Back to search

Program Leader - Retail Transformation (Merchandising/Planning)

International Permanent View Job Description
You will lead the delivery and evolution of the organisation's e2e planning and merchandising technology landscape. You will play a central role in aligning strategy, technology, and commercial teams, while ensuring the new platform delivers measurable improvements in planning accuracy, inventory optimisation, forecasting capability, and decision intelligence.
  • Senior leader overseeing merchandising, planning & supplychain change
  • Ideal for candidates currently operating at Program leadership level

About Our Client

A well established enterprise undergoing a significant transformation of its planning and merchandising capabilities.

Job Description

  • Lead the overarching transformation program across planning, merchandising, inventory, and demand workflows.
  • Define and manage the enterprise implementation roadmap, ensuring alignment between business strategy and supporting technology.
  • Oversee system design, configuration direction, and integration requirements across planning, merchandising, and supply functions.
  • Work closely with technology, data, and architecture teams to ensure platform readiness, data quality, and scalability.
  • Drive adoption of advanced analytics and AI‑enabled decisioning within planning and merchandising teams.
  • Establish governance, operating structures, and engagement models between business stakeholders, IT, and delivery partners.
  • Manage external implementation partners, ensuring delivery quality, milestone alignment, and issue resolution.
  • Engage senior leadership confidently, presenting program progress, risks, and solution recommendations.
  • Ensure process, data, and workflow changes are adopted consistently across all business units.

The Successful Applicant

  • You bring 10-15+ years of experience across program management, consulting, retail technology, or large scale transformation environments, with a strong grounding in planning, merchandising operations, and inventory lifecycle management.
  • You have delivered complex, multi business unit transformation programs and possess solid understanding of demand forecasting, replenishment, retail data models, and planning KPIs.
  • You have practical exposure to AI/ML driven enterprise systems or advanced analytics used in decision support.
  • You are experienced in enterprise system integration and comfortable working closely with data, engineering, and architecture teams.
  • You excel in stakeholder alignment, communication, and program governance, with prior exposure to fashion, merchandising, or supply chain environments considered an advantage.
  • Ability to be based on Dubai for a full time role.

What's on Offer

The successful candidate will shape the organisation's next generation planning and merchandising capability, lead a major technology and process transformation, and partner closely with senior leadership to modernise a core business function.

Contact
Ruwise Sheriff
Quote job ref
JN-032026-6973408
Phone number
+97147090393

Job summary

Job function
Technology
Subsector
IT Management
Sector
Technology & Telecoms
Location
International
Contract type
Permanent
Consultant name
Ruwise Sheriff
Consultant phone
+97147090393
Job reference
JN-032026-6973408