A Strategic Planner or Strategic Analyst is responsible for identifying the needs of their business and developing plans to determine the direction it should take to succeed. These analysts are employed in a variety of fields, though they are typically found in IT, finance, banking, business operations fields.
September 14, 2026 General Summary The Senior Planner, Central Planning plays a key role in managing Claire's total-company financial planning process across sales, margin, inventory, and OTB. This role translates enterprise financial targets into actionable planning guardrails, consolidates category plans into a total-company view, and identifies risks, opportunities, and recommended actions for leadership. As a key connection point between Finance, Category Planning, and the Director of Central Planning, this role drives cross-category alignment and owns recurring enterprise planning processes, reporting, and analysis. The Senior Planner will also help build the tools, processes, and operating cadence of a newly forming Central Planning function.
Key Responsibilities Function Build-Out:
Help build the framework, cadence, and tools for a newly forming Central Planning function, including the seasonal planning calendar and process governance that don't yet exist today Monthly Plan Review (MPR): Own the mechanics of the Monthly Plan Review, consolidating category performance and forecast updates into one enterprise view each month
Top-Down Target Setting:
Translate enterprise sales, margin, and inventory targets into department and category-level guardrails each season
Total Company OTB:
Own the total company OTB roll-up; reconcile category-level plans against enterprise targets and flag gaps
Cross-Category Reconciliation:
Partner with category Planners and Senior Planners to align their plans to guardrails; escalate conflicts and trade-offs to the
Director Enterprise Weekly Business Review:
Consolidate category-level WBR inputs into one total company narrative for leadership
Quarterly Hindsighting:
Own quarterly hindsighting analysis, evaluating plan-to-actual performance across categories to inform future seasonal strategy
Inventory Investment Strategy:
Partner with Finance on inventory investment and capital allocation decisions across categories
Oracle Merchandising Platform:
Serve as the Central Planning lead on requirements, testing, and readiness for the Oracle transition
Leadership Partnership:
Act as a thought partner to the Director, Central Planning, surfacing trends, risks, and recommendations at the enterprise level. Qualifications Bachelor's degree in business, finance, or a related field, or equivalent experience 5-7 years of experience in merchandise planning, financial planning, or FP&A, ideally with exposure to total company or enterprise-level planning Deep retail math fluency (OTB, turn, sell-through, margin) and comfort reconciling plans across multiple categories Strong Excel and planning systems skills (Oracle experience a plus) Executive-ready communication skills; comfortable presenting a consolidated, enterprise-level view to senior leadership Highly organized and process-oriented; able to own a recurring, cross-functional cadence independently Curious and collaborative, energized by building a new function from the ground up
