Associate Director Planning

Associate Director, Planning is responsible for leading and orchestrating the end-to-end planning function for ZALORA’s retail and marketplace businesses across all categories and brands. This role will drive the strategic direction for inventory, inbounds, sell-through, revenue, and gross margin planning, ensuring alignment with business objectives and operational excellence. The Head of Planning will play a pivotal role in cross-functional collaboration, process automation, and data-driven decision-making to optimize commercial performance and inventory health.

Responsibilities:

• Lead, mentor, and develop the planning team, fostering a high-performance culture and continuous improvement mindset.
• Own the consolidation of category and brand plans into a centralized WSSI (Weekly Sales, Stock, and Intake) framework, ensuring alignment across the organization.
• Identify and address outliers in key metrics such as weeks of cover (WOC), aged inventory, and stock health, driving corrective actions as needed.
• Partner with Finance, Operations, and GFG teams to align on commercial and inventory-related business plans, including NMV, intake, aged inventory, and margin targets.
• Standardize and enhance dashboards and reporting tools across commercial teams and forums, ensuring a unified and actionable view of business performance.
• Collaborate with Technology and Data teams to automate WSSI and planning processes, working towards a single source of truth for targets and performance metrics.
• Work closely with Data Science to implement advanced forecasting models for assortment, buy quantities, and replenishment, leveraging machine learning and predictive analytics.
• Drive scenario planning and risk management initiatives to support agile decision-making in a dynamic market environment.
• Champion best practices in inventory management, demand planning, and commercial analytics, ensuring scalability and efficiency.
• Represent the planning function in senior leadership forums, providing insights and recommendations to support strategic business decisions.
• Collaborate closely with buying teams to validate order proposals and develop an options plan that ensures the right breadth and depth of assortment, aligned with business targets and customer needs.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Business, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in planning, merchandising, or commercial roles within e-commerce or retail, with at least 5 years in a leadership capacity.
• Proven track record of leading and developing high-performing teams in a fast-paced, data-driven environment.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to interpret complex data and translate insights into actionable strategies.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Looker, and SQL; experience with planning and BI tools is highly desirable.
• Exceptional organizational skills, attention to detail, and the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to influence and collaborate across functions and seniority levels.
• Results-oriented mindset with a passion for driving business growth and operational excellence.

The Zalora Story

ZALORA is Asia’s leading online fashion, beauty and lifestyle destination, part of Global Fashion Group. As one of the region’s pioneer large scale e-commerce platforms, ZALORA has established a strong presence throughout the region, particularly in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Hong Kong, enjoying over 50 million visits per month.

ZALORA is not obligated to accept resumes from any third parties on behalf of potential candidates for any position (advertised or otherwise) by any means, unless ZALORA has executed a written agreement with such third party and has expressly requested such third party for candidate referrals. Third parties who provide unsolicited resumes of candidate(s) shall waive and forfeit all rights to claim for any placement fees or referral fees in the event that such candidate is eventually engaged or employed by ZALORA or Global Fashion Group