Location: Markham, Ontario
Job Description:
Job Summary
This role is central to shaping how merchandise planning informs product, inventory, and financial decisions in a fast-paced retail environment, focused on optimizing sales, margins, inventory health, and shipments, while collaborating deeply with Merchandising, Proprietary Brands, Pricing, Promotions, FP&A and Supply Chain teams.
Key Responsibilities:
Develop and manage Merchandise Financial Plans:
- Develop merchandise financial plans which optimize product category sales, financial, margin, and inventory goals, including tactical margin, shipments and sales building blocks to reach annual financial targets.
- Accountable for delivering against key business metrics such as sales, gross margin, sell-through, inventory turn, and weeks of supply.
- Responsible for optimizing inventory investment and driving ROI across product categories and channels.
- In-season management of the financial plan, collaborating closely with merchants and FP&A team
- Work closely with merchandising teams to develop and track sales, margin and shipment building blocks/tactics, identify gaps and collaborate with merchants to close financial gaps.
- Develop and deliver performance analysis across the business that measures achievement of sales, margin, and inventory plans on weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis.
- Analyze key performance indicators (KPIs) like sales, margin, and inventory at sub-category/category levels to identify areas for improvement and drive financial performance.
- Influence key stakeholders by delivering insights and recommendations that support strategic product and investment decisions.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with Proprietary Brands, Merchandising, Pricing, Promotions and Supply Chain to ensure cohesive business strategies and product execution.
- Support the buy review process for new products with forecasting and analysis including halo and cannibalization estimates, required for inventory investment and store distribution decisions.
- Support the forecasting for carryover and new product launches and new store openings.
Qualifications
- A bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (Business, Merchandising, Finance, etc.).
- 2+ years of experience in retail planning, buying, or retail business analytics — ideally in a high-growth or multi-channel environment.
- A strong understanding of retail financial metrics and inventory management principles.
- Experience partnering with Merchandising or Buying teams and bringing structure to decision-making in environments that are less process-driven.
- Strategic thinking and the ability to distill complex data into clear, actionable insights.
- Comfort navigating ambiguity and change — with a proactive, solutions-oriented mindset.
Skills:
- Strong understanding of financial planning principles and processes, including forecasting, budgeting, and variance analysis.
- Proven experience in merchandise planning, inventory management, and retail operations.
- Ability to analyze data, identify trends, and develop actionable insights.
- Excellent communication skills, especially in influencing cross-functional stakeholders and presenting to leadership.
- Advanced proficiency in Excel and business intelligence tools
- Cross-functional Collaboration
Working Conditions:
Full-time role with limited travel to the Head Office and Mock Store at the Bolton DC