Demand Planner

Job Description

Bollé Brands is a leading eyewear and head protection group that designs, markets and distributes sunglasses, safety glasses, goggles and helmets. The company has developed a particular strength in the specialty markets of snow sports, water sports, cycling, golf, tennis, running, premium fashion and sport lifestyle. Today, Bollé Brands’ products are distributed and worn all over the world. The company constantly refines its trademark combination of fit, fashion and comfort, resulting in some of the most advanced products in the industry. Excellence in product innovation and creativity is at the heart of Bollé Brands’ strategy.

Position Summary:

The Demand Planner is responsible for partnering with cross functional teams to oversee the demand forecast and inventory supply for Bolle Brands North America. This role calculates the product demand and validates the flow of inventory in the pipeline for order fulfillment while actively balancing organizational objectives and customer satisfaction goals.

The Demand Planner will build and use financial trend analyses, forecasting tools, and business intelligence techniques to compare and explain current performance in the context of the macro business situation, and use these insights to achieve future desired outcomes.

This position requires a combination of an analytical approach to sophisticated challenges, the ability to make decisions in a fast-paced environment, executive presence, strong interpersonal communications and relationship skills. This position is structured for a self-starter that thrives with autonomy, yet is a team player, that is knowledgeable and has proven, relevant business experience. The responsibilities are aligned in a way that services the Bolle Brands North America business by gathering and assessing data.

The Demand Planner will align internal processes with organizational objectives and effectively communicate to upper management and executives. The Demand Planner will strive to anticipate future threats and opportunities, will make decisions based on global business conditions and strategies, and is capable of leading conversations to influence and drive best business decisions with multiple stakeholders.

This position is located at our corporate office in Carlsbad, CA.

Responsibilities Overview:

Create and maintain product’s demand and supply plans, ensuring that historical data and applicable forecasts align with sales goals and corporate objectives.

Collaborate with the product development and sales teams to develop and communicate a comprehensive pre-launch strategy and maintain and/or adjust items in the inline and sell down product category portfolios.

Monitor and amend safety stock and days of supply to create inventory optimization levels within the budgeted inventory valuation plans.

Responsible for understanding the reasons for excess inventory and flagging potential issues to the sales team in a timely manner.

Facilitate departmental meetings to inform short-term and long-term financial strategies and action plans.

Manage the sales and inventory forecasting for team, including assessing total risks and creating resolutions for qualitative input and dynamic changes as necessary.

Communicate demand based on historical and forecast numbers, changes, assumptions, inputs, etc., to product, sales, finance, and other departments.

Own data collection and report preparation with focus on supporting corporate objectives related to sales, inventory, and finance.

Drive profitability through leading and executing promotional and markdown strategies which align with divisional and brand financial goals.

Partner with purchasing team to ensure the product delivery dates align with order fulfillment requirements and inventory strategies based on global launch dates, seasonality, trends, and global logistics.

Proactively analyze historical data and current trends to identify risks and opportunities, compare sales data of the planned categories to actual sales and communicate major deviations and action plans to relevant stakeholders.

Support product life cycle management including new inventory item planning and item replacement/cannibalization using sales data.

Collaborate on continual development and process improvement of planning tools and processes.

Act as a resource and leader for the planning team and cross functional partners.

Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Merchandising, or related field (or relevant combination of education and work experience).

Master’s degree and management experience a plus.

5-7 years’ planning, forecasting and inventory management experience preferred.

Independent, self-motivated team player.

Advanced skills in Excel, including writing formulas.

Power Pivot & Power Query

Large datasets

Tables

Pivot tables

Complex functions etc.

Strong understanding of retail math, including intricacies of open to buy, inventory turnover and gross margin.

Familiarity with ERP systems as well as BI and planning software.

A natural problem solver, anticipating and resolving issues through data analysis and quick thinking.

Thrives in a fast paced and high growth environment.

Analytical and numbers oriented, must have a vision of how merchandise should be presented or grouped, understand store profiles,

Organized and able to prioritize tasks and respond to urgent requests/inquiries with minimal supervisory involvement.

Ability to work successfully in a team environment and across multiple functions and departments.

The fine print: We’re looking for positive team-oriented people who want to make an impact on a dynamic and growing organization and have a lot of fun doing it. Our brands make incredible and innovative products that enhance quality of life, and we’re looking for people who can be as passionate about this, and our brands, as we are. If this is you, we want to hear from you!