Head of Planning & Merchandising

JOB DESCRIPTION: HEAD OF PLANNING | ANDAMEN

Company Description

Andamen is India's leading men's bridge-to-luxury DTC fashion brand, known for our timeless designs, premium craftsmanship, and commitment to delivering an exceptional customer experience. Launched in 2016, we have over two lakh customers, and operate in six product categories and 6 digital distribution channels.

With a strong D2C base, active marketplace presence, and strategic retail expansion into EBOs/MBOs, we are looking for a visionaryHead of Inventory Planningto lead our end-to-end inventory strategy across all channels and categories.

Andamen is part of the Impulse Group, one of India's leading fashion supply chain companies.

Impulse provides comprehensive design-to-delivery supply chain services to a global fashion brands and retailers including ASOS, Debenhams, Next, Paul Smith, Shinsegae (Samsung Group), Walmart, Amazon. The product categories include apparel, accessories, footwear, leather garments, home furnishings, costume jewellery and hard goods. Founded in 1982, Impulse has over 400 employeesacross India, Bangladesh, UK, Korea, USA, Canada.

https://www.andamen.com/about-us

Role Description

As theHead of Inventory Planning & Merchandisingto architect and operationalize our end-to-end inventory planning ecosystem. This is a mission-critical leadership role for a high-growth, digitally native fashion brand expanding into offline retail. You will own the demand-supply balance, ensuring agility, profitability, and customer availability across all channelsD2C, marketplaces, and an emerging fleet of EBOs and MBOs.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Leadership

• Architect the brand'sinventory planning operating model tech, process, governance.
• Set the long-range inventory strategy aligned with growth, new categories, and geographic expansion.
• Develop and ownbusiness-critical KPIs: Sell-through %, Stock Turn, Cover, Fill Rates, Markdown Cost, Channel Availability.
• Analyzeprice elasticityand refine the pricing architecture of the business.

Channel Planning (D2C, Marketplaces, Retail)

• Forecast andmanage demand signalsuniquely across D2C, online marketplaces, and offline retail.
• Work closely with the .com and marketplace teams toforecast channel-level inventory velocity, define replenishment frequency, and reduce out-of-stock loss.
• Align OTB planning with marketing calendars, retail launch cycles, and platform merchandising windows.
• Optimizechannel-level depth vs widthstrategies based on traffic, basket behaviour, and price elasticity.
• Driveforecast accuracy (MAPE)improvement and minimize inventory liabilities through better pre-season and in-season planning.
• Collaborate with Merchandising, Design and Category Heads to ensureassortment and buy plans align with revenue and margin goals.
• Definebuy quantities by channelbased on inventory turns, sell-through potential, and price positioning per channel.

Execution & Analytics

• Deployassortment analyticsto inform SKU rationalization, size curves, and seasonal range effectiveness.
• Collaborate with warehouse and operations teams to monitor inbound/outbound flows and storage constraints.
• Implement and optimize planning tools (ERP/MRP/DRP systems) for forecasting, inventory optimization, and reporting.
• Drivetech automation initiatives including demand planning tools, inventory performance tools, WMS integration, and allocation algorithms.

Risk & Scenario Planning

• Identify and mitigate supply and demand risks (e.g., lead time variances, supply disruptions, market fluctuations).
• Run what-if scenarios to support agile decision-making in fast-moving environments.

Leadership

• Build and mentor a team of planners and demand analysts.
• Collaborate with Sales, Finance, Sourcing, and Design on margin planning, intake cost optimization, and lead time reduction.

Key Qualifications

• 10-12 years of experience in men's fashion retail with deep planning & merchandising exposure.
• Proven track record inlarge, complex product assortmentsmulti-channel inventory leadershippreferably from high-growth D2C, fashion e-commerce, or large omnichannel brands.
• Strong command of planning metrics, inventory analytics, and OTB frameworks and Excel, SQL, and analytics platforms (Power BI, Tableau).
• Strategic mindset with operational excellenceable to scale systems and build future-ready planning orgs.
• Hands-on experience with planning tools (e.g., Increff, SAP FMS, Oracle RMS, Anaplan) is a plus.
• Leadership experience in managing and mentoring teams.
• Exceptional stakeholder management and cross-functional leadership.

Why Join Us

• Be part of a fast growing, ambitious fashion brand defining Indian design on a global stage and capturing market share in India's premium⁺to bridge-to-luxury segment.
• Work with a highly entrepreneurial, mission-driven founding team.
• Operate with autonomy, speed, and data-led decision-making.
• We have a very high paced, collaborative work culture focussed on results, not attendance, with ample room for innovation.
• Competitive salary and performance-based incentives.
• We are making some of the most exciting product in the Indian men's fashion landscape and are looking to craft the most enriching and authentic storytelling and brand experiences in the consumer space.