Senior Demand Planner & Forecaster

YoungLA; Los Angeles (CA); Sur place; USD 130 000 - 170 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

YoungLA is seeking a Senior Demand & Inventory Planner to lead forecast and inventory planning for its global apparel business. You will translate sales trends, launches, restocks, and marketing plans into accurate forecasts and actionable inventory decisions.

The role requires collaboration with cross-functional teams across markets and channels. The ideal candidate has 6+ years in fashion/apparel planning, strong analytical skills, and advanced Excel/BI capabilities.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of demand planning, inventory planning, or forecasting experience in fashion/apparel.
• Bachelor’s degree preferred in related field.
• Advanced Excel or Google Sheets skills required; experience with ERP or BI systems.

Responsabilités

• Own and maintain demand forecasts across products, channels, warehouses, and global markets.
• Forecast demand at style, color, size, SKU, channel, and market levels.
• Lead replenishment planning and approve reorder quantities based on demand and inventory.
• Guide inventory allocation across US, EU, Australia, and other markets based on demand and supply.
• Develop and maintain demand-planning and inventory reporting for leadership.
• Lead weekly inventory-planning discussions and communicate risks and recommendations.

Connaissances

Demand forecasting

Inventory planning

Merchandise planning

Forecast accuracy

Advanced Excel/Google Sheets

Shopify experience

Data visualization

Analytical thinking

Organization

Formation

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Finance, Business, Analytics, Merchandising, or related field

Outils

Shopify

ERP

BI tools

Description du poste

Senior Demand & Inventory Planner - YoungLA

Reports To: Operations Leadership (CEO/Head of PD)

Department: Operations / Inventory Planning

Direct Reports: Sr Business Analyst-Procurement

Type: Full-Time

Location: Northridge, CA (On-Site)

ABOUT YOUNGLA

YoungLA is one of the fastest-growing fitness and lifestyle apparel brands in the world. What started in Los Angeles has grown into a global business serving customers across multiple markets, channels, and distribution centers. As YoungLA continues to scale, disciplined demand forecasting and inventory planning are essential to ensuring the right products are available in the right markets, without creating unnecessary inventory exposure or cost.

ABOUT THE ROLE

YoungLA is seeking a Senior Demand & Inventory Planner to lead demand forecasting and inventory planning across our global apparel business. This person will translate sales trends, product launches, restocks, marketing plans, and market-level demand into accurate forecasts and actionable inventory decisions. The ideal candidate has strong fashion or apparel planning experience and understands the complexity of forecasting at the style, color, size, SKU, channel, and market level. They combine analytical rigor with commercial judgment and can confidently challenge assumptions, identify risks early, and turn data into clear recommendations.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Demand Forecasting and Planning

• Own and maintain demand forecasts across products, channels, warehouses, and global markets.
• Build forecasts using historical sales, product lifecycle, launch plans, restocks, new product drops, marketing activity, customer demand, and current inventory position.
• Forecast demand at the style, color, size, SKU, channel, and market level as appropriate.
• Develop forecast scenarios for new launches and fashion-forward products with limited sales history.
• Establish consistent planning methodologies, reporting standards, and forecast cadences across the business.
  

Replenishment and Inventory Decisions

• Own replenishment planning and approve recommended reorder quantities based on demand, lead times, inventory position, and business priorities.
• Review launch, restock, and replenishment purchase orders to ensure quantities and timing align with forecasted demand.
• Recommend inventory investments that balance product availability, working capital, margin, and inventory risk.
• Identify potential stockouts, lost-sales risks, excess buys, and reorder opportunities early enough for the business to act.
• Provide clear purchase and replenishment recommendations to Operations, Production, and leadership.
  

Global Inventory Allocation

• Guide inventory allocation across U.S., EU, Australia, and other warehouses and markets based on demand and available supply.
• Monitor inventory performance by style, SKU, size, channel, warehouse, and market.
• Maintain visibility into incoming inventory, production timing, shipping timelines, and expected warehouse receipts.
• Identify opportunities to rebalance inventory between warehouses or markets to improve availability and reduce excess.

Inventory Health and Cost Optimization

• Identify slow-moving, overstocked, and aged inventory and recommend timely actions to reduce exposure.
• Analyze the causes of excess inventory, stockouts, and forecast misses and implement corrective actions.
• Partner with E-commerce, Retail, Finance, and Marketing on inventory-health strategies, including promotions, markdowns, transfers, liquidation, or discontinuation where appropriate.

Analysis, Reporting, and Decision Support

• Develop and maintain demand-planning and inventory reporting that gives leadership clear visibility into forecasts, inventory position, incoming supply, risks, and opportunities.
• Conduct regular and ad hoc analysis to support purchase quantities, product launches, replenishment, inventory allocation, promotions, and other business decisions.
• Build scenario models to evaluate changes in demand, launch performance, lead times, inventory investment, and market allocation.
• Translate complex data into clear insights, recommendations, and actions for Operations, E-commerce, Retail, Finance, Production, and leadership.
• Identify trends, exceptions, and emerging risks that require cross-functional attention or changes to the inventory plan.
• Improve the accuracy, consistency, and efficiency of planning reports, dashboards, and analytical tools.

Cross-Functional Planning and Leadership

• Work closely with Production and Logistics to account for manufacturing lead times, shipment timing, delays, and warehouse arrivals.
• Lead weekly inventory-planning discussions and clearly communicate risks, opportunities, recommendations, and required decisions.
• Act as the senior subject-matter expert for demand planning and provide guidance, review, and support to the existing inventory-planning function.
• Continuously improve forecasting tools, reporting, purchasing processes, and cross-functional planning discipline.

KEY MEASURES OF SUCCESS

• Improved forecast accuracy and product in-stock rates.
• Reduced overstock, markdown exposure, aged inventory, and avoidable carrying costs.
• Stronger inventory allocation across warehouses and global markets.
• More accurate and timely replenishment decisions.
• Clearer visibility into future demand, incoming inventory, and inventory risk.

QUALIFICATIONS

• 6+ years of demand planning, inventory planning, merchandise planning, or forecasting experience, preferably within fashion, apparel, activewear, footwear, or a related consumer category.
• Demonstrated experience forecasting apparel at the style, color, size, and SKU level.
• Strong understanding of product lifecycles, seasonal demand, new-product launches, replenishment, allocation, sell-through, and markdown planning.
• Experience planning inventory across multiple channels, warehouses, or international markets.
• Proven ability to improve forecast accuracy, inventory health, product availability, and working-capital efficiency.
• Advanced Excel or Google Sheets skills; experience with demand-planning, inventory-management, ERP, or business-intelligence systems required.
• Shopify experience strongly preferred.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and data-visualization skills.
• Strong organization, attention to detail, and ability to manage multiple product launches and planning cycles simultaneously.
• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Finance, Business, Analytics, Merchandising, or a related field preferred.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Full-time, in-office position based at YoungLA’s headquarters in Northridge, California.
• Ability to work cross-functionally in a fast-moving, high-growth environment.
• Flexibility to support major launches, seasonal planning periods, and other peak business moments.