Product Owner (Merchandise Planning)

Hunkemöller; Deerfield (IL); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days annual leave

Hybrid work model

Work from abroad up to 2 weeks/year

International work environment

Travel allowance

Hunkemöller Academy

25% employee discount

Job summary

Hunkemöller is seeking a Product Owner for Merchandise Planning, Allocation & Replenishment to drive the evolution of our planning platform. You’ll partner with Buying, Merchandising, Supply Chain, Retail Operations, and Technology to deliver measurable value across international markets.

The role focuses on owning backlogs, defining epics and user stories, and ensuring data-informed decisions that improve forecast accuracy and stock availability.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in Product Owner, Product Manager, or planning leadership roles.
• Strong understanding of retail planning, assortment, allocation, replenishment.
• Experience with Centric Planning or similar platforms.
• Proven backlog management in Agile environments.
• Analytical mindset with data-driven decision making.

Responsibilities

• Own Merchandise Planning, Assortment Planning, Allocation & Replenishment capabilities.
• Drive standardization across countries, channels and departments.
• Translate requirements into epics, features, and user stories.
• Collaborate with planning teams to improve forecasting and inventory decisions.
• Define acceptance criteria and support delivery through sprints.
• Monitor KPIs: sales, margin, stock, service levels, inventory performance.

Skills

Product ownership

Retail planning

Agile methodologies

Stakeholder management

Data analytics

Tools

Centric Planning

SAP S/4HANA

Job description

In this role, you’ll be at the heart of the business, connecting Buying, Merchandising, Supply Chain, Retail Operations, and Technology. You’ll own the roadmap of our Merchandise Planning platform (Centric Planning), ensuring it delivers tangible business value and supports critical planning and inventory management processes across our international retail business.

If you’re passionate about retail planning, product ownership, and turning complex business challenges into scalable solutions, we’d love to hear from you.

What You’ll Do

• Act as the business owner for Merchandise Planning, Assortment Planning, Assortment Strategy, and Allocation & Replenishment capabilities.
• Drive standardization and continuous improvement across countries, channels, and departments.
• Ensure processes support business objectives and future growth.
• Partner with planning teams to improve forecasting accuracy and inventory decisions.
• Support strategic and operational merchandise planning activities.
• Optimize stock allocation, replenishment, inventory productivity, and product availability.
• Define and monitor KPIs around sales, margin, stock levels, service levels, and inventory performance.
• Manage and prioritize the roadmap and backlog based on business value, customer impact, operational needs, and technical dependencies.
• Translate business requirements into epics, features, and user stories.
• Define acceptance criteria and support development teams throughout delivery.
• Collaborate closely with internal stakeholders, development teams, and external suppliers.
• Measure product success through KPIs, analytics, and user feedback.
• Drive continuous improvement through experimentation, insights, and data-driven decision-making.
• Ensure solutions create measurable value and increase adoption across the business.
• Participate in Sprint Planning, Reviews, Demos, and Retrospectives.
• Clarify requirements and make decisions during development.
• Validate completed work against business expectations and acceptance criteria.
• Safeguard the stability, availability, and performance of planning applications.
• Support incident management, root cause analysis, and continuous service improvements.
• Work closely with internal teams and external vendors to maintain platform health.
• Act as the primary point of contact for both business stakeholders and Centric Software.
• Create strong partnerships across Merchandising, Buying, Supply Chain, Retail Operations, and Technology teams.
• Align priorities and drive successful project delivery across the organization.

What You’ll Bring

• 5+ years of experience as a Product Owner, Product Manager, Merchandise Planner, Planning Manager, or a similar role.
• Strong understanding of retail merchandise planning, assortment planning, allocation, replenishment, and buying processes.
• Experience working with Merchandise Financial Planning (MFP) solutions such as Centric Planning or similar platforms.
• Proven experience managing product backlogs and working in Agile environments.
• Strong analytical mindset with the ability to translate data into actionable business decisions.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Experience within retail, fashion, omnichannel, or consumer-focused environments.
• Experience with SAP S/4HANA is a plus.
• Experience with integration between multiple applications is a plus.

Success in This Role

You’ll be successful when you deliver measurable improvements in:

• Inventory productivity
• Stock availability and service levels
• Forecasting accuracy
• Reduction of markdowns
• User adoption and engagement
• Reduction of manual planning activities
• Overall business value delivered through the planning platform

What we offer

• 25 days of annual leave , with the option to buy or sell up to 4 additional days
• Hybrid work model , combining office and remote working
• Possibility to work from abroad for up to 2 weeks per year
• An international work environment , working with teams across different countries
• Travel allowance to support commuting costs
• Access to the Hunkemöller Academy for professional development
• 25% employee discount on all Hunkemöller products

At Hunkemöller, we’re on a journey to become increasingly data-driven, customer-focused, and digitally enabled. To support this ambition, we’re looking for a Product Owner Merchandise Planning, Allocation & Replenishment who will drive the evolution of our Merchandise Planning capabilities and platform.