The Role 

The Vice President of Planning is responsible for setting the overall merchandise planning and inventory strategy for our retail business. This role will set the direction for the merchandise category plans and allocation strategies across all states and channels to achieve sales, margins and inventory plans. The role is also accountable for leading large organizational change in people/process/systems as it relates to the planning teams – identifying new systems and technologies as well as processes to ensure that we optimize sales and margin and manage inventory effectively. This position is ultimately accountable for long range financial goals, vendor relations & income management, forecasting accuracy and inventory management. You will work in collaboration with Supply Chain, Vendors, and Finance to develop and implement replenishment processes to drive revenue and margins. Along with demonstrated skills and experience, we are looking for a leader who welcomes solving challenging problems, passionate about leading a large team through change and scale, has exceptional business judgment and relationship skills, and will develop a vision/strategy to support Green Thumb’s long-term growth. This position is based at the Green Thumb headquarters in Chicago, IL, with regular travel to our 50+ retail store footprint.

Responsibilities 

• Provide strategic direction and leadership. Act as a change leader to support company initiatives and develop new processes with merchandising partners in evolving operating model
• Lead and develop planning, store allocation and replenishment teams to achieve the merchandise strategy and goals
• Support pricing and promotional decisions in partnership with operations and finance teams to drive sales while maximizing gross margin
• Support analyzing store performance and identify underperforming stores and develop action plan for improved margin and profitability
• Develop and lead inventory optimization and inventory flow management to maximize stock levels, allocation, replenishment, receipt flow and inventory turns
• Build constructive and effective relationships with cross-functional business partners (ex. Vendors, Store Operations, Finance, Marketing, IT, and Supply Chain) to define, develop and execute inventory, merchandising and operational strategies to drive retail growth initiatives and improve store efficiency and customer experience
• Responsible for adjusting forecasts based on actual performance and provide recommendations and options with respect to lifecycle management, exit strategies and clearance inventory liquidation
• Champion and support new business, change and systems initiatives that support Green Thumb’s growth and competitive edge

Qualifications  

• Bachelor’s degree required, advanced degree preferred
• 15+ years progressively responsible and hands-on business experience with premier, market-leading companies. Combination of large public companies and high-growth organizations, with experience multi-channel or omni-channel retail planning/inventory experience
• Experience in high-growth and dynamic and national retail brick and mortar footprint
• Entrepreneurial and pragmatic
• Operationally strong, detail obsessed. Sees the big picture and understands how things connect. Must be able to operate at both strategical and tactical levels and appreciates that sorting the details is a requirement
• Track record of partnering with the leadership team and hands-on execution
• Excellent writing skills – can package ideas simply and persuasively
• Adapts and thrives in a demanding, fast-paced environment
• Possesses a high level of critical thinking
• Operates with a high level of professionalism and integrity, including dealing with confidential information
• Must understand and comply with the rules, regulations, policies, and procedures of Green Thumb
• Must have a solid understanding of the Cannabis laws, rules and regulations and passion to further their understanding and knowledge of the industry and the laws.

Additional Requirements 

• Must pass any and all required background checks
• Must be and remain compliant with all legal or company regulations for working in the industry
• Must possess valid driver’s license
• Must be a minimum of 21 years of age
• Must be approved by state badging agency to work in cannabis industry

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