What the Role Is
As a Divisional Senior Planning Manager at Babylist, you’ll own the financial and inventory strategy for a full division of our e-commerce business—directly shaping how we invest, where we take risk, and how we deliver for millions of families. This is a leadership role within Planning where you’re accountable not just for hitting your numbers, but for how decisions get made. You’ll set the standard for how planning shows up as a strategic partner to Merchandising and a driver of company performance.
Your day-to-day sits at the intersection of analytics, judgment, and influence. You’ll lead your team through forecasting, OTB, and in-season management, while personally engaging in the highest-leverage decisions—where to lean in, where to pull back, and how to respond when the business shifts. You’ll operate in close partnership with Merchandising, bringing a clear point of view and engaging in real debate to get to better outcomes. At the same time, you’ll work across Finance, Supply Chain, and Operations to ensure plans hold up in execution—not just in spreadsheets.
This role requires strong perspective and comfort with ambiguity. If you’ve primarily executed within well-defined planning frameworks, relied on historical trends without challenging them, or avoided tension in cross-functional decision-making, this will be a difficult seat. You’ll be expected to step in, raise the level of thinking, and influence beyond your direct scope—even when the answer isn’t obvious.
Who You Are
- 8+ years in merchandise planning, inventory planning, or retail finance, with direct ownership of a department or division-level P&L (sales, margin, inventory, OTB)
- 3+ years managing planners, including hiring and developing high-performing teams (at least 2 direct reports) and raising the bar on planning capability
- Deep expertise in retail math, forecasting, and inventory management, including OTB ownership, in-season reforecasting, and inventory turn optimization
- Proven ability to influence Merchandising leaders on assortment, pricing, and investment decisions, bringing a clear, data-backed point of view—not just reporting performance
- Experience leading cross-functional, cross-divisional initiatives that changed how planning operates (process, tools, or ways of working)
- Strong command of planning tools and data environments (e.g., advanced Excel, plus systems like Anaplan, Netsuite, SAP, or similar)—able to independently diagnose performance and translate it into decisions
- Experience operating across multiple inventory models (owned and drop-ship) and adjusting strategy based on category dynamics like lead times and product lifecycle
- Comfortable in high-growth, evolving e-commerce or omnichannel environments where you’re expected to build while operating and make decisions without perfect data
- You're genuinely excited about what AI can do - not just as a concept, but as something you want to get your hands on. At Babylist, every team uses AI daily, and we're looking for people who lean in
How You Will Make An Impact
- Own the end-to-end financial and inventory strategy for your division, setting direction across sales, margin, inventory, and turns in line with company goals
- Lead the monthly OTB process, framing tradeoffs and recommendations that directly influence leadership decisions on investment and risk
- Define and evolve divisional inventory and replenishment strategies, improving in-stock rates, inventory flow, and working capital efficiency in partnership with Supply Chain
- Act as the planning counterpart to Merchandising, shaping assortment and pricing decisions through clear, data-backed perspectives and healthy debate
- Identify risks and opportunities through weekly performance analysis, driving timely, cross-functional actions that change business outcomes
- Build pre-season financial plans that translate assortment vision into clear, executable targets across categories, classes, and key items
- Lead cross-functional initiatives that improve forecasting accuracy, streamline planning workflows, and scale the function as the business grows
- Develop and coach a team of planners, elevating analytical rigor, business judgment, and ownership across the team
- Raise the bar for Planning beyond your division by introducing better frameworks, tools, and ways of working that improve how decisions get made across the organization
Why This Role
- You own a full division P&L — sales, margin, inventory, OTB — with real authority to set direction, not just execute it.
- Planning is a strategic counterpart to Merchandising here, not a support function. You'll be in the room, expected to have a point of view and defend it.
- The function is growing to match the business — if you've wanted to shape how planning operates at scale, this is the right seat at the right time.
- Babylist serves millions of families at one of the most meaningful moments of their lives. The work is high-stakes, high-visibility, and genuinely matters.
About Compensation
We use a market-based approach to compensation. The starting salary range for this role is:
$140,685 to $168,905 + target 20% annual bonus and competitive equity
Your starting salary will be based on your location, experience, and qualifications, with increases over time tied to performance, role growth, and internal pay equity.
Who We Are
Babylist is the leading platform for expecting and new families. More than 10 million people shop with Babylist every year, making it the go-to destination for seamless purchasing, guidance, and expert recommendations. As a modern, AI-forward tech company, Babylist has expanded from a universal registry into a full ecosystem — the Babylist Shop, Babylist Health, Babylist Money, NYC and LA showrooms, branded content, and more — generating $750M in revenue in 2025. Building the generational brand in baby, Babylist is reshaping the $235B kids and baby market and helping parents feel confident, connected, and cared for at every step.
Our Ways of Working
Babylist is remote-first with team members across the U.S. and Canada who move fast, think smart, and use AI as part of how they work every day — not as an experiment, as an expectation. We come together twice a year to build the relationships behind the work, and we hire people who are genuinely excited about what's possible and prove it through how they show up.
Why You Will Love Working At Babylist
Our Culture
- We work with focus and intention, then step away to recharge
- We believe in exceptional management, and we invest in the tools and the time to connect with colleagues
- We build products that positively impact millions of people's lives
- AI is part of how we work, not a side experiment. You'll have leading tools like Claude and ChatGPT from day one, with no waiting on access, so the busywork gets handled and your judgment goes where it counts
Growth & Development
- Competitive pay and meaningful opportunities for career advancement
- We believe technology and data can solve hard problems
- We're committed to career progression and performance-based advancement
Benefits
- Company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance
- Retirement savings plan with company matching and flexible spending accounts
- Generous paid parental leave and PTO
- Winter Wonder Week: the whole company takes a paid week off at the end of the year, whether or not you celebrate anything, so everyone's out at once and comes back refreshed
- Remote work stipend to set up your office
- Perks for physical, mental, and emotional health, parenting, childcare, and financial planning
Important Notices
Recorded Interviews. Babylist uses an interview recording tool to record and transcribe interviews for evaluation purposes in accordance with applicable privacy laws. By participating in an interview, you consent to this recording and transcription.
Interview Integrity. AI is part of how we work at Babylist — we expect you to use it too. Your application and interviews should still reflect you and your own thinking. We'll tell you when AI is encouraged. Misrepresentation at any stage may result in removal from consideration for this and future roles.
How We Review Applications We use AI throughout our hiring process to help review, screen, and assess applications. These tools support our team's review; they do not replace it, and every hiring decision is made by a person.
Connections at Babylist. If you have a family member or close personal relationship with a current Babylist employee, please let your recruiter know. This helps us keep our process fair and transparent for everyone.
Protect Yourself from Scams. All official outreach comes from the Babylist Talent Team via @babylist.com email addresses only. We will never ask for payment or personal financial information. If you receive outreach via WhatsApp, Telegram, or a non-Babylist email — it's not us. Verify open roles at babylist.com/careers.