Director, Merchandising Planning & Analysis – Philadelphia, 19109

Famehouse, a division of UMG, is the preeminent leader in merchandise & D2C solutions in music, defining & delivering the industrys best-in-class service to connect artists with their fans. Established & headquartered in Philly, Famehouse powers merch and D2C for UMGs labels, artists, and Bravado. Our success & culture is fueled by collaborationboth within FH and with our partners. We are passionate about the impact of D2C & merchandise for artists, providing a full-service solution to grow an artists owned business including strategy, creative, merchandising, fulfillment, customer service, technology, and more.

How we LEAD:

The Director will be responsible for establishing planning frameworks, driving financial rigor across line plans and product portfolios, and enabling data-informed decision making across Direct-to-Consumer, U.S. Retail, International Retail, and Tour channels.

This role requires a strong combination of financial acumen, merchandising understanding, product finance expertise, analytical rigor, and cross-functional leadership.

How you’ll CREATE:

• Establish scalable planning frameworks that improve forecast accuracy and drive revenue, margin, inventory, and profitability performance.
• Enable data-driven merchandising and product decisions through reporting, insights, financial analysis, and scenario planning.
• Serve as a key strategic partner to Finance, Merchandising, and Product teams, ensuring alignment on targets, assumptions, investments, risks, and opportunities.
• Bring structure and visibility to the merchandising business through consistent processes, integrated planning, and performance tracking.
• Connect product creation and assortment strategies to financial goals, ensuring product decisions support sustainable, profitable growth.
• Own top-down financial planning across channels while partnering closely with channel planning teams to connect top-down targets with bottom-up plans.

Financial Planning & Forecasting

• Partner with the VP of Product Merchandising and Finance to develop revenue forecasts, margin targets, inventory plans, and financial plans across artists, categories, and channels.
• Own and manage forecasting processes, including Open-to-Buy planning, demand forecasting, scenario modeling, and multi-season operating plans.
• Support pre-season financial target-setting for revenue, margin, inventory, and profitability across DTC, U.S. Retail, International Retail, and Tour channels.
• Monitor performance against plan, identifying risks and opportunities and driving corrective actions.
• Support long-range planning, annual budgeting, and ongoing FP&A processes.
• Partner with Finance to provide clear visibility into forecast assumptions, investment needs, margin drivers, and financial trade-offs.

Product Finance, Profitability & Portfolio Management

• Act as a strategic thought partner linking the product creation and merchandising process to the companys financial goals.
• Develop holistic analyses of the end-to-end financial impact of product lines, including costing, pricing, margin performance, inventory investment, and assortment productivity.
• Evaluate product portfolio performance across artists, categories, and channels, identifying opportunities to optimize assortment mix, profitability, and marketplace inventory health.
• Assess cross-category and cross-channel trade-offs to support high-impact product investments and drive sustainable growth.
• Partner with Merchandising, Production, Supply Chain, and Finance to evaluate product economics, including cost structure, margin opportunities, and inventory risk.
• Provide recommendations to optimize product investments, pricing architecture, inventory allocation, and profitability across the global merchandise portfolio.

Line Plan & Assortment Analytics

• Partner with Merchandising to ensure line plans are grounded in financial targets, consumer demand, and performance expectations.
• Analyze assortment productivity, pricing architecture, category performance, and margin performance across categories and channels.
• Provide recommendations to optimize assortment mix, pricing, inventory allocation, and product lifecycle decisions.
• Support pre-season and in-season planning decisions through data, financial modeling, and analysis.
• Help ensure product assortments balance creative ambition, consumer demand, financial targets, and operational feasibility.

Data, Reporting & Insights

• Build and maintain standardized reporting frameworks and dashboards across DTC, retail, international, and tour channels.
• Track and communicate key performance indicators, including revenue, margin, sell-through, inventory health, profitability, demand trends, and forecast accuracy.
• Deliver actionable insights based on sales data, consumer behavior, product performance, and market trends.
• Partner with analytics, finance, and data teams to enhance reporting capabilities, planning tools, and financial visibility.
• Translate complex financial and product performance data into clear narratives for senior leaders and cross-functional partners.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Serve as the primary liaison between Merchandising and Finance, ensuring alignment on assumptions, targets, investments, risks, and performance.
• Collaborate with Supply Chain, Production, Retail, DTC, International, and Tour teams to align inventory, demand planning, costing, and financial expectations.
• Partner with Merchandising and Product teams to align creative and commercial product strategies with financial objectives.
• Support business reviews, providing clear narratives on performance, forward-looking risks, opportunities, and recommended actions.
• Influence decision-making across cross-functional teams by providing clear financial analysis, strategic context, and actionable recommendations.

Process & Planning Excellence

• Establish and standardize planning processes, tools, and templates across the merchandising organization.
• Drive consistency in line planning inputs, financial assumptions, product investment criteria, and reporting methodologies.
• Improve speed, accuracy, and transparency of planning across a growing global business.
• Create an integrated planning model that connects top-down financial targets with bottom-up channel, assortment, and product plans.
• Build processes that improve visibility into product profitability, inventory investment, forecast accuracy, and business performance.

Bring your VIBE:

• 812+ years of experience in merchandise planning, financial planning & analysis, product finance, strategic finance, retail finance, analytics, or related functions within retail, fashion, consumer products, music, entertainment, or global brands.
• Strong financial acumen, including forecasting, margin analysis, inventory planning, demand planning, budgeting, and profitability analysis.
• Experience working closely with merchandising, product, finance, supply chain, and channel teams in a cross-functional environment.
• Experience connecting product or assortment strategies to financial targets and business performance.
• Strong understanding of merchandise planning, line planning, pricing, costing, assortment productivity, and inventory investment.
• Advanced analytical skills with proficiency in Excel and data tools such as Tableau, Looker, Power BI, or similar platforms.
• Strong financial modeling, scenario planning, and data analysis capabilities.
• Ability to translate complex financial, product, and performance data into clear, actionable insights for non-finance stakeholders and senior leaders.
• Strong communication, influence, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience building or improving planning processes, tools, systems, and operating cadences.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity, balance creative and commercial priorities, and drive alignment in a fast-paced, evolving business.
• Bachelors degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, Merchandising, or related field preferred; MBA or advanced degree a plus.