Senior Global Merchandise Planner

Description & Requirements
a note for internal applicants
Please practice personal responsibility! Ensure your manager is aware of your application to this role, prior to applying. Please also ensure that you meet the time in role requirements of either 6 or 12 months before transitioning to a new role. Time in Role guidelines can be found on the Global Talent Acquisition page on youlu under Additional Resources.
Senior Merchandise Planner
Who We Are
Lululemon is a yoga-inspired technical apparel company up to big things. The practice and philosophy of yoga informs our overall purpose to elevate the world through the power of practice. We are proud to be a growing global company with locations all around the world, from Vancouver to Shanghai, and places in between. We owe our success to our innovative product, our emphasis on our stores, our commitment to our people, and the incredible connections we get to make in every community we are in.
About This Team
As a part of the Planning team, your purpose is to maximize guest demand by realizing the full potential of our inventory. Reporting directly to the Director of merchandise planning, you are responsible for category sales targets, markdowns, gross margin, turn and open to buy management, for both pre-season plans and in-season management. As a Senior Planner, your expertise is called on to mentor and guide the surrounding planning team through strategic work flow plans to execute deliverables. You are an essential part of the cross functional team collaborating with merchandising, allocations and sourcing. You have razor sharp attention to detail but also able to think big picture.
A Day In The Life

• Drive financial results that maximize sales, inventory and bottom line profitability
• Support the financial success of the brand by meeting sales, comp, gross margin, maintained margin and inventory turn goals
• Prepare and participate in Merchandise Review meetings
• Reconcile tops down category financial plans to bottoms up style-colour level plans
• Exhibit initiative to look beyond the everyday business to look for opportunities to maximize sales potential
• Develop, communicate and execute financial plans and strategies that support the merchandising, marketing and financial objectives of the brand
• Provide support to Merchandising to actively manage product assortment throughout the season (inventory, MDs, etc.)
• Analyze historical data and current trends to identify risks and opportunities to business and recommend strategies to achieve financial goals; conduct hindsight analysis to incorporate learnings into current and future plans
• Recommend seasonal merchandise flow strategies that maximize sales, profitability and customer expectations
• Develop sales projections and inventory flow for key items
• Develop assortment plans to the style-colour level by channel

Qualifications

• Proven ability to work in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Omni channel experience highly desirable.
• Previous experience with merchandise planning / inventory management systems.
• 5+ years of merchandise planning experience in the apparel industry [vertical retailer experience preferred], including 2+ years experience leading others.
• Proven track-record of driving results; demonstration of strong financial & business acumen for inventory management.
• Expert skills in Microsoft Excel.
• Strong ability to see the merchandise vision and translate the vision into viable plans.

Must Haves

• Integrates fun and joy as a way of being and working, aka doesn’t take themselves too seriously.
• Extremely organized, thorough and able to prioritize
• Excellent team player as well as the ability to work independently.
• Communicates with honesty and kindness, and creates the space for others to do the same.
• Effective communication skills (written & verbal)
• Possesses an entrepreneurial spirit and continuously innovates to achieve great results.

NOTE: Only those applicants under consideration will be contacted. Please accept our utmost appreciation for your interest. lululemon is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. Employment decisions are based on merit and business needs, and not on race, color, creed, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, military service, pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions or any other classification protected by federal, state or provincial and local laws and ordinances. Reasonable accommodation is available for qualified individuals with disabilities, upon request. This Equal Employment Opportunity policy applies to all practices relating to recruitment and hiring, compensation, benefits, discipline, transfer, termination and all other terms and conditions of employment. While management is primarily responsible for seeing that lululemon equal employment opportunity policies are implemented, you share in the responsibility for assuring that, by your personal actions, the policies are effective.