Sr. Planner, Central Planning (Hybrid- Rosemont, IL)

Claire's; Des Plaines (IL); On-site; USD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Claire's seeks a Senior Planner, Central Planning to drive the total-company financial planning across sales, margin, inventory, and OTB. You will translate enterprise targets into actionable guardrails and consolidate category plans into a single enterprise view for leadership.

As a key connection between Finance, Category Planning, and the Director, you will own recurring planning processes, reporting, and analysis, and help build tools and cadence for a newly forming Central Planning function.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, finance, or related field.
• 5-7 years of experience in merchandise planning, financial planning, or FP&A.
• Strong retail math fluent (OTB, turn, sell-through, margin).
• Proficient Excel; Oracle experience a plus.
• Executive-ready communication to senior leadership.

Responsibilities

• Build the framework, cadence, and tools for a newly forming Central Planning function and governance.
• Own the Monthly Plan Review mechanics, consolidating performance into one enterprise view.
• Translate enterprise targets into department and category guardrails each season.
• Own the total company OTB roll-up and flag gaps vs enterprise targets.
• Partner with category Planners to align plans to guardrails; escalate conflicts.
• Consolidate category inputs into a single enterprise narrative for leadership.
• Lead quarterly hindsighting to inform future seasonal strategy.
• Collaborate with Finance on inventory investment and capital allocation.

Skills

Executive communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Analytical thinking

Retail math fluency

Education

Bachelor's degree in business/finance

Tools

Excel

Oracle

Job description

The Senior Planner, Central Planning plays a key role in managing Claire's total-company financial planning process across sales, margin, inventory, and OTB. This role translates enterprise financial targets into actionable planning guardrails, consolidates category plans into a total-company view, and identifies risks, opportunities, and recommended actions for leadership.

As a key connection point between Finance, Category Planning, and the Director of Central Planning, this role drives cross-category alignment and owns recurring enterprise planning processes, reporting, and analysis. The Senior Planner will also help build the tools, processes, and operating cadence of a newly forming Central Planning function.

Key Responsibilities

• Function Build-Out: Help build the framework, cadence, and tools for a newly forming Central Planning function, including the seasonal planning calendar and process governance that don't yet exist today
• Monthly Plan Review (MPR): Own the mechanics of the Monthly Plan Review, consolidating category performance and forecast updates into one enterprise view each month
• Top-Down Target Setting: Translate enterprise sales, margin, and inventory targets into department and category-level guardrails each season
• Total Company OTB: Own the total company OTB roll-up; reconcile category-level plans against enterprise targets and flag gaps
• Cross-Category Reconciliation: Partner with category Planners and Senior Planners to align their plans to guardrails; escalate conflicts and trade-offs to the Director
• Enterprise Weekly Business Review: Consolidate category-level WBR inputs into one total company narrative for leadership
• Quarterly Hindsighting: Own quarterly hindsighting analysis, evaluating plan-to-actual performance across categories to inform future seasonal strategy
• Inventory Investment Strategy: Partner with Finance on inventory investment and capital allocation decisions across categories
• Oracle Merchandising Platform: Serve as the Central Planning lead on requirements, testing, and readiness for the Oracle transition
• Leadership Partnership: Act as a thought partner to the Director, Central Planning, surfacing trends, risks, and recommendations at the enterprise level.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, finance, or a related field, or equivalent experience
• 5-7 years of experience in merchandise planning, financial planning, or FP&A, ideally with exposure to total company or enterprise-level planning
• Deep retail math fluency (OTB, turn, sell-through, margin) and comfort reconciling plans across multiple categories
• Strong Excel and planning systems skills (Oracle experience a plus)
• Executive-ready communication skills; comfortable presenting a consolidated, enterprise-level view to senior leadership
• Highly organized and process-oriented; able to own a recurring, cross-functional cadence independently
• Curious and collaborative, energized by building a new function from the ground up