Merchandise Planner

Merchandise Planner — Established Multi-Brand eCommerce Retailer (Confidential) Category: Sales & Marketing - Retail & Merchandising / eCommerce Management Project Type: Ongoing, part-time to start (with scope to grow into a core recurring role) Location: Remote (Australian business hours overlap preferred) Company name withheld at this stage — full company details, systems access, and stakeholder introductions are shared with shortlisted candidates once we move to interview. ABOUT US We're an established Australian eCommerce retailer in the activewear/fitness equipment space, selling a mix of owned apparel and gear brands alongside major third-party sporting goods brands. We run on a modern eCommerce and inventory stack (storefront platform, dedicated inventory/ERP system, project management tool, email/SMS marketing platform, accounting platform), with a custom analytics warehouse that powers our internal "Profit Intelligence System" — a deterministic, SQL-first source of truth for sales, margin, and inventory data. We've already built the foundations of a merchandise planning system — a multi-file planning architecture (a bridge model, a footwear planning engine, and an owned-brand engine covering Mens/Womens/Gear) built in Excel and connected to our internal data warehouse. It works, but it's been built iteratively by us with AI assistance, and it now needs an owner: someone who can take what exists, tighten it up, automate it, and run it as a living planning function rather than a one-off spreadsheet exercise. THE ROLE We're looking for an experienced Merchandise Planner to take end-to-end ownership of merchandise planning across our owned and third-party brand portfolio. This isn't a "build once and hand over" project — we want someone to genuinely own and manage the function going forward: keep the plan current, keep it honest against actuals, and keep leadership able to trust the numbers in it. You'll inherit an existing planning architecture and data layer. Your job is to take that, professionalise it, and run with it. CORE RESPONSIBILITIES 1. Own the merchandise plan end-to-end Link the plan directly to our top-line financial goals and category-level breakdowns (Footwear, Gear, Mens, Womens) so every number in the plan ties back to a business target. Keep the plan updated and updatable — not a static file that goes stale after one use, but a living tool the business can refresh on a regular cadence (weekly/monthly) as actuals come in. 2. Build on and automate what we already have We have existing AI-assisted workbooks (a bridge model, a footwear engine, an owned-brand engine) connected to our internal analytics warehouse. Take this as your starting point — audit it, stress-test it, and improve it rather than starting from scratch. Reduce manual re-entry and rebuild work wherever possible — automate data refreshes, formula logic, and reporting outputs so the plan updates faster and with fewer errors. Bring the footwear and owned-brand (Mens/Womens/Gear) plans into one coherent, working system rather than parallel spreadsheets. 3. Demand planning Build demand forecasts grounded in historical sell-through and inventory data (via our internal warehouse / Shopify exports), with sensible, justified uplift assumptions applied across the year (seasonality, campaign calendar, peak trading periods, etc.) — not flat growth assumptions. Reconcile the demand plan against our live purchase order book so we can see, at any point, whether what's on order actually covers what we expect to sell. 4. Category, brand, and product mix recommendations Use the data to make concrete recommendations on category, brand, and product mix — where we're over- or under-invested, which franchises/styles should be grown, held, or exited, and where the assortment doesn't match demand. 5. Stress-test the plan Pressure-test the current planning assumptions and outputs — sense-check the logic, surface where it's fragile or wrong, and recommend fixes. We'd rather find the holes now than after a bad buying decision. 6. Build a cash gate tied to supplier terms Design and maintain a "cash gate" check that sits in front of PO placement — ensuring purchase orders are sized and timed so that sell-through clears stock within each supplier's payment terms, minimising the working capital we need to carry. This should factor in real supplier terms (not assumptions) and flag POs that would require excess capital investment before they're placed. Manage stock turns Monitor and report on stock turn/inventory velocity by category and brand, and feed this back into future buying and markdown decisions. Make it presentable Package outputs (plan, forecasts, recommendations, cash gate status, stock turn reporting) in a clean, easy-to-read format suitable for leadership review — not just a raw spreadsheet dump. WHAT YOU'LL BE WORKING WITH - Existing assets: a multi-file merchandise planning architecture (bridge + footwear + owned-brand engines) already built and connected to live data - Data layer: cloud-hosted (Postgres-based) analytics warehouse with deterministic SQL views — no black-box numbers - Core stack: a major eCommerce storefront platform (sales), a dedicated inventory/ERP system (inventory & POs), a project management tool (product/PO pipeline), an email/SMS platform (marketing), and cloud accounting software (finance) — full names and access shared with shortlisted candidates - Working format: Excel/Google Sheets-based models today, open to migrating parts of this into more automated tooling if you can make the case for it WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR - Solid experience in merchandise planning / demand planning / OTB (open-to-buy), ideally in apparel, footwear, or a multi-brand eCommerce/retail environment - Strong Excel/Google Sheets modelling skills (formulas, structured workbooks, ideally some exposure to Python/openpyxl or similar for automation) - Comfortable working directly with SQL-backed data (Postgres or similar) or willing and able to get there quickly - Experience building or working with purchase order / supply chain data — you understand lead times, supplier terms, and how buying decisions affect cash flow - A track record of taking messy or partially-built systems and turning them into something reliable and repeatable — not just building models, but owning and maintaining them - Strong communicator — able to translate planning outputs into clear, leadership-ready recommendations - Comfortable working async with an Australian-based team; some overlap with Australian business hours preferred Nice to have: - Experience with common inventory/ERP, storefront, project management (Shopify, Asana, Slack, Dear/Cin7 etc) - Background in activewear, fitness/sporting goods, apparel, or footwear categories specifically - Experience designing cash-flow-aware buying processes (gate checks, capital-constrained OTB) HOW TO APPLY Please include: A short summary of a merchandise/demand planning system you've built or owned, and what tools it used An example of how you've tied a buying plan to cash flow or supplier terms (if you have one) Your availability and preferred engagement structure (hourly vs. retainer) We're looking to move quickly with the right person — this is a genuine ongoing role, not a one-off project.