Product Launch & Allocation Analyst

Commercial Driven Allocation Strategy And Operational Launch Readiness

This role executes the commercial driven allocation strategy and operational launch readiness for new and exclusive products, ensuring the right launch volumes are positioned in the right channels, regions, and locations to capture full demand potential. It sits at the intersection of product development, commercial, and supply planning translating market demand insights into allocation and fulfillment plans that maximize sell-through and protect margin from launch through post-launch replenishment.

The position partners closely with cross-functional new product development teams, commercial regions, supply planning, and marketing to monitor operational readiness, plan launch and allocation volumes, align on campaign timing and asset readiness, and track order intake against forecast as products approach their retail introduction dates.

Key Responsibilities

New Product Introduction & Launch Planning

• Track operational readiness stage gates so new products can be added to production plans, and partner with Supply Planning to integrate launch requirements into production schedules for on-time, in-full delivery
• Plan production launch volumes and fulfillment priority to meet retail introduction dates across all regions and channels
• Monitor and manage product allotments throughout the NPI lifecycle to ensure accurate supply allocation, timely issue resolution, and alignment with program milestones.
• Coordinate with Operations, Finance, Marketing, and Commercial partners on timely item setup and asset creation so NPIs/exclusives are ready for order entry and merchandising
• Incorporate confirmed Marketing campaign windows into allocation prioritization, ensuring launch inventory is positioned to support planned activation dates across regions and channels
• Lead monthly NPI/Exclusives (S&OP) meetings, sharing insights on operational readiness, supply availability, and order book position for upcoming launches

Inventory Allocation Management

• Build and manage global allocation plans for new product launch volumes, optimizing initial allocations by region, channel, volume group, and store cluster
• Manage fulfillment priority and supply positioning so launch inventory is placed where demand is greatest
• Design and plan post-launch strategic inventory across fulfillment locations to support replenishment of newly launched products
• Monitor Available-to-Sell (ATS) levels and surface excess or constrained supply for products coming to or recently in market

Demand & Performance Monitoring

• Monitor global order intake against forecasted launch volumes and planned production, flagging gaps and advising the organization on corrective action
• Develop and mature sell-through and on-time fulfillment monitoring for new and exclusive products
• Analyze demand insights, order trends, and inventory performance to drive allocation recommendations and identify opportunities to improve allocation logic and automation
• Present business insights and launch status to senior leadership

Qualifications

• 3-5+ years of experience in allocation, inventory management, demand/supply planning, merchandise planning, or retail operations, ideally with new product launch exposure
• Demonstrated ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-volume environment, effectively managing competing priorities across multiple global New Product Introduction (NPI) launches each month.
• Working knowledge of supply chain operations, inventory optimization, and demand planning processes
• Strong program-management skills with the ability to drive cross-functional partners to deliver on deadline in an ambiguous, fast-moving environment
• Advanced Excel and modeling skills; experience with Alteryx (or similar), ERP, allocation, and BI/reporting tools
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to "tell the story" through data to audiences up to executive leadership
• A dependable, trust-building partner comfortable acting as a change agent and leading training to accelerate adoption of new processes