Wholesale Planning Manager

Nécessaire; New York (NY); On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Nécessaire is seeking a Wholesale Planning Manager to partner closely with retail accounts and drive commercial growth. This high-visibility role requires expertise in planning and forecasting, particularly with prestige wholesale accounts like Sephora and Nordstrom.

The ideal candidate will have 5+ years of experience, advanced Excel skills, and a proactive mindset. You'll manage forecasts, present findings to leadership, and create planning tools to ensure inventory aligns with demand.

Salary range is $100,000–$130,000, reflecting the importance of accurate forecasting and sustainable account management.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of wholesale account planning experience.
• Prior experience with Sephora, Nordstrom, Blue Mercury, Space NK, and Mecca.
• Strong communicator comfortable presenting to senior leadership.

Responsibilities

• Own item- and account-level sales and inventory forecasts.
• Analyze weekly and monthly product- and account-level performance.
• Create planning workbooks and reporting cadences.

Skills

Wholesale account planning

Advanced Excel skills

Communication skills

AI-enabled planning tools

Familiarity with ERP systems

Job description

We’re looking for a Wholesale Planning Manager who is energized by the opportunity to partner closely with our retail accounts and drive commercial growth across our most important wholesale relationships. This is a high-visibility role for someone who understands how great planning enables great partnerships — and who brings the analytical rigor to back it up.

The ideal candidate has deep experience with prestige wholesale accounts — Sephora, Nordstrom, Blue Mercury, Space NK, and Mecca and knows how to translate sell-through data, account feedback, and launch timing into a forecast that actually holds. They’re comfortable in the details and equally comfortable presenting risks and opportunities to senior leadership.

This role partners closely with the Wholesale commercial team, Operations, Supply Chain, and Finance to ensure inventory decisions are grounded in demand reality and accounts are set up to sell through.

This role is based in New York City and reports into the VP of Planning with dotted line into the GM of Wholesale.

What you’ll do

Forecasting & demand planning

• Own item- and account-level sales and inventory forecasts across Sephora USA/Canada, Nordstrom, Bluemercury, Space NK, Mecca, and other international and specialty wholesale accounts
• Build and maintain SKU-level sell-through and demand plans by account, incorporating weekly sell-through trends, new launch projections, promotional calendars, door count changes, and retailer WOS
• Analyze weekly and monthly product- and account-level performance; surface risks, overachievers, and underperformers proactively

Account & cross-functional partnership

• Present findings, risks, and opportunities in weekly team meetings with the VP of Planning and Wholesale commercial team
• Lead wholesale representation in monthly SIOP prep and review, owning forecast alignment between Planning and Commercial and serving as the primary voice on wholesale inventory risk, OTB, and COGS planning with Finance
• Align seasonal assortment and buy forecasts with the commercial team, ensuring new product development and replenishment SKUs are planned with the right depth, timing, and account-level context
• Partner with Operations and Supply Chain on buy-date and lead-time planning to ensure POs are placed on time and accounts are in stock

Planning infrastructure & process

• Create planning workbooks, tools, and reporting cadences; support ERP and systems integration as the planning function evolves
• Maintain plan version tracking across accounts and SKUs; ensure actuals, latest estimates, and OP comparisons are current and accessibleContribute to process documentation and planning best practices as the team scales
• Identify opportunities to leverage AI and emerging tools to improve forecast accuracy, automate manual workflows, and drive smarter inventory decision-making

What we’re looking for

• 5+ years of wholesale account planning experience, with a track record of managing item- and account-level forecasts across prestige or specialty retail
• Prior experience working directly with Sephora, Nordstrom, Blue Mercury, Space NK, and Mecca required.
• Advanced Excel skills required — comfortable with complex multi-tab workbooks, pivot tables, and formula-driven planning models
• Familiarity with ERP systems (NetSuite a plus), retailer EDI integrations, and retailer ordering and operational requirements preferred
• Experience with or genuine eagerness to adopt AI-enabled planning tools; comfort testing and integrating new technology into day-to-day planning workflows
• Strong communicator; equally comfortable in the details of a forecast and presenting recommendations to senior leadership
• Proactive and solutions-oriented; you flag problems early and come with a point of view on how to fix them
• Excited by the complexity of multi-account wholesale planning and motivated to make it more accurate, more efficient, and more actionable over time

Salary Range $100,000–$130,000

What success looks like

Wholesale forecasts are accurate, current, and trusted by the commercial team. Accounts are in stock on key SKUs. Risks and opportunities surface early, not after the fact. The planning process is less reactive and more proactive — and leadership has clear visibility into what’s driving performance across every account.