Job Title: Director of Corporate Planning
The Director, Global Planning will play a critical leadership role in aligning commercial strategy with operational execution—ensuring accurate forecasting, optimized inventory investment, and efficient production, logistics, warehousing, and outbound shipping alignment. This individual will partner closely with the Executive Team, channel leaders, Sales Divisions, Sourcing, Operations, and Finance to deliver actionable insights that directly inform consolidated company forecasting and performance reporting.
This is a high-impact leadership role for a hands-on operator who thrives in a fast-paced, growth-oriented footwear organization.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Planning & Forecasting
- Lead global demand planning and forecasting processes across wholesale, digital, and licensed businesses.
- Develop annual operating plans (AOP), quarterly forecasts, and long-range planning models aligned with corporate growth objectives.
- Create scalable forecasting tools and reporting frameworks to support multi-channel expansion.
- Identify risks and opportunities within seasonal forecasts and proactively recommend mitigation strategies.
Full-Year Sales Budget & Forecast Development - Partner closely with Sales leadership to develop initial fiscal year budget reporting, and continuously update full-year financial forecasts across all wholesale and factory-direct businesses while providing reporting and commentary on all relevant variances vs budget and prior year.
- Bridge the gap between:
- Invoiced and shipped orders
- Confirmed future orders currently booked in the system
- Projected pipeline orders not yet entered into the system
- Translate sales pipeline visibility into actionable demand forecasts that inform production planning and operational capacity.
- Conduct regular forecast reconciliation reviews to align field projections with system data and shipment timing.
- Provide structured forecast roll-forwards that clearly explain variances versus plan, prior forecast, and guaranteed minimum sales targets for licensed brands.
- Ensure forecasting assumptions are documented, aligned cross-functionally, and incorporated into consolidated company projections.
Executive Reporting & Financial Alignment
- Own and deliver comprehensive weekly wholesale sales reporting to the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), including invoiced orders, open order book sales type, pick status, shipment pacing, and variance-to-plan analysis.
- Provide detailed first-cost (factory-direct) sales reporting, incorporating production volume tracking, and factory-level output reporting.
- Translate wholesale and first-cost performance into consolidated revenue forecasting inputs used by Finance to inform overall company financial reporting.
- Partner closely with Finance to ensure demand forecasts align with revenue timing, shipment schedules, and consolidated forecasting assumptions.
- Prepare executive-ready dashboards and reporting packages to support SLT reviews and strategic planning discussions.
- Lead scenario modeling to assess the operational impact of changes in sales performance, production timing, or inventory levels.
Inventory & Supply Chain Alignment
- Partner with global sourcing teams to align production planning with demand forecasts.
- Collaborate with logistics, warehousing, and outbound shipping teams to ensure efficient product flow, warehouse space requirements, and service levels.
- Provide inbound container flow (TEU projections) by port and lane to help inform annual ocean freight contact strategies and ongoing allocation requirements.
- Monitor supply/demand imbalances and implement corrective actions to mitigate overstock or stockout risks
Analytics & Systems Leadership
- Establish and maintain KPI dashboards across sales, inventory, fulfillment, and operational performance.
- Drive automation and continuous improvement in reporting processes and data accuracy.
- Leverage ERP and business intelligence tools to improve data visibility and decision-making speed across the organization.
Cross-Functional Leadership
- Partner closely with Executive Leadership, Wholesale and Digital channel leads, Sales, Finance, and Operations to align planning assumptions and performance targets.
- Facilitate and lead the monthly S&OP (Sales & Operations Planning) process.
- Serve as the central planning liaison between commercial and operational teams.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business, Supply Chain, Economics, or related field (MBA preferred).
- 10+ years of progressive experience in planning, forecasting, supply chain, financial analysis, or analytics within footwear, apparel, or consumer goods.
- Strong understanding of U.S. wholesale, digital/e-commerce, and global sourcing operations.
- Demonstrated experience developing full-year forecasts that incorporate invoiced, booked, and pipeline business.
- Advanced Excel proficiency and strong financial modeling capabilities.
- Experience working with ERP systems; prior experience with BlueCherry ERP is a significant plus.
- Experience building and managing dynamic reporting dashboards using tools such as Power BI or similar business intelligence platforms is highly preferred.
- Strong operational acumen with the ability to connect sales performance to production and supply chain execution.
- Proven ability to influence senior leadership and drive cross-functional alignment.
- Highly analytical, detail-oriented, and solutions-driven with excellent communication and presentation skills.
Salary $150,000-$160,000
