Senior Manager - Business Planning & Commercials - Category Footwear

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 not be sufficient and recommend alternate supply solutions.
• Support the Category leadership team with data-driven recommendations on production versus import decisions.

8. Business Analytics, Reporting & MIS

• Develop and maintain robust business planning and production tracking tools to provide timely visibility to the Category and leadership teams.
• Prepare detailed and actionable analytics covering:
  • Business plan vs. actual
  • Buy plan vs. actual
  • OTB utilization
  • Production plan vs. actual
  • Factory capacity
  • Production output
  • OTIF performance
  • Dispatch status
  • COGS and margin
  • Vendor performance
  • Tooling readiness
  • Supply risks
• Ensure all reports are supported by accurate, timely and reliable data.
• Provide clear insights, risks, and recommended actions, rather than only reporting historical performance.
• Establish weekly and monthly reporting mechanisms for leadership review.
• Develop dashboards that provide forward-looking visibility on production and supply risks.
• Highlight deviations early and ensure ownership and closure of action points.

9. Process, SOP & Governance

• Develop and strengthen SOPs, processes and governance mechanisms for business planning, production planning, factory reporting and vendor management.
• Standardize planning and reporting practices across factories and business stakeholders.
• Ensure factories follow agreed reporting formats, timelines, and planning processes.
• Establish clear escalation mechanisms for production, capacity, quality, and delivery risks.
• Drive process discipline and ensure adherence to agreed procedures.
• Identify opportunities for process improvement, automation, and increased planning efficiency.
• Align India factory processes with relevant global Skechers requirements, processes, and best practices.
• Facilitate effective communication between India factories and the global team.

10. Cross-Functional Collaboration

Work closely with internal and external stakeholders including:

• Category - Footwear
• Merchandising
• Planning
• Sourcing
• Supply Chain
• Finance
• Quality
• Product Development
• Retail
• E-commerce
• Distribution
• Operations
• Global/Regional Teams
• Local Manufacturing Partners
• Vendors and Factories

Ensure that all stakeholders have timely visibility of business plans, production requirements, risks, changes, and delivery commitments.

11. Team Leadership & Capability Building

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of approximately 4 direct reports.
• Establish clear goals, responsibilities, and performance expectations for the team.
• Build strong analytical, planning, and commercial capabilities within the team.
• Encourage ownership, accountability, and proactive problem-solving.
• Review team performance through structured business reviews and KPI tracking.
• Develop succession capability and ensure adequate functional coverage.
• Create a culture of urgency, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Key Performance Indicators

The role will be measured against a combination of business, commercial, operational, and planning KPIs, including:

Business & Commercial

• Annual/seasonal business plan adherence
• OTB utilization and governance
• GM% achievement
• COGS% to MRP
• Buy plan adherence
• Commercial savings/optimization initiatives

Production & Supply

• Production plan adherence
• Factory capacity utilization
• On-time production completion
• OTIF performance
• On-time dispatch percentage
• Production lead-time adherence
• Reduction in production-related business risks

Vendor Management

• Vendor/factory scorecard performance
• Improvement in underperforming vendor performance
• Timely closure of corrective action plans

Planning & Governance

• Accuracy and timeliness of business/production plans
• Timely identification of capacity constraints
• Tooling readiness against production requirements
• Compliance with planning SOPs
• Accuracy and timeliness of management reporting

Candidate Profile

Educational Qualification

• Graduate/post-graduate qualification from FDDI, NIFT or another reputed institution preferred.
• Candidates with a strong Footwear Production Planning / Manufacturing / Supply Chain / Merchandising / Business Planning background may also be considered.
• Post-Graduation in Business Management, Supply Chain, Operations, or a related discipline would be an advantage.

Experience

• 12+ years of relevant experience, preferably within the footwear industry.
• Strong experience in business planning, production planning, footwear manufacturing, and/or commercial planning.
• Experience working with footwear factories, vendors, and manufacturing partners.
• Strong understanding of footwear production processes, capacity planning, and delivery management.
• Experience managing multiple stakeholders and leading a team is essential.
• Exposure to both local manufacturing and import planning would be highly desirable.

Functional Competencies

The candidate should demonstrate strong capability in:

• Footwear Business Planning
• Production Planning
• Factory Capacity Planning
• Commercial Planning
• OTB Planning & Governance
• COGS & Margin Management
• Vendor Management
• Factory Performance Management
• Merchandising Coordination
• Tooling Planning
• Supply Planning
• Business Analytics
• MIS & Dashboard Development
• Cost Optimization
• Process & SOP Development
• Risk Identification & Mitigation
• Cross-functional Stakeholder Management

Behavioral Competencies

• Dynamic and versatile with the ability to operate in a fast-paced business environment.
• Strong analytical and planning orientation.
• High level of commercial acumen and business understanding.
• Strong decision-making and problem-solving ability.
• Highly detail-oriented with strong process discipline.
• Strong sense of urgency and ownership.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Team player with the ability to work effectively across functions and cultures.
• Ability to work under pressure and manage stretched timelines when business requirements demand.
• Strong execution focuses with a proactive approach to identifying and resolving issues.

Technical Skills

• Advanced proficiency in MS Excel, including data analysis, reporting and business planning.
• Strong working knowledge of PowerPoint for management presentations.
• Working knowledge of MS Word.
• Experience with ERP/Planning/Business Intelligence systems would be an advantage.
• Ability to build and maintain analytical dashboards and production/business tracking tools.

Key Role Expectations

The successful candidate will be expected to:

Own the India Footwear business planning agenda and ensure alignment between business requirements and supply capability. Maintain strong forward visibility of production output, factory capacity, and delivery commitments. Ensure the right balance between imports and local manufacturing. Protect and improve commercial outcomes through OTB, COGS and GM governance. Ensure factories and vendors deliver against agreed plans and timelines. Identify production, capacity, tooling, and delivery risks before they impact the business. Provide leadership with accurate, timely and actionable business intelligence. Establish robust planning processes, SOPs, and governance mechanisms. Build a high-performing and commercially oriented planning team. Act as a key link between Category, Merchandising, Factories, Vendors, Finance, Supply Chain and Global Stakeholders.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate will be a footwear industry professional with strong business planning and commercial expertise, who can operate across both strategic planning and day-to-day execution. The person should be equally comfortable analyzing business numbers, reviewing factory capacity, challenging production plans, managing vendors, driving cross-functional alignment and presenting clear recommendations to senior leadership.

The role requires an individual who can anticipate business requirements, translate them into executable production and commercial plans, identify risks early and drive stakeholders towards timely closure, while maintaining strong process discipline and commercial accountability.

About Skechers

Skechers, a global Fortune 500® company, develops and markets a diverse range of lifestyle and performance footwear, apparel, and accessories. Serving over 180 countries and territories, Skechers connects customers to products through department and specialty stores, e-commerce and digital stores, and through our more than 5,300 Skechers retail locations.