Senior Category Planning Manager, EMEA

You lead the full seasonal category planning cycle for New Balance’s consumer performance and lifestyle segments in EMEA, aligning Brand, Merchandising and commercial teams to drive growth. You translate priorities into commercial frameworks, targets and in-season actions across wholesale, DTC and e-commerce. You own market intelligence, GTM execution and post-season learnings to inform future seasons. This role blends analytical rigor with product and market insight to shape category performance at scale.

• Discretionary bonus
• Health insurance discount
• Flexible working hours
• Pension scheme
• 25 days annual leave
• Hybrid working

• Lead pre-season category sales planning for all EMEA channels
• Translate brand and merchandising priorities into revenue targets and commercial frameworks
• Define option counts, depth-by-channel and investment levels to drive sell-in and sell-through
• Present plans to senior stakeholders, outlining assumptions, risks and opportunities
• Lead GTM process contributions from range sign-off to sell-in execution
• Build seasonal sell-in toolkits with targets and guidance by account tier
• Align sell-in with Marketing calendars and consumer moments
• Support market teams with sell-in prep and allocation recommendations
• Manage in-season performance: weekly sell-through, inventory, reorders and markdown exposure
• Identify risks/opportunities and drive proactive actions like reorders and stock rebalancing
• Lead in-season category reviews with cross-functional partners
• Develop category intelligence: consumer profiles, demand patterns, lifecycle, competition
• Translate insights into actionable commercial recommendations
• Deliver regular market intelligence and contribute to global GTM and product processes
• Act as category planning authority within central Sales Planning
• Ensure accurate category dynamics in rolling forecast and annual plan
• Collaborate with Finance to align revenue and margin with targets
• Build cross-functional relationships across Merchandising, Marketing, Customer Service and Supply Chain
• Support market and account execution without compromising strategy
• Provide guidance on assortment recommendations and sell-through targets
• Lead post-season reviews and translate learnings into improved frameworks
• Develop and manage a small category planning team
• Foster accountability, innovation and collaboration across partners

• Experience in sales planning, category planning, assortment planning or commercial operations
• Strong understanding of category performance drivers and margin management
• Highly analytical with advanced Excel; experience with BI tools (Tableau, Power BI, SAP, o9 or equivalent)
• Knowledge of seasonal GTM processes and assortment optimization collaboration with Merchandising
• Consumer-first mindset with product intuition and market awareness
• Proven ability to collaborate across Sales, Merchandising, Marketing, Finance and Supply Chain
• Experience managing and leading a team
• Confident communicator with senior stakeholders
• Solid understanding of the sporting goods and lifestyle retail landscape in EMEA
• Degree in Business, Economics, Merchandising or related field
• Fluent in English; additional European languages advantageous
• Willingness to travel across EMEA for planning reviews and events

• collaboration
• strategic thinking
• clear communication
• advanced Excel
• Tableau
• Power BI