Senior Specialist Supply Planning

About Nespresso

At Nespresso, our core focus is on people and specialty coffee. We empower our team to inspire, care, act, and innovate as part of our mission to reimagine coffee. As a certified B Corporation, we strive to achieve excellence through our triple bottom line approach — People, Profit, and Planet — enhancing the experience for our community, suppliers, farmers, and colleagues alike. Quality, sustainability, diversity, and inclusion are foundational to our identity and central to driving positive change. Our workplaces across factories, boutiques, and offices offer outstanding opportunities for professional growth and development.

Position Summary

The Retail Merchandise & Inventory Planner is entrusted with responsibilities including demand forecasting, inventory management, assortment planning, and generating insightful reports for boutique retail outlets. Leveraging sales data, inventory trends, promotions, product lifecycles, and consumer behavior, this role optimizes inventory levels, improves product availability, and enhances overall business results. Successful candidates will blend retail planning expertise with strong analytical and technical proficiency to advance planning through automation, scalable reporting, and AI-driven solutions.

This role is based in Nespresso’s New York City office on a hybrid schedule, requiring a minimum of two onsite days per week.

Core Duties

• Generate accurate sell-in and sell-out forecasts by analyzing historical sales, seasonality effects, promotions, product launches, boutique trends, and business insights.
• Collaborate with Sales, Marketing, Product Development, and Supply Chain teams to validate planning assumptions, align volume projections, and support promotional and launch activities.
• Continuously monitor forecast accuracy, identify regular variances, and adjust assumptions to enhance precision and minimize bias.
• Manage inventory health to ensure boutique service levels are met, minimize out-of-stock scenarios, reduce surplus and obsolete inventory, and improve inventory turnover measured via Weeks of Supply.
• Coordinate with Planning, Operations, Logistics, and third-party logistics partners for seamless product flow from production through on-shelf availability.
• Oversee boutique inventory levels, replenishment requirements, capacity constraints, and safety stock policies to avoid overstocking and support effective in-store execution.
• Utilize planning tools, AI agents, predictive analytics, and exception reporting to automate data gathering, anticipate inventory risks, and recommend corrective measures.
• Develop merchandise assortment plans based on sales patterns, customer preferences, boutique formats, and regional sales performance.
• Evaluate SKU performance and provide recommendations for assortment adjustments, product placement, discontinuations, and lifecycle management to maximize productivity and sell-through rates.
• Support new boutique launches, store renovations, seasonal programs, limited edition product introductions, and discontinuation processes.
• Lead collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR) activities with internal departments and external partners.
• Serve as the primary point of contact concerning boutique-related forecasting, replenishment, assortment, and inventory matters.
• Enhance automation and digital capabilities by developing, improving, and automating routine planning tasks such as forecast compilation, inventory exception reporting, promotional summaries, assortment analysis, and leadership dashboards.
• Employ SQL for data extraction and Python for automation, advanced analytics, and process enhancements.
• Apply AI technologies and AI-powered agents to summarize large datasets, flag potential risks, compare forecasting scenarios, validate projections, and accelerate insight generation.
• Work cross-functionally to improve data quality, standardize reporting methodologies, document tool requirements, and facilitate adoption of scalable planning systems.
• Maintain rigorous planning governance by documenting standards, assumptions, decisions, risks, and follow-up actions.
• Design dashboards, one-off reports, and performance reviews that convert complex data into practical business recommendations.
• Identify opportunities for continuous process improvement to reduce manual effort, improve accuracy, speed up insights, and ensure adherence to planning procedures.
• Support cost governance efforts, identifying efficiency opportunities that do not compromise service quality or customer experience in boutiques.
• Lead improvements leveraging AI and next-generation enterprise tools to automate workflows, close performance gaps, and improve forecast quality.

Candidate Profile & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain Management, Merchandising, Analytics, Finance, Economics, Mathematics, or a related discipline is required.
• A Master’s degree or MBA, particularly with focus areas like Merchandise Planning, Retail Analytics, or Supply Chain Strategy, is preferred.
• Between 3 and 5 years of relevant experience in merchandise planning, inventory or demand planning, retail planning, or supply chain functions is expected.
• Professional certifications such as APICS CPIM or CSCP are highly desirable.
• Demonstrated expertise in inventory management, demand forecasting, assortment planning, and replenishment approaches.
• Proficient experience using planning software platforms (SAP APO, JDA, or comparable) and business intelligence tools such as Power BI and Cognos.
• Strong analytical aptitude and problem-solving skills, including advanced Excel modeling.
• Competency in SQL and Python for data manipulation, reporting, automation, and advanced analytics; familiarity with AI and AI-enabled tools is a significant advantage.
• Excellent presentation, communication, organizational, and stakeholder management capabilities.
• Deep understanding of retail KPIs such as sell-through rates, stock coverage, profit margin, and markdown strategies.
• Willingness to travel up to 10% as business requirements dictate.

Compensation & Benefits

The annual base salary for this role ranges from $115,000 to $125,000, depending on factors like expertise, skills, and location. This estimate is a good faith range and final compensation may vary.

Nespresso offers a competitive total rewards package that includes performance-based incentives, a 401(k) plan with company matching, healthcare benefits, and other comprehensive perks. Specific incentive and benefit offerings may differ with position.

Inclusion & Equal Opportunity

Nespresso is dedicated to fostering an inclusive workplace welcoming to veterans, individuals with disabilities, and all candidates irrespective of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristics. Reasonable accommodations are available for candidates upon request to ensure equal participation in the hiring process.

Work Location and Other Information

This position is based in New York City and follows a hybrid work model with at least two days per week onsite. Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.