The North Face: Senior Planning Manager, Full Price Retail (Americas)

Join the North Face Family

The North Face was built on a love for the outdoors and the desire to enable all types of exploration, for all people, from their backyards to the Himalayas. Over the last 50 years we've lived by our “true north,” the belief that exploration has the power to change us, to challenge us and to help us see the world from new perspectives. To help ignite a global movement of outdoor exploration, love for the natural world and an unwavering commitment to protect it, we welcome and encourage new participants to the outdoors. We extend our reach through support of non-profit organizations, establishing programs that connect participants with close-to-home recreation opportunities, and creating a connection with young leaders, inspiring them to explore and conserve.

As we enter our sixth decade, we pledge to:

• Empower exploration and the thrill of the unknown for as many people as possible.
• Protect the places where we live, play, and operate.
• Evolve the way we make our products by improving our environmental performance and social responsibility in the supply chain.

Retail Senior Planning Manager

Serve as the business manager for the Full Price Retail channel working closely and collaboratively with Finance, Merchandising, Allocation, Supply Chain, Visual Merchandising and Store Operations to create the channel strategy and executional plan to achieve brand strategic and financial objectives. You are responsible for analyzing trends to influence pre-season plans while simultaneously hitting in-season financial sales, margin, and inventory targets. Comfort with forecasting and recommending business actions to achieve plan will be critical to this role. This is an analytical job—we need someone who is detail oriented and enjoys operating control-related standards and procedures. As a Senior Planning Manager, it is expected to have strong retail acumen and the ability to lead and influence business strategy as well as mentor and develop a successful team.

Key KPI’s:

• Sales
• POS Markdown
• Inventory Turn
• Sell-Thru
• BOP & EOP Inventory
• Initial & Gross Margin

How You Will Make a Difference

What you will do:

• Communicate weekly and monthly business risk mitigation and revenue maximization action plans to key business stakeholders- Finance & Regional/Channel Leadership.
• Own the weekly reforecast of the financial outlook and bi-weekly review meeting with Finance and Regional/Channel Leadership- effectively articulate the “what and why” for the opportunities/risks shown to forecast and plan.
• Be an expert on the channel’s optimal inventory mix to achieve desired brand presentation and financial targets (Sales, Margin, Sell Thru)- includes gender, category, key item, and New vs. C/O contributions.
• Create, review and present top-down pre-season channel plan. Develop plan using current marketplace trends, historical performance, and brand direction- including planned New Store openings.
• Oversee the monthly OTB reforecast process. Provide tops down target direction, review, and synthesize bottoms up forecast to deliver accurate re-projections based upon multiple complex inputs: current trend, inventory position, weather, consumer moments, promotional activity, market conditions, and regional & store variations.
• Drive in-season business by analyzing weekly performance by channel, division, class, and attribute groupings and use this knowledge to recommend business actions that maximize opportunities and limit liabilities.
• Be a key player in the weekly business review meeting, supporting peers in cultivating a productive meeting culture that results in clear and effective action plans.
• Coach, mentor and develop the full price planning team to maximize individual potential and team effectiveness.

How you will do it:

• Support the team in prioritizing actions that deliver ROI.
• Cultivate a culture where every team member owns their business and takes pride in achieving organizational goals.
• Collaborate with the Merchandising Manager to understand the assortment vision and direction, as well as provide critical analytical support to inform pre-season strategies that improve year-over-year business performance and customer satisfaction.
• Build strong cross functional collaborative partnerships with Finance, Merchandising, Allocation, Store Operations, Visual Merchandising, and Supply Planning to meet our shared goals.
• Take a leadership role in architecting and standing up new processes and tools that position the organization to achieve agility and realize growth plans.
• Develop expert knowledge of new reporting systems and planning tools.
• Partner with Allocation Director to ensure timely and accurate execution of the monthly floor set and include floor set shifts into outlook reforecast.

What success looks like:

• Achieved financial performance –Sales, Sell Thru, and Margin Rate
• Seasonal financial plans that serve as an effective roadmap for achieving 3YP growth goals
• Strong team dynamic – effective working relationships with first team and cross-functional stakeholders
• Best-in-class customer experience

Free To Be, Inclusion & Diversity

As a purpose-led, performance driven company, we strive to foster a culture of belonging based on respect, connection, openness, and authenticity. We are committed to building and maintaining a workplace that celebrates the diversity of our associates, allowing them to bring their authentic selves to work every day.

Skills For Success

Years of Related Professional Experience: 6+ years of professional experience in merchandise planning, forecasting, or buying

Educational Position Requirements:

A formal education and subsequent undergraduate/graduate degrees are nice to have, but we are most interested in your total experience and professional achievements.

• Flexibility and Agility – quickly understand, assess & problem solve.
• Merchandise planning system experience (e.g., Excel, JDA Enterprise Planning, SAP, SFCC, SPS Commerce, etc.)
• Retail Fundamentals & Business Acumen: Open to Buy, Inventory Management, Sales/Inventory forecasting.
• Advanced use of Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint
• Ability to influence business strategy and effectively manage internal relationships to get the job done
• Effective verbal communication skills, including meeting facilitation and presentations.
• What we expect you already know:

• VF Guiding Principles: Live with Integrity, Act Courageously, Be Curious, Act with Empathy, and Preserve.
• TNF go-to-market process.
• Continued training and development skills for leading effective teams.
• Brand strategy and key product initiatives.
• What we will teach you: