What's cool about this job
REI is committed to becoming a fully inclusive, antiracist, multicultural organization. To fulfill our brand promise of enabling a life well-lived outside for everyone, we seek candidates who demonstrate shared values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism.
The S&OP Director is vital to REI's success as it involves standing up and leading process improvements related to Sales and Operations Planning. Reporting directly to the VP of Planning & Inventory Management, the role focuses on driving cross-divisional enterprise processes by coordinating updates to product portfolio changes, evaluating supply and demand constraints, and optimizing operational resources to enhance service and product availability for REI's members. The S&OP Director leads a small team, whose primary responsibility is to identify and highlight data insights related to exception management within sales, inventory, and operational planning. The goal of the S&OP team is to foster collaboration among various divisions such as Integrated Value Chain, Merchandising, Co-op Brands, Commercial, Marketing, and Finance.
This position collaborates closely with GMMs (General Merchandise Managers), Planning Directors, Network VPs (DC & Logistics), and Retail Operation Directors/VPs to ensure alignment in long-term inventory planning, product flow timing, and strategies that contribute to REI's sales objectives and financial performance. In the shorter term, the role is responsible for overseeing the S&OE process, aiming to improve business outcomes through transparent communication and collaborative decision-making. The role also emphasizes collaboration, agility, and resilience in adapting to evolving business conditions.
The S&OP Director is expected to act in accordance with REI’s guiding values and mission.
Leading the Way (team leadership, coaching and development responsibilities for this “manager of staff”)
- Implements, maintains, and continuously improves all Sales and Operations Planning processes supporting Co-op events, new product launches, new programs, new stores, and new distribution nodes.
- Engages with multiple teams across the enterprise including but not limited to Marketing, Finance, Product Development, Commercial, to understand all demand and market influences that impact the timing and volume of demand.
- Identifies and communicates key responsibilities and practices to ensure the organization promotes a successful attitude, confidence in leadership, and teamwork to achieve business results.
- Develops constructive and effective relationships with direct reports and cross-functional partners
- Holds the ability to maintain credibility and presence within the broader business and across key cross-functional leaders.
- Inspires to achieve superior business results.
- Ensures employees adhere to legal and operational compliance requirements.
- Provides coaching, direction, and conducts performance reviews for employees to achieve department, company and customer results.
- Monitors operational statistics, reports trends, variances, and issues, and takes appropriate action.
Your Planning & Navigating Requirements (the plan for creating and executing job responsibilities, and how the job ensures they are implemented)
- Establishes, implements, and maintains best practice methodologies for Sales and Operations Planning.
- Scales the Sales and Operations Planning with REI’s vision statement.
- Collaborates to set the vision for Demand Planning data flow at level of detail needed to improve long term and mid-term capacity planning.
- Evaluates tools and processes to enhance the Sales and Operations Planning practice.
- Drive improvements of inventory health, such as days inventory on hand, inventory turns, aged and obsolete materials, inventory dollars and expired stock to defined target levels.
- Leads the S&OP monthly consensus meetings (i.e., Supply Planning Review, Leadership Planning Review) to ensure long term balance of supply, demand, inventory, and capacity.
- Identifies key performance metrics needed to track, trend, and inform on S&OP progress as well as identify and mitigate business risks.
- Validates in-season, company-level working plan with senior leadership.
- Stays current on industry best practices in S&OP and merchandising inventory management processes.
- Aggressively drives current and future processes and systems utilization within areas of responsibility.
- Facilitate clear cross-division communication between Merch Product, Planning & Inventory Management, Retail, Value Chain, Digital, Marketing, Co-op Brands teams for the purpose of aligning S&OP inputs, decisions, and delivering action plans.