Head of Merchandise Planning

About This Role

Company Overview

Founded in Dubai in 2016, SQUATWOLF is a gymwear brand made for athletes who push limits, in and out of the gym. What started in the Middle East has grown into a global movement, with customers in 100+ countries. We’re on a mission to elevate the human experience through high-performance gear that drives strength, progress, and purpose.

As we level up, we’re building a bold, creative team that’s hungry to make an impact. If you're ready to shape the future of gymwear and be part of something powerful, you’re in the right place.

SQUATWOLF.COM

Role Summary

We are looking for an experienced and strategic Head of Merchandise Planning to lead our end-to-end planning function across wholesale, retail, and e-commerce channels. This is a senior leadership role responsible for driving merchandise financial planning, inventory strategy, and demand forecasting to maximise sell-through, minimise excess stock, and support profitable growth. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in merchandise planning, demand planning, allocation planning, OTB management and strong commercial acumen, and the ability to operate at both a strategic and executional level in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.

Key Responsibilities

Merchandise Financial Planning

• Own the merchandise financial plan (MFP) across all channels, setting seasonal OTB budgets aligned with revenue targets and inventory goals.
• Define and own key planning KPIs including sell-through rate, weeks of cover, stock turn, and full-price sell-through.
• Present planning performance and strategic recommendations to senior leadership and board-level stakeholders.

Demand Forecasting & Inventory Strategy

• Lead demand forecasting and inventory planning processes, ensuring optimal stock levels across all categories and markets.
• Oversee allocation and replenishment strategies across retail, wholesale, and e-commerce, ensuring the right product is in the right place at the right time.
• Develop assortment planning strategies that maximise product performance and support category growth.

Trading & Performance Management

• Drive weekly, monthly, and seasonal trading reviews, providing actionable insights on sell-through, stock cover, and markdown requirements.
• Lead the S&OP process, aligning commercial, supply chain, and finance stakeholders around a single demand plan.
• Collaborate with regional and wholesale teams to develop market-specific planning frameworks that account for local consumer behaviour and trading patterns.

Location & Channel Planning

• Own location-level inventory planning across all owned retail stores, franchise partners, wholesale accounts, marketplace warehouses (Amazon US/UK), and 3PL/owned DCs across UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, UK, US, and Europe.
• Build store-grade frameworks (A/B/C tiering) and size curve logic to ensure each door receives the right depth, width, and assortment to hit its individual sales budget.
• Lead assortment localisation, ensuring product mix reflects regional consumer behaviour, climate, and channel-specific demand (e.g. Saudi vs UAE vs UK vs DTC vs Franchise vs Wholesale).
• Own initial allocation and in-season replenishment logic across all locations, including inter-store and inter-warehouse transfers to rebalance stock and protect sell-through.
• Partner with retail, B2B, and ecom heads to set country and channel-level inventory budgets, weeks of cover targets, and buy plans that ladder up to the global MFP.
• Plan inventory positioning ahead of new store openings, franchise launches, marketplace expansion, and wholesale sell-in windows.
• Define and govern the franchise stock model, including order quantities, replenishment triggers, and end-of-season returns/markdown frameworks.
• Work with operations and supply chain to align warehouse capacity, inbound timing, and 3PL go-lives (Qatar, Kuwait) with the location plan.

Returns Planning

• Forecast and plan for returns across DTC and wholesale, factoring return rates into net demand, replenishment logic, and weeks of cover calculations.
• Partner with ecom, CS, and operations to model return flows, restocking timelines, and impact on sellable inventory.
• Define returns KPIs by channel and category, and feed insights back into buying, sizing, and product development to reduce return rates over time.

Reporting, Data, AI & Systems Ownership

• Act as the business owner of the planning data layer, defining the KPIs, reporting cadences, and dashboards that drive trading and inventory decisions across the business.
• Partner with tech, data, and finance teams to build and maintain planning systems, BI dashboards, and integrations across ERP, Shopify, 3PL, and wholesale platforms.
• Lead the selection and implementation of dedicated planning tools (e.g. RELEX, Toolio, NuORDER, or equivalent) as the business scales.
• Champion the use of AI and machine learning across the planning function, including demand forecasting, size curve optimisation, allocation logic, markdown prediction, and returns modelling to drive accuracy, speed, and scalability.
• Identify and deploy AI-powered tools and agents to automate repetitive planning tasks (reporting, reorder triggers, exception flagging, aged stock alerts) and free the team to focus on commercial decision-making.
• Partner with leadership and the internal AI function to build a planning team that is fluent in AI tools, with prompting and agentic workflows embedded into day-to-day ways of working.
• Ensure data integrity and a single source of truth for sell-through, stock, and sell-in performance across all channels and markets, recognising that high-quality data is the foundation for any AI deployment.
• Translate complex data into clear weekly, monthly, and seasonal trading packs for senior leadership and board reporting, leveraging AI to accelerate insight generation and narrative building.

Cross-functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with buying, design, and product teams to align planning calendars with the critical path and seasonal launch timelines.
• Work with finance to ensure the merchandise plan is aligned with the company's broader P&L targets and cash flow requirements.
• Collaborate with supply chain and logistics to ensure supply plans support demand requirements and minimise risk.

Systems & Process Development

• Identify and implement planning tools, systems, and processes that improve efficiency, accuracy, and scalability as the business grows.
• Establish standardised planning frameworks, templates, and reporting cadences across the business.

Team Leadership & Development

• Build, structure, and scale the planning team, including hiring, onboarding, and defining clear roles and responsibilities.
• Set team OKRs, conduct regular performance reviews, and provide ongoing coaching to elevate the team's capability.
• Foster a high-performance culture built on accountability, analytical thinking, and continuous improvement.
• Represent the planning function at leadership level, advocating for the team's needs in terms of tools, resources, and headcount.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, or a related field; MBA is a plus.
• Minimum of 8–10 years of experience in merchandise or inventory planning within the apparel or fashion industry, with at least 3 years in a senior or leadership role.
• Proven experience managing OTB, demand forecasting, and assortment planning across multi-channel retail environments.
• Deep understanding of the full product lifecycle and its commercial implications across buying, planning, and trading.
• Exceptional analytical skills with the ability to translate complex data into clear, actionable business decisions.
• Strong leadership and stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to influence at C-suite level.
• Experience working in a fast-growth, digitally-native, or DTC brand is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with the GCC retail market and regional consumer behaviour is a strong advantage.
• Highly organised with the ability to manage multiple priorities, meet tight deadlines, and thrive in a dynamic environment.