and ease working closely with IT to adjust system as needed to support the business
• Experience in Watches / Precious Jewelry and High Jewelry
• Strong Communication and relationship building
• Detail oriented with organizational and problem-solving skills, on top of a strong sense of service
• Knowledge in retail math, Microsoft Excel, and PowerPoint

Position Logistics:

• Bachelor’s degree required, ideally in a Supply Chain/Merchandising/Planning field
• Position based in NY
• Minimum 5 years of relevant retail/allocation experience

What skills you will learn? What experiences might you have?

• Opportunities for visibility to senior leadership
• Be exposed to multiples and enriching environments: boutiques, warehouse and corporate teams
• Direct leader committed to individual development
• Understand the intricacies of a Global Supply Chain
• How to leverage data to generate new ideas, test them and learn from the results

Reports to Head of Planning & Merchandizing – WFJ / Position based in New York, with travels to be planned locally

The anticipated base salary range for this position is $80,000-$125,000. Base salary is one component of the total compensation for this position. Other components [may/will] include additional compensation, benefits and perks.

Chanel is a private company whose values are grounded in creating the conditions for people to perform at their best and feel fulfilled and confident in their work. We offer a unique work environment where individuals are encouraged to better understand the brand, the business, and motivations, so that together we can unlock the possibilities of growth. This is reflected in:

Diversity and Inclusion

• At CHANEL, we are intentional in promoting Diversity & Inclusion. We foster respect, empathy and dignity for all. We believe strongly that the diversity of our people across the full spectrum of human differences is essential to our organisation and the connections we have with each other and our clients.
• We offer Employee Resource Groups in the US that are voluntary, open to all, employee-led groups formed around a shared identity or lived experience, whose aim is to foster a diverse, inclusive, and equitable community aligned with the values and missions of the communities they support.

Chanel Community

• CHANEL Community empowers our employees to channel their passions, talents and sense of purpose to contribute to and learn from our communities.
• Employees are encouraged to take time off annually to volunteer through CHANEL Community. CHANEL also matches employee donations to select charitable organizations.

Fondation Chanel

• Since 2011, Fondation CHANEL’s mission is for women and girls to be free to shape their own destiny. Through multi-year partnerships with financial and technical support, Fondation CHANEL is committed to improving the safety and autonomy of women and adolescent girls around the world, impacting over a million women and girls in its first 10 years.
• For more information, please navigate to the Fondation Chanel website here

Sustainability

• Employees are encouraged to contribute to our US Sustainability efforts at the corporate level and within the divisions, through organized taskforces and initiatives.
• CHANEL Mission 1.5° is our climate action plan. It is focused on transforming the business in line with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement on climate change to limit the average global mean temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.