Owndays Buying and Planning Lead

Mission Brief: Build the Intelligence Layer That Moves Owndays Global Merchandise

Owndays is a global eyewear brand with a rapidly expanding footprint across Asia the Middle East and beyond. Operating

an integrated value chain across design manufacturing retail and e-commerce Owndays is building a tech-enabled data-

led omni-channel business. With thousands of SKUs and a complex supplier network we are reimagining how merchandise

flows from vendor to warehouse to customer with intelligence precision and speed.

This is not a role about managing stock. It is about building the intelligence layer that ensures the right product is in the

right place at the right time powered by data driven by AI and led by you. As Buying Planning & Merchandise Lead you

will own the strategic and operational command of Owndays end-to-end merchandise flow from demand sensing and

OTB to vendor capacity and warehouse inflow turning raw signals into precision decisions and transforming

replenishment from reactive to predictive.

This is a hands-on leadership role that will require needs-based travel across Owndays geographies to work directly with

vendors manufacturing partners warehouses and regional teams as the business demands.

Core Mandate: Turning Merchandise Flow Into a Data-Led Advantage

1. Demand Forecasting & S&OP

Global Forecast Ownership: Own demand forecasting across all categories channels and regions frames lenses

sunglasses and accessories.

Forecast Accuracy: Drive forecast accuracy through disciplined S&OP cycles sell-through analysis and seasonality

modelling; set and own MAPE/WAPE targets that are best-in-class for a retailer of Owndays complexity.

One Demand View: Translate top-down financial plans and bottom-up category plans into a single executable

demand view.

ML-Driven Sensing: Lead the adoption of machine learning-based demand sensing tools; partner with Data Science

and Engineering to sharpen algorithms and replenishment triggers.

2. Open-to-Buy & Buying Planning

OTB Ownership: Own the Open-to-Buy process end-to-end building tracking and re-forecasting across seasons.

Inflow & Assortment Planning: Manage inflow planning phasing and depth-vs-breadth decisions aligned to sales

stock cover and margin targets; partner with buying and category teams to convert assortment plans into actionable

buy quantities.

Dynamic Forecasting: Move the organisation from static planning models to dynamic AI-assisted forecasting that

responds in real time to demand signals and fashion cycles.

3. Vendor Capacity Planning & Procurement Intelligence

Capacity Planning: Lead capacity planning with the vendor base aligning monthly and weekly production capacity

with the demand plan locking capacity ahead of peak periods and managing flex during demand swings.

Vendor Visibility: Build visibility into vendor performance across capacity utilisation on-time delivery and fill rates.

Data-Backed Negotiation: Bring data to every sourcing negotiation balancing Economic Order Quantities with the

speed demands of a fashion-adjacent business and build the supplier frameworks that make Owndays supply

relationships a genuine competitive advantage.

4. Lead-Time Reduction & Inflow Management

Cycle Time Reduction: Drive reduction of lead times across the vendor-to-warehouse cycle through better planning

rhythm order release discipline and vendor collaboration.

Inbound Predictability: Improve PO-to-receipt timelines in-transit visibility and warehouse inbound predictability.

Network Smoothing: Work with logistics and warehousing teams to smooth inflow reduce bullwhip effects and

improve network-wide service levels.

5. End-to-End Inventory Operations

Full Lifecycle Ownership: Own the full inventory lifecycle from purchase order strategy to stock monitoring cycle

integrity and shrinkage controls.

Systems & Accuracy: Leverage ERP/WMS platforms to drive 98% inventory accuracy while continuously eliminating

process waste through automation and lean principles.

Inventory Health: Own inventory health across warehouses turns cover ageing excess and drive allocation and

replenishment models that maintain availability with controlled markdowns.

Scalable Guardrails: Design systems and guardrails that scale as the business expands across new geographies.

6. Cross-Functional Leadership & Data Culture

Commercial Partnership: Partner with Retail Operations Merchandising Finance E-commerce Sourcing and

Manufacturing to ensure inventory strategy serves commercial goals.

Leadership Communication: Present insights KPIs and strategic recommendations to senior leadership with clarity

and conviction.

Team Building: Build mentor and lead a high-performance planning and merchandise supply chain team.

Data-First Culture: Make data-driven inventory decisions the organisational norm bring the wider team along on

the journey from intuition to intelligence.

The Essentials

Experience: Proven experience in inventory management merchandise planning buying planning or supply chain

roles including at least 5 years in a strategic leadership capacity.

Track Record at Scale: Demonstrated experience in high-SKU omni-channel or retail-at-scale environments

spanning demand forecasting OTB management vendor capacity planning and lead-time reduction.

Commercial Acumen: Strong understanding of inventory turns fill rates markdowns and working capital.

Technical Depth: Hands-on fluency with ERP/WMS platforms and advanced analytics tools (e.g. SAP Oracle

Anaplan or equivalent) with practical experience applying forecasting methodologies time-series statistical ML-

assisted to real inventory decisions.

Domain Exposure: Background in retail eyewear fashion consumer goods or another fast-moving category with

high SKU complexity; exposure to automated warehouses phygital retail models or in-house manufacturing

ecosystems is a strong advantage. Consulting backgrounds are welcome provided they come with deep operational

exposure.

Education

• Bachelors degree in Supply Chain Engineering Operations Research Business or a related quantitative

field; an MBA or advanced degree is preferred.

• Travel: Willingness to travel on a needs basis across global markets to work directly with vendors manufacturing partners and regional teams.

• The Mindset

• AI-Native Thinking You dont just use data you build systems that generate it interpret it and act on it and see

  merchandise planning as a technology problem as much as an operations one.

• Precision at Scale You are energised by complexity millions of SKUs hundreds of vendors multiple geographies

  and bring rigour and clarity to decisions others find overwhelming.

• Ownership Mentality When a stockout happens or inventory turns slip you take responsibility for solving it and hold

• yourself and your team to a high standard.

• Builders Drive You want to design new systems challenge legacy processes and leave behind a playbook that didnt

  exist before you.

• Versatile Communication You can walk a boardroom through working capital strategy and walk a warehouse floor

  with equal ease