Director of Planning & Merchandising

Kinn Studio  |  Full-time  |  Los Angeles (in-office / hybrid)

About Kinn

Kinn Studio is a fine jewelry brand in its ninth year, built on the belief that luxury is what you keep, not what you wear once. We sell direct-to-consumer and through our retail stores in Culver City and New York, with a third location underway. We are scaling toward our next stage of growth, and we are building the leadership layer to get us there.

About the role

This is a new, senior role that fuses two skill sets: merchandise planning and finance. You own the financial planning and inventory engine the company runs on. You will keep the engine running from buy through delivery, own the cash plan and the P&L planning, and turn our numbers into decisions: what we can afford, what we should buy, and what happens next. As we add locations and inventory complexity, we need a single, trusted owner for forecasting, cash, and the buy.

This is an outcome-ownership role, not a reporting role. We are not looking for someone to produce spreadsheets and hand them up for someone else to decide. We are looking for someone who builds the plan, makes the recommendation, and owns the result. You will report to the CEO initially, and to a President/COO as that role is filled.

What you will own

• Financial planning, forecasting, and re-forecasting across DTC and all retail locations
• Annual budgeting and the annual operating plan; revenue, margin, inventory, and cash flow targets
• Cash flow planning and management, including reviewing cash against plan and flagging unexpected expenses
• Inventory planning and the buy: building the open-to-buy and monthly purchase plan, modeling unit and cost scenarios (including gold price sensitivity), recommending what we purchase, and issuing purchase orders to vendors
• Reviewing inventory purchase invoices and approving COGS invoices against the buy plan and expected cost
• Confirming billings are correct, including wholesale and consignment sales reconciliation against partner reporting
• Monthly COGS by channel and inventory-on-hand accuracy, partnering with our accounting team on the reconciliation
• Store-level economics: contribution and EBITDA by location, to inform where we invest and expand
• Channel and marketing economics at the portfolio level: spend versus budget, marketing as a percent of revenue, blended CAC, and channel contribution (not in-channel campaign decisions, which sit with the brand and ecommerce teams)
• The five-year dynamic model and the analysis that makes major decisions, including new store evaluation, defensible
• Cross-functional partnership with the design and production teams on what we make and how much, translating demand and sell-through into assortment and buy quantities

Tools you will work in

Shopify (sales and data), Sumtracker (inventory), Highbeam (banking and invoice approvals), Looker (reporting), and our open-to-buy and forecasting models in Excel.

What success looks like in your first year

• A forecasting and cash-planning rhythm the leadership team trusts
• A clear, defensible buy plan tied to demand, cash, and gold cost
• Inventory turns and aging actively managed, not reconstructed after the fact
• A store-economics view that lets us evaluate new locations on the numbers
• The CEO is no longer the person doing the planning and inventory analysis

Who you are

• You have a genuine passion for both the math behind the numbers and the product itself. Product and brand obsession is a must: you are naturally analytical, you live in the details of inventory and sell-through, and you can speak simply and clearly about the actuals and the reality of what is happening with our product. You love driving the business, not just reporting on it
• 7+ years in FP&A, planning, or finance, with real ownership (not just support) of forecasting, budgeting, and inventory planning
• Direct experience in a consumer, retail, or inventory-heavy business, ideally in the $10M to $100M range
• You have personally owned an inventory buy or merchandise plan, not just modeled one
• Comfortable making recommendations and standing behind them
• Strong enough operationally to partner with retail, production, and our accounting team, not just report on them
• Bonus: experience in jewelry, fashion, or a business where raw material cost (such as gold) materially moves margin, and experience with consignment or wholesale reconciliation

Compensation

• Base salary: $150,000 to $175,000, depending on depth and experience
• Performance bonus tied to metrics this role controls: forecast accuracy, inventory turns, buy-plan execution, and cash discipline
• Benefits Include: Medical, dental, and vision insurance, Company-paid life insurance, 401(k) plan with a 4% company match, Paid time off, Employee discount on Kinn product Annual Holiday Party and Invitations to pop-ups and other company events

Kinn Studio is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.