Merchandise Planner: AI-Driven Forecasts & Open-to-Buy

Backcountry; Cottonwood Heights (UT); On-site; USD 75,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) match

Medical/dental/vision insurance

Employee discounts

Job summary

Backcountry in Cottonwood Heights, UT is seeking a Merchandise Planner to own open-to-buy planning, demand forecasting, and inventory management across multiple product categories. You will partner with Merchandising teams to build plans, manage inventory, and deliver financial analysis that drives sales, margins, and turnover.

In six months, you will own the open-to-buy process for your divisions, build cross-functional relationships, and provide actionable recommendations that improve sales

Qualifications

• 3+ years of assortment, demand, or merchandise planning experience, including 2+ years in a retail ecommerce environment.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with exceptional aptitude for numbers and retail math.
• High proficiency with Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, vlookup, or more advanced).
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills with the ability to distill complex information for various audiences.
• Ability to build and maintain strong working relationships across cross-functional teams and influence key stakeholders.
• Demonstrated daily use of AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, or similar) for real work - you iterate on prompts, evaluate outputs critically, and know when AI is the right tool.
• Flexible and adaptive to changing priorities with the ability to organize and prioritize workload under pressure.

Responsibilities

• Develop comprehensive merchandise plans that align with company goals, sales targets, and market trends for multiple product categories.
• Manage Open-to-Buy meetings and monthly reviews with senior leadership.
• Forecast demand using historical data, market trends, and customer insights to determine sales projections, inventory needs, and replenishment strategies.
• Monitor inventory levels, analyze sell-through rates, and recommend actions to optimize on-order quantities, maximizing sales and inventory turnover while minimizing stock-outs and overstock.
• Conduct regular financial analysis of sales performance, margin trends, and product profitability to identify opportunities and risks with actionable recommendations.
• Manage the financial success of assigned division(s) by meeting sales, margin, and inventory turn goals.
• Ensure structured reporting deliverables are met with accuracy, performance efficiency, and standardized best practices.
• Analyze business data to surface actionable insights and present findings clearly to cross-functional stakeholders.

Skills

Assortment planning

Demand forecasting

Analytical skills

Excel proficiency

Cross-functional collaboration

AI tooling usage

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience

Tools

JDA

Oracle

SAP

Anaplan

Job description

Backcountry in Cottonwood Heights, UT is seeking a Merchandise Planner to own open-to-buy planning, demand forecasting, and inventory management across multiple product categories. You will partner with Merchandising teams to build plans, manage inventory, and deliver financial analysis that drives sales, margins, and turnover.

In six months, you will own the open-to-buy process for your divisions, build cross-functional relationships, and provide actionable recommendations that improve sales