Senior Planning Manager

• Health, dental and vision insurance
• Generous paid time off (vacation, flex or sick)
• *401(k) retirement plan 
• *Company paid life insurance
• *Tuition reimbursement
• Employee discounts across all company brands
• Employee assistance program
• Training and exciting career growth opportunities
• Referral program – refer a friend and earn a bonus

Purpose: The Senior Planning Manager is responsible for leading demand, inventory, and financial planning across multiple merchandise categories to optimize sales, margin, and working capital performance. This role establishes forecasting and Open-to-Buy strategies, provides governance over planning processes, and serves as a key partner to Category Management, Supply Chain, Finance, and Operations.

Essential Functions:

• Leads planning strategy across assigned categories, establishing sales, margin, inventory investment, and working capital targets aligned with enterprise objectives
• Owns category-level financial and demand forecasts, ensuring alignment with commercial strategies, financial plans, and operational capabilities
• Serves as the primary planning partner to Category Management, Supply Chain, Finance, and Operations, providing strategic guidance, identifying risks and opportunities, and influencing key business decisions
• Directs forecasting processes and governance, leveraging historical trends, promotional activity, seasonality, and growth initiatives to drive forecast accuracy and consistency
• Governs Open-to-Buy (OTB) plans and inventory investment strategies in partnership with Finance, balancing sales growth, profitability, and working capital objectives
• Provides direction on inventory management, including assortment optimization, markdown strategies, exit plans, and inventory productivity initiatives
• Provides guidance on markdown and exit strategies in partnership with Category Management and Supply Chain to mitigate inventory risk, prevent obsolescence, and maximize return on inventory investment
• Leverages analytics to evaluate category performance, identify trends and opportunities; delivers actionable recommendations that improve sales, margin, and inventory outcomes
• Partners with suppliers and internal stakeholders to align demand expectations, support growth initiatives, and drive category performance through data-driven decision making
• Delivers executive-level reporting, financial analysis, scenario planning, and business insights to support strategic planning and operational performance reviews
• Leads, coaches, and develops Planning talent while driving continuous improvement in planning processes, systems, tools, and governance practices

Reporting Relationship: The Senior Planning Manager reports to the Director of Planning

Major Interdependencies: Operations, Supply Chain, Business Development

Minimum Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills, and Work Environment:

• Education and Experience: The combination of education and professional experience must exceed 6 years:
• In a leadership role: Requires 2+years of experience supervising a team of planning professionals
• In a technical role: Requires 6-8 years of retail experience engaged in developing and delivering planning programs
• A bachelor’s degree in a program related to the functional area can count for 3 of the 6-year requirement
• In the industry: 3-5 years of Retail experience 

• Specialized Skillset/Competencies/Traits:

• Strong financial and business acumen with the ability to influence sales, margin, inventory, and profitability outcomes
• Advanced knowledge of merchandise planning, Open-to-Buy (OTB), demand forecasting, inventory optimization, and working capital management
• Advanced knowledge of forecasting & replenishment systems, inventory planning methodologies, and replenishment parameters
• Exceptional analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills with the ability to translate complex data into actionable business insights
• Business acumen and also has the mindset required to understand the long-term implications of planning and to advance the organization’s goals
• Demonstrated history of understanding the needs of the business, stakeholders, the employee population and individual circumstances
• Demonstrated history of creating and maintaining positive work environments through coaching, developing, and leading teams to achieve common goals

• Location: This role is based at the North America Support Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey

Avolta, including Dufry, HMSHost Corporation, Hudson, and affiliates (“the Company”), is an equal opportunity employer. It is the Company’s policy to ensure equal employment opportunity in all aspects of employment and to comply with anti-discrimination laws and regulations. The Company prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type and provides equal opportunities to applicants and team members without regard to actual or perceived race, color, creed, age, religion, sex or gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions and lactation), gender identity or gender expression (including transgender status), sexual orientation, national origin, disability, military service and veteran status, ancestry, citizenship status, marital status, protected medical condition as defined by applicable state or local law, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state or local laws and ordinances (referred to as “protected characteristics”).