Senior Merchandise Planner, Fenty Beauty

Kendo Holdings, Inc. is a San Francisco-based beauty brand developer and wholesaler owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy - Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury group. A play on the words “can do”, Kendo has become the hub of creativity and next generation beauty product development for global Sephora channels and selective retailers outside of Sephora.

Through original development, collaborations and acquisitions the Kendo stable of brands will always be creative, inspiring and innovative. A dynamic engine of speed, expertise and market-savvy, the Kendo team continues to redefine the beauty industry through great product, great storytelling, great retail and direct-to-consumer partnerships. This shows up in everything we do and in what we stand for:

• “Can Do” Spirit: We work together to make our wildest dreams a reality: As entrepreneurs, we embrace optimism and find creative ways to reach our goals
• Advocacy, Diversity, and Inclusion: We recognize and celebrate the full spectrum of personal identities. We create safe spaces so everyone’s voice is heard. We listen with humility and act with courage.
• Storytelling: We tell authentic stories like no, one else. It’s our key to inspire trust and build relationships, rallying, our people, partners, and consumers around our brands.
• Resilience: We embrace challenges as opportunities. Change is ever- constant, and agility is our strength.
• Product Excellence: We put the consumers first: We constantly raise the bar to create products of the highest quality that everyone just has to have.

The salary range for this position is $90,134 - $112,658 per year based upon a San Francisco location. Offered salary is dependent upon experience and location. Kendo Total Rewards offerings also include an annual bonus and a comprehensive benefits package including: medical, dental and vision insurance, flex paid time off program, parental leave, employee discount/perks, a retirement plan with employer contributions, Summer Fridays, opportunity to work from anywhere for a month in the summer and July and December wellness/shutdown weeks for applicable positions.

The Kendo house of brands currently includes: Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin, KVD Beauty, Lip Lab, Ole Henriksen.

POSITION SUMMARY

The role of Sr Planner, Merchandise Planning, is to oversee all aspects of forecasting sales, inventory, and margin for a brand globally. This role is responsible for driving the business forward through end-to-end planning.

RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Support overall Brand strategy and execution through rigorous Pre-Season and In-Season sales forecasting, inventory management, promotion & markdown management.
• Oversee the brand forecast on a monthly basis and driving management of in-stock rates in channels, sell-through on limited buys, and identifying risks & opportunities to the sales team.
• Responsible for alignment with regional Kendo offices on monthly channel sales and inventory forecasts
• Manage channel’s financials by developing short term and long-term budgets that are consistent with brand growth plan
• Collaborate with key business partners on ways to mitigate forecast risks and maximize sales opportunities.
• Ability to negotiate effectively with internal and retail partners at all levels.
• Proficient understanding of fundamental business planning and supply chain principles and concepts.
• Execute weekly reporting to help cross-functional teams to analyze the business.
• Maintain a collaborative, innovative and results-oriented environment that aligns with other brand planning teams.
• Develop and maintain effective relationships with cross-functional teams.
• Build confidence and trust across all members of team. Clear, concise communication is key to the success of the brand.
• Manage and/or prepare various analysis and reports to help manage the business.
• Drive structure in planning processes but challenge the status quo by allowing room for new ideas/processes to be proposed. Share best practices with other team members.
• Ability to tell the story through deep analysis and gain buy-in to deliver business objectives across teams

REQUIREMENTS

• 5+ years of Inventory or Merchandise Planning experience; wholesale account management experience a plus
• Strong financial acumen: critical understanding of retail math (Comp., Margin, etc.) and how to influence metrics.
• Comfortable learning new planning systems and tools
• Experience managing multiple levels of Open-to-Buy (Top down/Bottoms up)
• Experience working in a multi-channel/country business environment (different currencies, seasonality, etc).
• Experience presenting financials
• Proficiency with MS Office, with advanced Excel skills
• Strong problem solving, negotiation, and analytical skills
• Strong organizational and time management skills; able to handle multiple priorities
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to work in fast-paced, often-changing environment.
• Ability to work independently as well as with cross functional teams.
• Flexible; team player
• Availability to attend conference calls with international markets (early mornings/later evenings) when needed.