--- title: 'Merchandise Planner at The People Brand' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/merchandise-planner-the-people-brand-carlsbad-atmfa23pgq49' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-19' --- # Merchandise Planner at The People Brand - **Company:** The People Brand - **Location:** Carlsbad, CA - **Compensation:** $100k–$120k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-09-30 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-19 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/thepeoplebrand/db4b2c98-06db-4f1a-921f-6292ce146990 ## Job description Absolutely — here’s a fully confidential version with the company name, specific system names, and other identifying details stripped out while keeping the substance intact. Merchandise Planner – Apparel & Accessories Confidential Opportunity Reports to: Director, Planning & Retail Operations Department: Planning / Retail Operations Key Partners: Merchandising, Ecommerce, Retail, Wholesale, Finance Position Overview The Merchandise Planner – Apparel & Accessories is responsible for driving sales and profitability through effective assortment, inventory, demand, and pricing strategies. This role will focus on maximizing inventory turn and margin, forecasting demand, analyzing selling trends, and ensuring the right product is available at the right time across Ecommerce, Wholesale, and Retail channels. Highly cross-functional, this individual will partner closely with Merchandising, Product Operations, Marketing, Supply Chain, Sales, Finance, and channel leaders to translate data into actionable recommendations that support overall brand and financial objectives. Demand & Inventory Planning - Manage in-season forecasting against key KPIs, including sales, margin, inventory health, turns, aging, and weeks of supply. - Maintain and improve forecasting models using historical performance, business inputs, and market trends. - Partner across Ecommerce, Wholesale, Retail, Merchandising, Marketing, Supply Chain, Operations, and Finance to align demand and inventory plans. - Identify risks and opportunities between demand and financial plans and recommend appropriate actions. - Analyze inventory levels, sell-through, turnover, and aging to identify stockouts, overstocks, and slow-moving inventory. - Monitor and adjust stock levels and replenishment strategies to optimize availability and inventory investment. - Review forecasts and current orders to assess upcoming production needs. - Recommend markdown and pricing actions based on weeks of supply, sell-through, aging, and seasonality. - Develop size-curve analysis to improve preseason and in-season purchasing and reduce stockouts. - Build standardized reporting for in-season analysis and post-season hindsight. Merchandise Planning - Align inventory strategies with seasonal trends, product launches, merchandising strategies, and promotional plans. - Partner with Merchandising to develop SKU plans and improve SKU productivity. - Analyze ongoing business performance to identify key drivers, risks, and opportunities. - Provide quantitative and qualitative hindsight for quarterly business reviews and senior leadership meetings. - Identify product, inventory, and delivery-flow risks and recommend solutions. - Maintain accurate product and inventory data within company systems. - Partner cross-functionally to ensure item, cost, origin, and other product changes are accurately reflected across systems. Financial Planning - Partner on inventory budgeting and financial planning to manage costs and achieve financial targets. - Align inventory investments with broader financial objectives and performance metrics. - Support monthly inventory audits and reconciliations. Wholesale Planning - Support annual and seasonal category sales plans through bottoms-up planning of inventory, sales, margins, discounts, markdowns, returns, and related KPIs. - Partner with Sales to develop seasonal plans based on current trends and annual business objectives. - Contribute to monthly shipment planning and wholesale forecasting. - Support pre-market and post-market planning, including final inventory buys and purchase-order adjustments. Retail Allocation - Manage accurate and timely allocation of merchandise across retail locations using historical sales, current trends, and performance metrics. - Monitor store-level stock-to-sales ratios and identify over- and under-stock situations. - Execute inventory rebalancing, transfers, and replenishment strategies. - Coordinate new-product rollouts with Product, Marketing, and Retail Operations. - Track allocation KPIs including store fill rates, size-level stockouts, sell-through, and inventory turns to improve future allocation strategies. ## Qualifications - 3+ years of merchandise planning experience. - Strong understanding of retail math, including markup, margin, sales, inventory productivity, and related KPIs. - Experience forecasting demand and managing inventory across multiple sales channels. - Strong analytical and financial acumen with the ability to translate data into actionable business recommendations. - Demonstrated ability to identify business risks and opportunities and influence cross-functional partners. - Strong product and assortment sensibility. - Excellent communication and presentation skills, including the ability to communicate complex information clearly to senior leadership. - Strong problem-solving, organizational, and time-management skills. - Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, highly cross-functional environment. - Strategic mindset with a focus on profitability, inventory productivity, and long-term growth. This search is confidential. Additional company and opportunity details will be shared with qualified candidates during the interview process. ## About The People Brand ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: The People Brand is a female-founded, owned, and operated talent acquisition agency specializing in executive and professional placements within the outdoor, lifestyle, beauty, wellness, and CPG industries. - **Entity Type**: Private (Bootstrapped) - **Headquarters**: Carson, California, United States - **Founded**: Not publicly available - **Founders**: Tiffany and Angella (both former HR executives from Nike, Hurley, and Fox Racing - last names not publicly available) ## Core Business - Primary industry/industries: Talent Acquisition & Recruitment (niche focus on lifestyle, outdoor, beauty, wellness, and CPG) - Target customers: Startups to Fortune 500 companies across outdoor, lifestyle, beauty, wellness, and CPG sectors; mid-to-executive level job seekers in those industries - Mission or purpose statement: To connect exceptional talent with leading brands that share their values, prioritizing cultural alignment, work-life balance, competitive compensation, DEI initiatives, and sustainability goals. ## Products & Services - **Executive & C-Suite Recruitment**: Headhunting and placement for senior leadership roles within target industries. - **Functional Recruitment Services**: Specialized placements across Marketing/Communications, Design/Graphic Design, Pattern Making/Technical Design, Product Development/Production, Merchandising, Sales, eCommerce/Digital, Finance/Accounting/Planning, Supply Chain/Operations, Human Resources/Talent Acquisition, Customer Service, Retail Stores and Operations, and Technical/Engineering. - **Consultative Talent Strategy**: A collaborative approach with clients to define and strategize roles before initiating a search, leveraging the founders' HR leadership experience. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (private, no disclosed funding) - **Key Metric**: 9 out of 10 success rate in hiring; maintains a low attrition rate for placements. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not publicly available (no disclosed investors). Partner brands span startups to Fortune 500 companies in their target sectors. - **Growth Signals**: Expanding job postings via their Lever careers page ([jobs.lever.co/thepeoplebrand](https://jobs.lever.co/thepeoplebrand)), indicating active recruitment for their own team. ## Competitive Advantages - **Industry Specialization**: Deep domain expertise in outdoor, lifestyle, and CPG sectors, which they call being "outdoor, lifestyle & CPG EXPERTS." This niche focus differentiates them from generalist agencies. - **Founder-Led Experience**: Founded by former HR executives from top lifestyle brands (Nike, Hurley, Fox Racing) with 20+ years of in-house HR experience, giving them insider knowledge of both client and candidate needs. - **Transparency**: Unique in the agency space for sharing salary information and company names upfront with candidates, a stated departure from typical industry practices. - **Cultural Fit Emphasis**: Invests significant time understanding company culture and candidate values, with a stated policy: "If we wouldn't place our own loved ones in a role, we certainly wouldn't place you there either." - **Personalized, Low-Volume Approach**: A "do things the right way" mentality that avoids rushing placements, resulting in high success and low attrition rates. ## Strategic Focus - Deepening partnerships with forward-thinking brands that prioritize work-life balance, DEI, and sustainability. - Leveraging their consultative HR background to provide high-touch, strategic talent solutions rather than transactional recruitment. - Utilizing AI tools to support parts of the hiring process (reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, identifying verification signals). - Building on their reputation as a female-founded, owned, and operated firm to attract mission-aligned clients and talent. ## Why Work Here - **Culture & Values**: The agency itself prides itself on being a culture-first organization, emphasizing trust, mutual respect, and true partnership. They seek to work with brands that share these values. - **Work Environment**: Based in Carson, CA, with a mix of on-site and hybrid roles posted for their own team. Positions include full-time roles in locations like Carson, CA and Detroit, MI. - **Transparency**: As an employer, they use AI tools to support hiring but also tout radical transparency (sharing salary and company names) as a core principle, suggesting a straightforward, honest internal culture. - **Team & Leadership**: Founded and led by two experienced, purpose-driven HR leaders with a “do the right thing” mentality. You'd be learning from veterans who deeply understand the talent landscape. - **Impact**: Work directly with top-tier lifestyle and CPG brands, placing talent that drives those industries forward. The agency's small, specialized nature means your work has a direct impact on client success. ## Sources 1. [The People Brand - Official Website](https://thepeoplebrandusa.com/) 2. [The People Brand - About Page](https://thepeoplebrandusa.com/about) 3. [The People Brand - Candidates Page](https://thepeoplebrandusa.com/candidates) 4. [The People Brand - Careers Page (Lever)](https://jobs.lever.co/thepeoplebrand) 5. [The People Brand - Job Board Portal](https://jobs.thepeoplebrandusa.com/) ## Other roles at The People Brand - [Senior Manager of International Marketing](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-manager-of-international-marketing-the-people-brand-carlsbad-zpn4x9h9bzt6) — Carlsbad, CA - [Head of Supply Chain](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-supply-chain-the-people-brand-st-paul-e0cgedtcckbf) — St Paul, MN - [Assistant Technical Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/assistant-technical-designer-the-people-brand-newport-beach-d33axa9vh84w) — Newport Beach, CA - [Technical Design Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-design-manager-the-people-brand-newport-beach-he9jec1crr2f) — Newport Beach, CA - [Senior Swim Technical Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-swim-technical-designer-the-people-brand-newport-beach-77n0yww0g8kb) — Newport Beach, CA - [Talent Acquisition Partner](https://feeny.ai/job/talent-acquisition-partner-the-people-brand-irvine-416zgaca2z6z) — Irvine, CA - [Global Head of Sales](https://feeny.ai/job/global-head-of-sales-the-people-brand-manhattan-beach-56jfre309bas) — Manhattan Beach, CA - [Senior Web Developer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-web-developer-the-people-brand-compton-bpnwmdwvtkwn) — Compton, CA - [Senior Graphic Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-graphic-designer-the-people-brand-compton-vd2ccz5pdhz2) — Compton, CA - [SIOP & Sourcing Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/siop-sourcing-manager-the-people-brand-rigby-1wf3dxxx7dar) — Rigby, ID