Director of Inventory Planning & Allocation - Commercial

Position Overview

SBH Fashion is looking for an experienced Director of Inventory Planning & Allocation to oversee inventory strategies across our commercial business, which includes wholesale customers and company-run retail outlets. This leadership role involves managing demand forecasting, inventory planning, distribution, and replenishment across both wholesale and retail channels, coordinating closely with e-commerce planning to ensure inventory balance across all segments.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead inventory forecasting and planning for wholesale and retail divisions.
• Formulate annual and seasonal inventory strategies to meet sales, margin, and growth targets.
• Convert commercial forecasts into inventory needs segmented by channel, account, outlet, region, category, and SKU.
• Oversee open-to-buy budgets and recommend inventory investments based on demand trends, lead times, product performance, and financial goals.
• Track and analyze sales metrics, sell-through rates, supply weeks, turnover, stock-to-sales ratios, and backorders.
• Recognize inventory risks and opportunities to optimize revenue and minimize excess or obsolete stock.
• Conduct in-season reforecasting and scenario planning adapting to demand fluctuations.
• Design and manage allocation and replenishment policies for retail stores and wholesale clients, ensuring proper product availability.
• Set allocation rules, safety stock benchmarks, reorder points, and replenishment standards.
• Handle initial product allocations, ongoing replenishment, inventory transfers, and end-of-season consolidations.
• Develop tailored strategies for different product lifecycles including core, seasonal, limited edition, and discontinued items.
• Consider logistical challenges related to home goods such as long lead times and storage demands.
• Collaborate with Sales and Retail teams to address stock imbalances and fulfillment risks based on customer needs.
• Act as principal inventory partner for wholesale and retail leadership and collaborate with e-commerce counterparts to unify forecasting and inventory approaches.
• Establish processes for shared inventory, channel prioritization, and inventory rebalancing supporting company-wide sales and service goals.
• Work cross-functionally with Merchandising, Sales, Retail, Finance, Supply Chain, Sourcing, Operations, and Logistics for seasonal and strategic planning.
• Integrate production timelines, vendor capacity, freight logistics, warehouse limitations, and lead times into inventory decisions.
• Support assortment planning, new product introductions, store openings, and wholesale account growth.
• Deliver comprehensive reporting, insights, and executive recommendations.
• Enhance forecasting models, planning tools, reporting, and inventory management processes.
• Build and lead a high-performing inventory planning and allocation team.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in inventory planning, allocation, merchandise planning, or demand planning roles.
• Background in home goods, furniture, lifestyle, retail, or multi-category consumer businesses is highly desirable.
• Proven ability to manage inventory across wholesale and retail channels.
• Expertise in demand forecasting, open-to-buy planning, allocation, replenishment, and in-season inventory control.
• Competence in handling products with long or variable lead times and complex supply chain dynamics.
• Strong analytical skills with financial acumen to guide commercial decisions based on data.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel and experience with ERP, merchandise-planning, allocation software, and business intelligence tools.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and leadership capabilities driving cross-functional collaboration.
• Ability to balance high-level strategy with attention to detail in a dynamic environment.

Salary

Annual compensation ranges from $170,000 to $190,000.