The position of Senior Planning Director for Nike Stores is a critical leadership role in Nike Direct’s business, responsible for leading the planning teams that drive retail performance across Nike’s portfolio of Stores in EMEA (Inline Owned, Partner, and Value).
WHO YOU WILL WORK WITH
This role is responsible for leading Nike Stores through the entire planning process; from long range seasonal planning, through robust seasonal assortment and business planning, to executing and reviewing in-season allocation strategies and activities.
The role also ensures that cross-functional stakeholders and partners in both Nike Stores and the wider EMEA Sport and Planning community are fully informed about Nike Stores’ current retail performance and outlook, including any potential risks or opportunities to the plan, viewed through the lens of Channel and Sport.
In terms of team leadership, this role sets the pace and leads by example. The individual in this position is expected to clearly, visibly, and consistently demonstrate a commitment to prioritizing individual coaching and team development above personal agendas.
The role leads, drives and inspires a diverse team (6 direct reports + extended team) to work positively and collaboratively with curiosity and respect.
WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR
We are looking for a leader who is not afraid to play a critical role in shaping the future of Nike’s retail business in EMEA.
The Senior Planning Director for Nike Stores will lead our Stores planning team, driving cross functional collaboration to evolve our business and our processes to deliver retail excellence for athletes.
The role requires presenting and leading business discussions in Nike Direct leadership forums and coordinating and consolidating key planning and business deliverables, ensuring that our Nike Stores business is the pinnacle expression of Nike’s Sports Offense in the EMEA Marketplace.
This leader will oversee the pre-season planning process to ensure seasonal Sports plans represent the commercial needs of the channel and deliver on Nike’s Sport strategy and goals. In collaboration with key cross-functional partners such as Merchandising and Allocation, they will drive seamless in-season execution to deliver on those Sport strategies and meet Sport seasonal goals within channel business plans. Additionally, the role will work cross-functionally to define the next generation of retail and planning capabilities, leveraging the broader Operations and Supply Chain organization to deliver increasing productivity and consistency in our retail business.
We’re looking for someone who meets the following criteria:
Retail Planning
- Senior leadership experience in retail planning, ideally brick and mortar environments.
- Strong expertise in stock/sales planning, P&L management, and KPI analysis.
- Proven experience in merchandising and planning for an end-to-end retail business, with excellent understanding of the retail go-to-market process.
- Strategic and growth-oriented mindset; ability to leverage innovative techniques and approaches in retail planning and management to support marketplace growth across all channels.
Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
- Ability to optimize trade-offs, apply market insights, and challenge assumptions with evidence-based recommendations.
- Strong analytical skills: demonstrate how real-time marketplace dynamics affect retail performance.
- Experienced in using storytelling combined with data to drive decisions and achieve cross-functional alignment.
- Demonstrates curiosity about upstream and downstream impacts; seeks innovation and combines quantitative and qualitative insights for objective recommendations.
Risk Assessment & Decision-Making
- Evaluates risks holistically, makes fact-based recommendations, and presents clear options aligned with business goals.
Consumer & Market Focus
- Grounds plans in consumer needs and market trends; understands product lifecycle and identifies growth opportunities.
People Management
- Extensive experience managing and developing teams of senior leaders.
- Focus on fostering collaboration and high performance, prioritizing team goals over individual agendas, and recognizing both team and individual contributions.
Influencing & Communication
- Builds trust and relationships across teams; applies persuasion and negotiation techniques effectively.
- Crafts compelling narratives, adapts messaging to diverse audiences, and builds influence through consistent, value-driven communication.
WHAT YOU WILL WORK ON
- Lead the Nike Stores Planning function for EMEA, covering Assortment Planning, Business Planning, Location Planning, and Space Planning.
- Champion the Nike Direct strategy and translate it into actionable plans for Stores.
- Ensure Nike Stores Business Plans and Assortment Plans drive sustainable growth and meet strategic objectives for Nike Stores and Nike Sports, including productivity metrics across the store fleet.
- Serve as the primary representative for all Store Planning activities and as a core member of the Nike Stores Leadership team in EMEA. Keep the leadership team fully informed of key marketplace insights and commercial opportunities across both full-price and value stores, and ensure these are incorporated into plans through close collaboration with stakeholders.
- Set the in-season trading strategy for planning teams and provide clarity in business decisions to optimize revenue, margin, and inventory.
- Drive and maintain the planning vision for Stores. Lead and influence planning processes and capability requirements to create an efficient, focused Stores planning organization as part of a broader, effective commercial and operational model.
The deadline to submit your application is Friday 16th of January
Nike Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Nike and has not been reviewed or approved by Nike.
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Retirement Support — A 401(k) with a company match is complemented by options such as a Mega Backdoor Roth and deferred compensation for eligible earners. Financial coaching and structured savings programs support long-term financial security.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — An Employee Stock Purchase Plan with a stock discount sits alongside broad-based equity vehicles like RSUs and non-qualified stock options. These avenues expand wealth-building opportunities beyond base pay.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave includes maternity and paternity time, recently expanded in the U.S. to 16 weeks and extended to part-time retail teammates. Additional supports include childcare assistance at select locations and family-building benefits such as fertility, surrogacy, and adoption.
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