Merchandise Planning Manager, Women's Polo

Company Description
Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) is a global leader in the design, marketing and distribution of premium lifestyle products in five categories: apparel, accessories, home, fragrances, and hospitality. For more than 50 years, Ralph Lauren's reputation and distinctive image have been consistently developed across an expanding number of products, brands and international markets. The Company's brand names, which include Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Collection, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Polo Ralph Lauren, Double RL, Lauren Ralph Lauren, Polo Ralph Lauren Children, Chaps, among others, constitute one of the world's most widely recognized families of consumer brands. At Ralph Lauren, we unite and inspire the communities within our company as well as those in which we serve by amplifying voices and perspectives to create a culture of belonging, ensuring inclusion, and fairness for all. We foster a culture of inclusion through: Talent, Education & Communication, Employee Groups and Celebration.

Position Overview
The Planning Manager, DTC is responsible for analyzing and forecasting one of RL brands through strategic merchandise planning, controlled inventory management, and actionable reporting and insights. This individual maintains the monthly divisional OTB and is able to speak to both pre-season and in-season plans. To excel, this person must have excellent retail math and analytical skills, established planning experience, and creative problem-solving skills.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities
Financial Planning
* Provide analytical support to the North America Stores and Ecommerce channels, including sales, gross margin, AUR analyses across a diverse range of categories
* Create and lead financial sales and OTB plans, as well as in-season re-forecasting for key metrics at both seasonal and monthly levels.
* Lead in-season business review, partnering with Buying to ensure clear recommendations to support the end-to-end product lifecycle
* Work cross-functionally with allocation team to support go-to-market strategies.
* Partner with buying to continually manage the business through in-season analysis and tactical adjustments Assortment Planning
* Create superseason receipt plans based on financial targets set in partnership with Planning Lead including assessment of IMU, discount rates and SKU productivity
* Quantify and ensure seasonal fashion assortment supports financial sales targets at classification and door group levels
* Manage key item plans to ensure optimal inventory by style/color/size for this large subset of assortment
* Review pricing and MD analysis in conjunction with Buying; support price change and decisions on promotional strategies Inventory Management
* Review receipt flows by category to ensure both channels have the right inventory to maximize sales
* Ensure that on-order and committed receipts are delivering on time to support forecast, recommending "chase" or "reflowed" receipts as appropriate
* Prepare for key promotional and seasonal periods by ensuring sufficient stock levels overall; analyze event performance to Forecast/LY and communicate results
* Review aged inventory with Inventory Control team for appropriate exit strategies

Experience, Skills & Knowledge
Experience, Skills and Knowledge
* Model the Ralph Lauren way.
* Self-starter: willingness to work independently to dig into business and present call-outs and ability to recognize and react to changing work demands
* Strong planning and organizational skills with a sense of priority for deadlines and attention to detail
* Advanced Excel skills
* Proven experience with Inventory Control, Allocation, Merchandising, Demand Forecasting, Financial Planning or Analysis
* #LI-AM6 #LI-AM4