Senior Manager - Business Planning & Commercials - Category Footwear

The role will have end-to-end responsibility for footwear business planning, production planning, commercial governance, factory capacity planning, vendor management, merchandising coordination, tooling planning, and delivery performance across the India business. The footwear business is increasingly dependent on an optimal combination of imports and local manufacturing to meet changing business, compliance, quality, cost, and availability requirements. In this environment, the role will be responsible for developing a clear understanding of current and future production capacity, identifying potential supply constraints, and proactively aligning production plans with business requirements. The position will work closely with Category, Merchandising, Planning, Sourcing, Finance, Supply Chain, Quality, Product Development, Operations, and manufacturing partners to ensure that the business has the right product, at the right cost, in the right quantity and at the right time. The ideal candidate should bring strong footwear industry experience, commercial acumen, analytical capability and a strong understanding of production planning, factory operations, vendor management, and business planning. Designation: Senior Manager Department: Category – Footwear Function: Business Planning & Commercials Location: Delhi Reports To: Director – Category (Footwear) Experience: 12+ Years Qualification: FDDI / NIFT preferred; Post-Graduation in Footwear, Business Planning, Supply Chain, Production Planning, Merchandising or a related discipline preferred Key Responsibilities 1. Business Planning & Commercial Governance

• Drive the overall business planning for the Footwear Category across India , ensuring alignment with business strategy, channel requirements, and financial objectives.
• Develop and maintain the annual, seasonal, and monthly footwear business plans in alignment with category and channel requirements.
• Understand the business dynamics and commercial requirements across Retail, MBO, Distribution, E-commerce, and other relevant channels .
• Translate sales plans and business requirements into actionable buying, production, and supply plans .
• Drive OTB planning and governance , ensuring that all buying decisions are aligned with approved budgets, business plans, and commercial objectives.
• Ensure appropriate approvals are obtained before commitments or buys are placed.
• Define and govern the Annual Footwear Buy Plan , including import and local production requirements.
• Monitor business performance against planned buys, sales, inventory, margin, and cost objectives.
• Partner with Finance and Category teams to ensure alignment between business plans and financial targets.
• Identify commercial risks and opportunities and provide timely recommendations to the leadership team. 2. Margin, COGS & Commercial Management
• Drive governance of agreed Gross Margin (GM%) deliverables for the Footwear business.
• Plan and monitor COGS as a percentage of MRP for each season and across relevant product/channel segments.
• Analyze cost structures and identify opportunities for improving product economics and overall business profitability.
• Work closely with sourcing, merchandising, and manufacturing teams to identify opportunities for cost optimization without compromising quality, product standards or delivery timelines .
• Monitor cost movements arising from local manufacturing, imports, production efficiencies, tooling, and other commercial factors.
• Evaluate the financial impact of production and supply decisions and provide recommendations to the Category leadership.
• Track commercial deviations against approved plans and ensure timely corrective action.
• Support scenario planning for changes in demand, production capacity, cost, lead times, and business requirements. 3. Production Planning & Factory Capacity Management
• Own the production planning framework for locally manufactured footwear.
• Develop a clear view of current and future factory capacity, production output, and available manufacturing capability .
• Align factory capacity with seasonal business requirements, sales orders, and agreed production plans.
• Monitor factory production output against the agreed plan and proactively identify capacity constraints.
• Work closely with factories to optimize production schedules based on business priorities.
• Manage production planning challenges arising from changing demand, quality requirements, compliance requirements, raw material availability, and factory constraints.
• Develop alternate production scenarios where planned output is at risk.
• Ensure production plans are realistic, achievable, and aligned with required delivery dates.
• Establish regular production planning reviews with manufacturing partners.
• Drive weekly and monthly production planning and dispatch reviews. 4. Factory & Vendor Performance Management
• Establish and maintain vendor/factory performance scorecards covering key operational and commercial parameters.
• Track and improve key KPIs including:
• OTIF – On-Time In-Full delivery
• On-time production completion
• Dispatch adherence
• Production output
• Capacity utilization
• Quality performance
• Production lead time
• Plan adherence
• Commercial compliance
• Identify underperforming factories/vendors and develop corrective action plans.
• Work with vendors to resolve production and delivery challenges and escalate critical issues to the appropriate stakeholders.
• Conduct regular factory reviews to evaluate production performance, capacity, constraints, and upcoming requirements.
• Undertake visits to production facilities as required to review production planning, manufacturing progress, and dispatch readiness.
• Ensure factories have clear visibility of business requirements and agreed production priorities.
• Drive accountability among vendors for committed timelines and deliverables. 5. Merchandising & Product Planning Coordination
• Partner closely with the Footwear Merchandising and Category teams to translate assortment and sales requirements into actionable production and buying plans.
• Ensure production planning is aligned with seasonal assortment requirements and approved sales orders.
• Monitor product-level requirements and identify potential supply gaps.
• Coordinate with merchandising teams on product availability, production status, and delivery timelines.
• Ensure that changes in product requirements, quantities or timelines are communicated to factories in a timely manner.
• Support business decisions related to local production versus imports based on capacity, cost, lead time, quality, and business requirements .
• Provide commercial and operational inputs into seasonal planning and range-building discussions. 6. Tooling Planning & Management
• Own the planning and governance of footwear tooling requirements in alignment with sales orders and production plans.
• Ensure tooling requirements are identified and communicated sufficiently in advance to avoid production delays.
• Track tooling development and readiness against agreed production timelines.
• Coordinate with relevant product development, merchandising, sourcing, and factory teams to ensure tooling availability.
• Identify tooling-related risks and escalate potential impact on production or delivery timelines.
• Establish visibility of tooling requirements across seasons and future production plans. 7. Imports & Local Manufacturing Planning
• Develop an optimal planning approach for the import and locally manufactured footwear portfolio .
• Evaluate business requirements and recommend the appropriate sourcing/manufacturing mix.
• Consider factors such as:
• Factory capacity
• Production lead time
• Product availability
• COGS
• Quality requirements
• Compliance requirements
• Tooling requirements
• Demand and sales plans
• Delivery commitments
• Proactively identify situations where local production capacity may