Head of Sales and Operations

Overview

The Head of Sales & Operations at Charles & Keith is tasked with architecting and managing the company's global Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) and Integrated Business Planning processes. This role involves establishing a regular, cross-departmental operational rhythm that brings together demand planning, merchandise planning, inventory and allocation, production, and logistics, aligning these functions under a unified plan with defined responsibilities, performance indicators, and escalation procedures.

Primary Responsibilities

• Devise and lead a recurring S&OP cycle, including demand and supply reviews, reconciliation, and leadership evaluation, tailored for the seasonal nature of fashion retail.
• Lead or co-lead cross-functional meetings involving teams from merchandise planning, logistics, e-commerce, production/sourcing, finance, and country/franchise operations to harmonize around a single shared plan.
• Oversee meeting schedules, agendas, preparatory materials, and documentation of decisions for the S&OP forum.
• Map and define clear decision rights and governance across headquarters, regional and country teams, stores, allocators, and production units.
• Create escalation mechanisms for handling mismatches between demand and supply, allocation disputes, and capacity limitations.
• Serve as a neutral facilitator aligning different functions on the shared plan without managing any individual team's daily tasks.
• Develop a consolidated view of demand by market, channel, and SKU classification, balanced against supply considerations such as production capacity and inventory status.
• Collaborate with merchandise planning and production/sourcing to optimize production sequencing, batching, and logistics to enhance lead times and product availability.
• Partner with finance to monitor and manage inventory health concerning aging, classification precision, and working capital impact.
• Coordinate with IT/Digital and finance teams to ensure the adoption of appropriate planning technologies aligned with the target operating model, including input on the SAP S/4HANA migration roadmap.
• Identify high-value applications of statistical and machine learning forecasting techniques alongside emphasizing governance and process over tools when appropriate.
• Design and implement a comprehensive KPI framework to assess forecasting accuracy, out-of-stock issues by cause, inventory aging, plan adherence, and S&OP health.
• Produce consistent leadership reports presenting trusted, unified insights into planning performance.
• Lead change management initiatives to transition planners and allocators toward an integrated, data-informed planning process across different teams and franchises.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Engineering, or related areas; professional certifications such as APICS CPIM or CSCP are advantageous.
• A minimum of 10 years' experience in supply chain, demand/supply planning, or S&OP/IBP roles, including at least 3 to 5 years of direct leadership in establishing S&OP processes.
• Demonstrated ability to work across multiple departments at senior levels, especially in fashion, retail, or FMCG sectors characterized by seasonal or collection-based demand.
• Experience collaborating with IT and technology teams on planning system selections or ERP transitions.
• Proven track record in designing governance structures and decision-rights models spanning multiple functions or business units.
• Knowledge of applying statistical or machine-learning forecasting methods, balanced with an understanding of when governance and process improvements outweigh technology deployment.

Core Competencies

• Strong understanding of end-to-end supply chain processes, including demand and merchandise planning, allocation, replenishment, sourcing constraints, and logistics.
• A systems thinking approach to recognizing interdependencies within supply chain decisions and their financial and operational impacts.
• Financial literacy relating to inventory management, balancing service levels, working capital, and markdown risks, coupled with effective communication with finance teams.
• Data fluency encompassing the ability to generate, analyze, and reconcile data from various planning and ERP systems, ensuring reliability before leadership reporting.
• Judicious decision-making skills to determine when estimates suffice or precise data is necessary.
• Capability to convene diverse senior stakeholders across functions to commit to a unified planning cycle without direct reporting authority.
• Experience in structuring and managing multi-stakeholder, recurring forums including all aspects of agenda setting, preparation, documentation, and action follow-through.
• Effective change leadership that sensitively guides teams through transitions in planning decision frameworks.
• Strong entrepreneurial spirit to build and develop new processes, governance, and teams from the ground up.