Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:

This role is critical to supporting the profitability of the full price business for EMC DTC by focusing on pre-season strategy, in-season trading, inventory management, and maximizing profit through agile, data-driven decision-making. The role will contribute to the execution of commercial strategies, leveraging smart and comprehensive views of marketplace trends and trading performance. The role emphasizes quick action to capitalize on opportunities, driving revenue and margin improvement across the EMC DTC business which includes Concept Stores & ecom.

Key Responsibilities:

Pre-Season Strategy & OTB Planning

• Own and lead the pre-season financial strategy, translating brand, category, and channel ambitions into a clear OTB framework aligned to topline, margin, and inventory targets.
• Drive the seasonal OTB plans by category, channel, and market, ensuring alignment with brand priorities, buying strategies, range architecture, and channel growth.
• Partner closely with the Buying team to derive and validate range depth, width, price ladders, and volume plans, ensuring commercial viability and market relevance.
• Present the OTB and Strategic intent to a Senior Leadership team and articulate risk/opportunity assessments to support leadership decision-making and signoff.

In-Season Trading:

• Forecast on optimal stock cover for the channel to achieve the budgeted net sales by maintaining a healthy stock mix from in-line ranges & free stock reorders.
• Manage mark-downs for channels as required within given framework and in line with market and global strategy.
• Monitor daily and weekly sales performance to identify opportunities for quick action on fast-selling products and mitigate risks on slow-moving inventory.
• Partner with Operations in reforecasting monthly sales projections, making confident, insight-driven recommendations based on market trends that protect topline, margin, and the brand strategy.

Trading & Allocation:

• Partner on deriving the pre-season assortment plan that considers the buying strategy, range architecture, width and depth balancing to meet sell through and life of line targets. 
• Lead stock flow across channels & markets monitoring gaps and excess stocks, by tracking availability and sell-throughs together.
• Lead margin planning and protection, partnering to optimize full-price performance and markdown strategies and promotional planning.
• Weekly monitoring of in-season trends and KPIs to influence quick decision making to mitigating risks and capturing opportunities with speed.

Marketplace Inventory Optimization:

• Drive inventory clearance strategies to maintain healthy stock levels across retail & e-commerce channels while balancing profitability.
• Drive disciplines around intake, exit to Factory Outlets & ecom Outlet, and clearance decisions with speed to support strong stock turns in the Full Price channels
• Give direction on planned stock movements From the DTC channel into FTS considering Carryovers and NOOS articles stock level targets to maintain.

Margin and Revenue Maximization:

• Analyze trading and marketplace data to identify opportunities for revenue and margin improvement.
• Implement pricing strategies that drive profitability while maintaining competitiveness.
• Partner with finance and merchandising teams to ensure actions align with broader commercial objectives.
• Oversee the monthly topline and margin reviews together with buying and operations to align action plans to protect topline and margin targets.

Enhancing Systems and Processes:

• Identify areas for improvement in current ways of working, systems, and tools to streamline trading and inventory management processes.
• Build scalable foundations for future growth by implementing best practices and innovative solutions.

Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Work closely with Buying, Finance, Demand planning, SCM & operations teams to ensure alignment of trading actions with broader business strategies.

Performance Tracking:

• Establish and monitor KPIs to track the effectiveness of trading and inventory actions.
• Provide actionable insights and regular updates to stakeholders to ensure alignment and transparency.
• Contribute to the development of key planning reports and be responsible for its implementation and adoption in channels.

People Management:

• Evaluate the competencies of his/her subordinates on a regular basis and provides prompt feedback, and guidance to drive high performance
• Takes ownership for Talent Management processes to grow, develop and retain talents.
• Promote a high-performance culture by setting clear expectations and individual goals.

Key Relationships:

• Buying
• Trading and Allocation
• Operations
• Brand
• Finance
• Supply Chain
• Franchise sales
• EM Hub Merchandising, Ecom & Franchise team

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• High degree of commercial and business acumen
• Strong time-management, planning and organizational skills
• Ability to multi-task in a dynamic environment and challenge the status quo
• Leadership and influencing skills
• Advanced user of MS Office suite of products
• Fluent in English
• Advanced knowledge of Retail Management Systems
• Strong analytical skills
• Structured, organised and process orientated
• Attention to detail as error in analysis will have crucial impact to business
• Ability to work effectively within a team environment and under pressure
      

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

University degree in business/Finance/Merchandising.
Merchandising Experience: 5-8 years
Management Experience: 3+ years