URBN Executive Director of Technology for Planning , ERP & PLM

Role Summary

URBN is the parent of Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, FP Movement, Nuuly, BHLDN and Terrain, operating across retail, wholesale and rental. We are rebuilding our planning technology leadership around a bold thesis: planning is becoming a product, and the next generation of merchandise and inventory decisions will be made by AI-native, agentic systems reasoning over our enterprise data — not by manually maintained spreadsheets and rigid legacy tools.

 

We are seeking an Executive Director to lead this transformation. You will own Planning & Allocation, ERP and PLM technology; carry our enterprise planning platform (o9) to completion; and stand up a product-oriented, agentic planning organization that becomes a durable competitive advantage across all brands and channels. This is a builder's mandate for a leader who thinks like a product executive, is fluent in modern AI, and can partner credibly with brand CEOs, merchants and finance.

Role Responsibilities

Scope of Ownership

• Planning & Allocation technology — MFP, Key Item Planning, Assortment Planning, Demand Forecasting, and Allocation & Replenishment capabilities across NA, EU and Nuuly.
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) — the systems and roadmap underpinning merchandise and inventory operations.
• Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) — the technology supporting product creation-to-market flows and its integration with planning.
• The o9 planning platform program — drive Assortment Planning to a successful, full rollout across all brands and channels, and own the commercial and delivery relationship with the vendor.
• The agentic planning vision — define and build the AI-native forward path for allocation, replenishment and demand decisions, with an internal product team and clear human-in-the-loop governance.
• Potential future expansion: Warehouse Management (WM) may be brought into this portfolio over time; the ideal candidate can grow into supply-chain-adjacent scope

 

Key Responsibilities

• Set the multi-year strategy and roadmap for Planning & Allocation, ERP and PLM technology, aligned to brand, merchandising and financial goals.
• Deliver the o9 planning platform to full production across all brands and channels, and keep the live footprint stable.
• Define and drive URBN's AI-native / agentic planning strategy for allocation, replenishment and demand.
• Drive the inventory and financial outcomes of planning — partner with shared teams and brand leads on key metrics and delivery.
• Build, lead and develop a high-performing product oriented planning technology team; set the operating model, talent bar and succession plan.
• Lead relationships with strategic partners, holding them to commercial terms, measurable value and driving innovation.
• Partner with brand merchandising, planning, Finance, Supply Chain and Data Science leaders across the company.
• Lead change management so new AI driven capabilities change how planning, inventory and financial decisions actually get made.
• Represent planning technology to executive leadership and keep URBN ahead of emerging AI and planning technology.

Role Qualifications

• Product-First Approach: Owns the planning vision with a clear roadmap, targeted user outcomes, and measurable business impact—not just a queue of IT tickets.

• AI-Native Instincts: Reaches first for agentic, data-driven solutions to fundamentally reinvent how planning decisions are made.

• Pragmatic Build-vs-Buy Judgment: Evaluates vendor platforms rigorously, spending capital accountability, and knows when to pivot, halt, or renegotiate.

• Deep Brand & Merchant Partnership: Builds trust across brand leaders and seamlessly translates complex business needs into actionable technology.

• Bias for Speed & Action: Pushes past endless design cycles to deliver rapid, scalable success across all brands and channels.

• Intellectually Honest & Team-Focused: Leads with evidence, recruits top talent, and fiercely protects team focus so critical priorities actually ship.

• Outcome-Obsessed: Measures success through core retail metrics (inventory productivity, margin, forecast accuracy, turn, GMROI)—not velocity or story points.

• 12–15+ years in merchandise/supply-chain planning and/or planning technology leadership, with senior leadership experience in a multi-brand, multi-channel retail environment (retail + e-commerce + wholesale strongly preferred).
• Demonstrated ownership of enterprise planning platforms — hands-on experience with a Tier-1 tool such as o9, Blue Yonder/JDA, SAP IBP, Anaplan or Kinaxis, including implementation and adoption.
• Deep command of the planning capability set: MFP, OTB, assortment, demand forecasting, allocation and replenishment, and inventory health.
• Strong financial acumen — able to connect planning technology to inventory productivity, margin and working-capital outcomes.
• Proven people leadership — building, developing and retaining teams, including distributed and vendor resources.
• Track record of vendor and commercial management — negotiating scope, controlling cost, and driving delivery accountability.
• Strong AI/ML and data fluency; credible conversation partner on modern architecture (URBN's stack favors Python microservices, MongoDB and Node/Vue3), data pipelines, APIs and agentic tooling.
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, Engineering, Computer Science or related field required; MBA preferred.
• Executive presence and the ability to influence brand CEOs, merchants and finance leaders.

 

The Perks

URBN offers comprehensive Perks & Benefits to employees. Availability and eligibility to specific benefits may be subject to your location and employment status. Benefits include medical, dental, vision, PTO, generous employee discounts, retirement savings and much more! For additional information visit www.urbn.com/work-with-us/benefits

EEO Statement

URBN celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We are proud to provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex (including gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression), religion, creed, age, physical or mental disability, national origin or ancestry, ethnicity, citizenship, service in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other protected characteristic as established by law. We believe strongly in fostering a safe, fair and respectful work environment. To ensure compliance with our non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies, we offer anti-harassment training to managers and employees.