Senior Business Analyst, Supply Chain Merchandise Planning and Allocation

* Senior Business Analyst, Supply Chain Merchandise Planning and Allocation * * Position Summary * The Planning and Allocation Sr. Analyst develops maintains, analyzes and executes chain level item plans for one or more departments. He/she is also responsible for store allocations that account for promotional needs, seasonal build, display requirements and other factors. This position works directly with vendors to exchange orders, sales data and item availability information. Works directly with cross functional groups on tactics to achieve corporate goals. The Sr. P & A Analyst takes top side strategic plans and turns them into reality by creating detailed item level plans that are constantly adjusted as factors dictate. The position also plays a pivotal role between the merchant team, the vendor community, and other internal teams that support store execution. As such, the position demands a very high attention to detail, a flexibility and willingness to make running changes and a relentless focus on achieving results. This position reports directly to a Manager of Merchandise Planning and Allocation. This position plays a critical role in the performance development, coaching, and training of fellow team members. * Key Tasks & Responsibilities * *Leadership* * Help others in team to prioritize tasks and ensure achievement of critical individual and group goals; take decisive and timely action to address important short-term and long-term issues * Hold self and team accountable for outcomes by achieving goals and complying with policies/procedures * Provide feedback, coaching and guidance where appropriate to enhance skill development and resolve poor performance; use relevant business metrics, analyses and reports to measure, monitor and improve performance * Work productively in the face of ambiguity and uncertainty and respond constructively to new demands, priorities and challenges; remove obstacles, redirecting efforts on one's team to assure quality results * Provide analytical support for your team and division and be able to synthesize the most critical facts needed to understand problems * Initiate decisive and timely action to address day-to-day issues and address obstacles and redirect efforts to assure quality results. * Update knowledge and skills to handle new challenges and responsibilities * Initiate self-development to build technical and leadership competencies to enhance business results; partner with peers, managers and HR for continued personal development and improved performance against business goals * Maintain positive relationships and establish relationships across divisions and functions to improve business processes, regularly partner with Merchandising, Forecasting, Marketing, Store Planning, Logistics teams and vendors * Actively contribute to weekly business review meetings *Strategy* * Support business initiatives through maintaining in-stocks, inventory levels and presentation integrity * Support corporate goals to drive sales margin and productivity while managing inventory targets * Utilize data accurately, identify root cause of problems and synthesize the most critical facts to understand problems always aligning solutions with team goals *Chain Item Planning* * Plays a critical role in supporting the Merchandise Planning & Allocation Manager on financial planning at the class and department level, including sales trending, future forecasting, OTB, and Inventory management * Develop and maintain item, unit and dollar plans by chain based on business trends, promotional activity and business requirements * Collaborate with vendors by sharing item level sales and receipts to maximize sales opportunities * Accountable for reconciliation of bottom up forecasts to top down class level plans * Analyze and communicate business trends with the team and provide team with solid data to reach effective decisions on down-trending or over-performing items or segments * Develop item, unit and dollar plans by week and by chain to maintain presentation standards and to achieve inventory turn targets while optimizing in-stocks, sales and opportunities * Collaborate with the Merchant team on items selected for feature space or end caps, utilizing tools such as past performance, current trends, planograms and vendor feedback, ensuring inventory availability while balancing sales opportunities versus inventory investments * Communicate inventory concerns for promotional and inline sales through proper communication vehicles * Collaborate with merchant partners on; o item transition or end-of-life plans o markdown strategy o assortment performance o promotional sales forecasts *Replenishment/Allocation* * Order and manage inventory investments to ensure the right product arrives in the right allocation, in the right quantity at the right time * Analyze, determine and execute initial orders for new items to coincide with reset timing * Maintain replenishment to ensure proper flow of products, optimizing Weeks-of-Supply and in-stock goals * Collaborate with vendors and internal resources to optimize the use of automated replenishment * Work directly with vendors to share performance metrics and to strategize on opportunities for improvement * Analyze in-stocks to ensure appropriate store replenishment * Collaborate with Sales and Operations (S&OP) partners to develop specific replenishment strategies, as well as, to address supply chain issues * Collaborates with Logistics Team to ensure proper prioritization of hot/ needed product * Bachelor's Degree in Business related field, such as Supply Chain, Economics, etc. and/or a minimum of 3 - 5 years relevant experience// * Advanced skills/required/in: o Developing and coaching fellow team members o Sales Planning o Inventory Analysis & Planning **Job Function:** Merchandise Planning %26 Allocation **Primary Location:** USA-NJ-Wayne **Schedule:** Full-time **Organization:** Headquarters **Job Type:** Standard **Education Level:** Bachelor's Degree **Travel:** No **Brand:** Toys 'R' US **Req ID:** 59345