Senior Director Operations, Exclusive Brands

Serving the needs of all families with young children, Carter’s Inc. is the largest North American apparel retailer exclusively for babies and young children, encompassing Carter’s, OshKosh B’gosh, Skip*Hop and Little Planet brands. Meaningful work, constant learning, genuine people, and a community guided by core values that promote inclusion and innovation is in everything we do. There are many reasons to build your career at Carter's.

How you’ll make an impact:

As a key leader within the Carter’s Operations team, this role drives supply chain excellence for CRI’s Exclusive Brands and supports our largest wholesale customers across all brands.  This role is specifically focused on leading forecasting, Inventory Planning, Order Management/Logistics, and analytical functions. To be successful in this role, you will need to collaborate internally with Merchandising, Sales, Production Planning, Sourcing, and Distribution Teams and to collaborate externally directly with the customer Buying, Planning, and Logistics Teams. The scope of this role encompasses 2 exclusive brands, 2+ global brands for assigned customers, 5+ SBU’s, and 5+ global markets impacting 20% of CRI annual apparel revenue. The ability to easily bridge strategic intent to operational execution is essential.   

This role typical reports into the VP of Operations, has multiple direct reports, and is based in our Buckhead office.

30%: Inventory management, Logistics optimization, and Order Management

• Leverage logistics tool kits to optimize WIP dates that meet customer need while achieving CRI’s inventory productivity metrics 
• Manage the Open To Buy checkbook for the business (~$325M annually)
• Analyze and establish critical logistics standards including carton packing and physics to accurately and efficiently cube full truckloads
• Lead Inbound and outbound planning exercises to balance DC capacity and customer shipping requirements
• Lead the team responsible for daily and weekly customer order management
• Analyze and communicate service issues with Sales and Customers 

25%: Seasonal forecasting and procurement process for two Exclusive Brands

• Create the time phased SKU level supply forecasts by vendor that drive near-term costing and capacity requirements
• Champion process and system innovation to enable speed to market that support product segmentation, multiple lead-time strategies/paths, etc. 
• Optimize fabric strategies that balance finished fabric to support speed to market initiatives while managing potential liability
• Procure finished goods inventory to support global customer demand and adhering to all applicable lead times, sourcing rules, etc.  balancing On Time in Full and Inventory productivity

20%: Other critical tasks including creating production calendars that operationalize product development milestones, establishing inventory strategies that balance risk and sales objectives in line with corporate productivity metrics, and driving key corporate or Supply Chain objectives (On Time in Full, business transformation, segmentation, etc.)

• Support strategic growth initiatives such as rolling out new brands, global sourcing strategy changes, etc. 
• Orchestrate key production milestones globally to operationalize seasonal development processes
• Participate in new initiatives as needed
• Collaborate closely with IT and the Anaplan COE to optimize data and system efficiency and effectiveness

15%: Long life replenishment forecasting and Finished Goods procurement process

• Lead the replenishment forecasting team and set policies to optimize On Time in Full and inventory turn metrics
• Drive process and system improvements leveraging advanced analytics (Machine Learning, AI)
• Establish and maintain policies and procedures leveraging replenishment production to level vendor capacity when applicable to improve global costing and service levels

10%: Long Range Planning that connects our strategic line plans, financial targets, and capacity forecast for total CRI over a 24-month horizon

• Create and maintain a rolling 24-month demand forecast that is aligned with the strategic line plan and the corporate financial plans by Brand down to product category
• Forecast the individual Production Groups that comprise each category by fiscal week to transform consumer facing demand to factory capacity requirements
• Transform the demand forecast into a rolling supply forecast that will drive capacity and material planning
• Manage the consumption process between the current seasonal forecasts and the LRP

We’d Love to hear from you if:

Must have:

• 12+ years of experience in a related field with a deep understanding of forecasting and inventory management principles (supply and demand matching, forecast error, service levels, open to buy, etc.)
• Analytical, process driven approach to problem solving with an ability to operate independently with varying levels of ambiguity
• Proven leadership and development of a high-functioning team with multiple direct reports
• Actively collaborate with cross functional teams including Merchandising, Sales, Production Planning, Sourcing, Distribution, Global Transportation, etc. to ensure alignment and optimize overall results   
• Ability to think strategically and to adapt quickly within a dynamic environment
• Apparel or short lifecycle forecasting and procurement experience
• BA/BS in related field (Supply Chain, Mathematics, Finance, etc.)

Preferred skills and experience:

• Tableau or similar BI tool
• Master’s degree in related field

Make a career at Carter’s:

• Career Development: Success starts from within, and we have several paths from which you can choose to enhance your career evolution. From Carter’s University to Toastmasters to mentorship programs and more, we encourage you to utilize these tools to elevate your professional prowess.

NOTE: This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. The duties described may be changed or reassigned at the discretion of management, and the employee may be required to perform duties that are not listed in the job description.

Carters is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law.