Director, NA Inventory Optimization Center of Excellence

Coach is a global fashion house founded in New York in 1941. Inspired by the vision of Creative Director Stuart Vevers and the inclusive and courageous spirit of our hometown, we make beautiful things, crafted to last—for you to be yourself in.

Coach is part of the Tapestry portfolio – a global house of brands committed to stretching what’s possible.

A member of the Tapestry family, we are part of a global house of brands that has unwavering optimism and is committed to being innovative and wholly inclusive. Visit Our People page to learn more about Tapestry's commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity.

Title: Director, Inventory Optimization Center of Excellence

Primary Purpose:

The Director is responsible for optimizing inventory levels to support Coach’s overall North America sales and inventory plans,  ensuring inventory is in the right locations at the right time to meet the financial sales goals for both the Retail & Outlet Direct businesses (inclusive of stores & ecommerce). They will oversee Store Planning, Allocation & Optimization, focusing on optimizing inventory levels to meet sales plans and minimize lost sales without exceeding capacity constraints & Operations & Logistics, focusing on all operational needs related to ensure inventory is flowing as expected throughout the supply chain network and store fleet.

This position will report directly to the VP of Outlet Buying and Allocation, and is a pivotal partner to Buying, Finance, Brand Operations, Visual Merchandising, Fulfillment & Logistics, Field and Store Operations. 

This is a great opportunity for an individual with outstanding communication, analytical and people management skills, who is strategic, motivated and systems-savvy, to take a hands-on role in driving Coach’s North America business.

The successful individual will…

• Lead the Store Planning, Allocation & Optimization team (1 Senior Manager, 2 Analysts), responsible for:
• Optimizing inventory levels for the stores based on historical data & upcoming store sales plans by identifying potential risks (e.g., lost sales / out of stocks, stores over capacity, etc.) and defining solutions
• Being the expert with extensive knowledge of store, district, and regional level performance through detailed data analysis and use expertise to work with cross functional partners to support business growth
• Providing directions to category allocators where to pull back or push more based on demand, finance plans, capacity, safety stocks, etc.
• Developing and maintaining direct connection to the store field team on the inventory needs to help achieve their business goal
• Identifying unproductive inventory and recommend transfers back to FCs or store-to-store
• Managing overarching changes & communication to the allocation system (Allocate Smart) related to store level demand forecasting
• Overseeing ad hoc store analysis (e.g., A/B testing support and data as pricing, product, VM tests are run)
• Supporting pre-season planning by providing details on clustering changes and capacity needs at an overall store level
• Building strategic tiering plans to guide buying teams on assortment and stocking strategies based on customer & financial needs for each store ensuring they drive sales, gross margin & mitigate inventory risk
• Managing inventory positioning for E-commerce website
• Lead the Operations & Logistics team (1 Manager, 1 Analyst) to ensure the inventory needs are properly communicated to the Finance, Fulfillment & Logistics, Store & Ecommerce Operations Teams, including:
  • Working closely with category allocators to determine weekly shipment plans (medium and short term)
  • Partnering with Fulfillment & Logistics to plan and manage weekly/monthly shipments based on financial targets.
  • Communicating to cross functional partners & field on product availability, transfers, consolidations and re-ticketing

The accomplished individual will possess...

• Minimum 10+ years of analytical experience, focus in retail allocation or store planning desired.
• People management experience required.
• Strong leadership skills and ability to support and motivate a high performing team.
• Strong strategic thinking and outstanding analytical/quantitative skills with ability to manage large amounts of data.
• Ability to effectively multi-task, prioritize and adapt to fast-paced, dynamic business environment.
• Excellent listening, communication and presentation skills; ability to effectively interact with team members and cross functional and field partners at all levels.
• Experience working with allocation systems required, experience with Impact Analytics solutions is a plus.
• Ability to learn systems and new processes quickly; advanced knowledge of Excel

Our Competencies for All Employees

• Courage: Doesn’t hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and “actionable” positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.
• Creativity: Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
• Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
• Dealing with Ambiguity: Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn’t upset when things are up in the air; doesn’t have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.
• Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.
• Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.
• Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.

Our Competencies for All People Managers

• Strategic Agility: Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.
• Developing Direct Reports and Others: Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent development discussions; is aware of each person's career goals; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; pushes people to accept developmental moves; will take on those who need help and further development; cooperates with the developmental system in the organization; is a people builder.
• Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in their team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.

Coach is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and we pride ourselves on hiring and developing the best people. All employment decisions (including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, transfer, training, discipline and termination) are based on the applicant’s or employee’s qualifications as they relate to the requirements of the position under consideration. These decisions are made without regard to age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic characteristics, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship, disability, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other legally-recognized protected basis prohibited by applicable law. 

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)                                                                                                                                       

Tapestry, Inc. will provide applicants and employees with reasonable accommodation for disabilities or religious beliefs. If you require reasonable accommodation to complete the application process, please contact Tapestry People Services at 1-855-566-9264 or employeerelations@tapestry.com                                    

Visit Coach at www.coach.com.

Work Setup #HYBRID #LI-AC

BASE PAY RANGE $130,000.00 TO $160,000.00 Annually
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