Job Description

Job Description

About the Team

Our Merchandise Planning and Allocation (MP&A) teams are the driving forces behind making the organization’s product visions available to our consumers through calculated and strategic measures. Your involvement in sales and margin forecasts, promotional performance analysis, inventory management, and vendor relationships will play a critical role in obtaining goals while maintaining PetSmart’s reputation in the market as a trusted partner to pet parents.

Collaborative Work Environment
At PetSmart, teamwork and connection are core to how we thrive. This role is based at our Phoenix Home Office, with an expectation of working a minimum of four days in the office each week. In a standard work week, associates may work up to one remote “flex day” (with leader approval). Our hybrid approach is designed to foster strong collaboration while also supporting flexibility and individual success.

The Sr Director Merchandise Planning and Allocation partners with the Director of Merchandise Buying to develop and lead overall division strategic vision, resources and execution plans that align with the corporate strategy. This position leads all aspects of the strategic development and execution of merchandise planning, space optimization, assortment planning with localization, optimizing the product life cycle to maximize margins, and allocation planning and execution in order to achieve sales, margin, turn and other KPI’s. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Achieves Sales, Margin, and Inventory Turnover and other KPIs as designated to plan
• Lead development of team including recruiting and coaching to build organization talent
• Develop overall division strategy vision, policies, resources, and execution plans to align to the corporate strategy
• Directs development of Merchandise plan and all business metrics within
• Participates in the seasonal, annual, and long-range strategic and financial planning across a wide array of vendor, customer and merchandising segments.
• Leads, executes and measure performance against the business planning and product creation calendars to drive timely and informed decision making
• Supports the VP to present within various strategic meetings for the division (i.e. Direction Setting, Marketing Execution meetings, Line Reviews, Open-To-Buy, Vendor, QBR, and other meetings)
• Owns the end-to-end management of inventory, including service and in-stock levels and dollar levels; owns the setting of and achieving targets for inventory productivity to support the sales and gross margin plans, maintain high levels of promotional product availability during promotional periods while minimizing ad residue, and optimizing end-caps, drive aisle, and in-line story telling and integration consistent with consumer shopping patterns.
• Directs targets and creation of vendor demand plans. Effective and timely communication to vendors.
• In partnership with the pricing organization, supports delivering on the pricing strategy, optimizing margins across the life cycle, managing category elasticity, zone pricing, promotional price optimization, markdown optimization, and good/better/best pricing and assortment optimization and strategies while maintaining a deep understanding of competitor assortments and pricing.
• Collaborate with retail operations regarding sales driving opportunities
• Actively create and lead special projects that drive growth opportunities
• Execute division and category marketing plans in partnership with the Marketing Dept
• Build and submit division and category promotional plans including: Ads, Planner Locations, Promotional Offers, and Layouts,
• Develops the holistic understanding of category, consumer, and competitive dynamics; translates them into division portfolio plans that optimize revenue, margin, pricing and product cost
• Integrate processes and systems to optimize accuracy, efficiency, inventory productivity, space utilization, and margin optimization.

Skills:

• Ability to develop and retain superior organization talent through coaching and teaching.
• Ability to build business strategies and lead team all stages of planning and executing those strategies.
• Ability to collaborate cross-functionally to drive business strategies and initiatives.
• Ability to make operational decisions by incorporating analytics to improve sales and margin.
• Possess excellent Problem Solving Skills (Critical and evaluative thinking).
• Must be a self-starter with the ability to manage multiple tasks and priorities.

Education:

• Must have a Bachelor’s degree in business from a 4 year college or university and 10+ years experience in merchandising planning and/or allocation; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Intermediate to advanced knowledge of spreadsheets, word processing, decision support software, Outlook as well as SAP, JDA Intactix and DPR are helpful.

• This role requires collaboration, teamwork, and face-to-face interaction with colleagues, leaders, and/or clients.
• Being in the office ensures access to leaders, cross-functional partners, and resources necessary to make timely decisions and drive results.
• On-site presence in accordance with our FlexSmart policy supports our culture of innovation, mentorship, and engagement, which is integral to our success in developing the best team.

* This is not intended to be an all-inclusive, exhaustive list of all essential job functions for this position. PetSmart retains the right to change or assign other required job duties to this position.

At PetSmart, Anything for Pets begins with our people. Every associate plays a vital role in creating meaningful experiences for pets and their families, and we empower our teams with the tools, resources, and opportunities to grow and succeed. 

We’re more than a workplace, we’re Team PetSmart. Together, we grow, collaborate, and challenge ourselves to be the best in all we do. Our culture is built on belonging and shared purpose, where every voice and experience matters. Guided by our values, we strive to do what’s right, lead responsibly, and bring our passion for pets to life every day. Not sure if you meet 100% of the position requirements and whether you should apply? We’d still like to hear from you and encourage you to apply with us! You might be the right fit for this role or another opportunity across Team PetSmart.

Our home office offers outstanding amenities in a fun and rewarding workplace including:

• Pet-friendly environment, bring your pets to work and enjoy the on-site dog park!
• On-Site Events & Adoptions, enjoy community-building opportunities, including pet adoption days, seasonal celebrations, family events, art events, & holiday festivals
• “Top Dog” gym with equipment, fitness classes, massage therapists, personal trainers, and wellness spaces
• “Sit & Stay” Café serving fresh breakfast and lunch options, snacks, & more
• “Lil Paws” NAEYC-accredited onsite childcare facility providing high-quality early education
• Paid Volunteer Opportunities to spend time doing good for causes close to heart
• Print Center and Business Services, Dry Cleaning, Mother's Rooms, Sustainable Infrastructure & more

PetSmart provides an equal opportunity for all associates and job applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status or other legally protected characteristics.

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