Retail Merchandise Planner

Role: Retail Merchandise Planner

Team: North America Retail Merchandising

Scope: Individual Contributor, P3

Years of Experience: 3–5+ Years

Location: Ventura, CA (Hybrid)

The Retail Merchandise Planner is responsible for developing, executing, and maintaining seasonal and long-range retail sales, inventory, and margin plans for Patagonia's North America retail business. This role partners closely with the Sr. Manager of Retail Merchandise Planning to translate merchandising strategies into actionable financial and inventory plans that support sales growth, inventory productivity, and exceptional customer experience.

You will play a key role in forecasting demand, managing inventory investments, identifying risks and opportunities, and providing analytical insights that drive business decisions. The Retail Merchandise Planner will work cross-functionally with Merchandising, Allocation, Retail Operations, Finance, and Global Planning teams to ensure inventory and financial plans align with both company objectives and consumer demand.

The ideal candidate is highly analytical, detail-oriented, technically proficient, and passionate about using data to solve business problems. Strong planning expertise, advanced Excel skills, and experience working within a retail or outdoor industry environment are critical to success in this role.

What You'll Do:

• Develop seasonal and annual sales, inventory, margin, markdown, and turn plans that support North America retail financial objectives.

• Build and maintain category and item-level forecasts through pre-season and in-season planning processes.

• Support the development of seasonal buy quantities and inventory strategies that balance customer demand, inventory productivity, and financial targets.

• Analyze weekly business performance and identify risks and opportunities related to sales, inventory, margin, and assortment productivity.

• Partner with the Sr. Manager of Retail Merchandise Planning to prepare seasonal plans, hindsight reporting, forecasting updates, and business reviews.

• Monitor inventory flow and recommend actions related to replenishment, markdowns, product transitions, and seasonal inventory management.

• Collaborate with Allocation, Merchandising, Retail Operations, Finance, and Global Planning partners to align inventory strategies and execution.

• Produce clear and actionable reporting that translates complex data into meaningful business insights and recommendations.

• Develop and maintain tools, reporting frameworks, and planning processes that improve forecast accuracy, reporting efficiency, and decision making.

• Partner in the development of store-level and cluster-level inventory strategies that support both financial performance and customer experience goals.

• Support line review and seasonal planning processes through detailed sales analysis, forecasting, and inventory recommendations.

• Identify opportunities to improve planning processes, business reporting, and analytical capabilities through the adoption of modern technologies, tools, and automation.

• Communicate business insights, trends, and recommendations to cross-functional partners through clear, data-backed storytelling.

Who You Are:

• Analytical: Uses quantitative and qualitative information to make informed business decisions.

• Detail-Oriented: Maintains accuracy while managing large data sets, forecasts, and financial plans.

• Collaborative: Builds strong partnerships across functions and contributes positively to team success.

• Proactive: Anticipates business needs, identifies opportunities, and takes ownership of solutions.

• Adaptable: Remains flexible and effective in a dynamic, evolving business environment.

• Problem Solver: Leverages data, systems, and critical thinking to identify root causes and recommend actions.

• Communicator: Able to translate complex analysis into clear business recommendations and compelling narratives.

Experience You Bring:

• 3–5+ years of experience in merchandise planning, retail planning, inventory planning, forecasting, allocation, or a related retail analytical role.

• Strong understanding of retail planning fundamentals including forecasting, inventory management, open-to-buy, sales planning, markdown strategy, and financial reporting.

• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including complex formulas, pivot tables, scenario modeling, and large data-set analysis.

• Experience working with planning, allocation, ERP, or business intelligence systems.

• Demonstrated ability to analyze business trends and translate data into actionable recommendations.

• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Proven ability to collaborate effectively across multiple cross-functional teams.

• Experience within the outdoor, apparel, sporting goods, or specialty retail industry preferred.

• Experience with Tableau, Power BI, or similar reporting tools is a plus.

• BA or BS in Business, Finance, Economics, Retail Merchandising, Mathematics, Statistics, or a related field (or equivalent work experience).

Hiring Range: $102,000 - $111,000 USD Annual

At Patagonia, pay ranges are assigned to a job based on the location specific market median of similar jobs according to 3rd party salary benchmark surveys. Individual pay within that range can vary for several reasons including skills/capabilities, experience, and available budget.

Benefits

Patagonia offers a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, retirement and leave of absence plans. Benefit plans may vary slightly depending on the nature of your employment. 

Workplace Location Overview

This position is Hybrid, with a standard schedule of Tuesday - Thursday on-site and remote work on other days. Occasional additional office visits may be required for team events or critical meetings.

Employee Conduct
It is the responsibility of every employee to contribute to a positive, inclusive work environment through cooperative and professional interactions with co-workers, customers and vendors.

Equal Employment Opportunity

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other factors prohibited by law.