About Careertakes

👉 Important disclosure: Careertakes is a third-party recruiting platform supporting this hiring process. If selected, you will be employed directly by our client, Licensed Consumer Products (Sports & Entertainment Merchandise).

Applicants for this role may also receive access to additional matched opportunities through the Careertakes platform.

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What You’ll Do

Confidential Client is seeking an Entry Level Merchandise Planner to support pre-season and in-season planning across assigned licensed consumer products categories. You will help drive sales, margin, and inventory performance through forecasting, open-to-buy management, reporting, and business analysis, working closely with Buying, Planning, and cross-functional partners.

• Build and maintain class-level and category-level sales, inventory, and margin plans
• Support development of seasonal financial plans using historical performance, current trends, and business drivers
• Update in-season forecasts based on performance, receipts, demand shifts, and changing business needs
• Align product and inventory plans to support launches, replenishment, and key selling periods
• Manage weekly Open-to-Buy (OTB) for assigned areas
• Monitor inventory flow, weeks of supply, and sell-through performance
• Identify chase opportunities, inventory risks, and excess positions
• Partner with Buying to recommend actions that improve inventory productivity and protect margin
• Monitor business performance against sales, inventory, and margin targets; prepare weekly/monthly recaps and recommendations
• Use data to support decisions around receipts, reorders, pricing, markdowns, and assortment changes
• Present risks and opportunities to management in a concise, commercially relevant way
• Contribute to planning process improvements, tool enhancements, and reporting accuracy

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What You’ll Bring

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Merchandising, Supply Chain, or related field
• 2+ years of experience in merchandise planning, inventory planning, allocation, buying support, or a related analytical retail/eCommerce function
• Strong Excel skills (large data sets, formulas, pivots, reporting)
• Strong analytical, quantitative, and retail math skills
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Clear written and verbal communication skills

Preferred

• Experience managing or supporting OTB
• Experience in retail, eCommerce, apparel, collectibles, or licensed consumer products
• Familiarity with planning systems
• Experience with Financial ERP such as Microsoft Dynamics GP and/or Business Central (BC)
• Experience supporting seasonal and in-season forecasting
• Strong understanding of sell-through, weeks of supply, margin, and inventory productivity metrics

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Key Competencies

• Forecasting and merchandise planning
• Open-to-buy (OTB) management
• Inventory analysis and sell-through optimization
• Retail math and margin analysis
• Cross-functional collaboration and commercial judgment
• Problem-solving, adaptability, and prioritization

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Compensation (Estimated)

• Estimated salary: $83,899 per year (estimated)

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Why Confidential Client?

• Work on products tied to major sports leagues and entertainment brands
• Join a fast-growing business at the intersection of fandom, product, and commerce
• Gain exposure across buying, planning, merchandising, and inventory strategy
• Be part of a collaborative, entrepreneurial environment where ideas move quickly

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Equal Opportunity & Hiring Transparency

Careertakes and our client are Equal Opportunity Employers committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We prohibit discrimination or harassment of any kind. To support a fair and efficient hiring process, AI tools may be used to assist with application review or resume screening. These tools do not replace human decision-making. Final hiring decisions are made by people.

If you have questions about how your data is used, please contact us directly.