Director Assortment Planning

Your strategic leadership, analytical expertise, and passion for building customer-centric assortments make you a great fit for our Director, Assortment Planning position. Join our dynamic team today and find a rewarding career with a company that values you and all you bring to the table.

About Your Role:

As the Director, Assortment Planning at Dollar Tree, you will lead the strategy and planning capabilities that shape how we build assortments for our customers and drive profitable growth across the business. You will serve as a strategic partner and advisor to senior leaders across Merchandising, Inventory Management, Finance, and Operations, translating category strategies, customer insights, and financial objectives into actionable assortment plans.

Leading a team of 20+ Assortment Planning professionals, including Managers and individual contributors, you will build talent depth, elevate analytical rigor, and advance the tools, processes, and capabilities that enable better and faster assortment decisions. Your leadership will help optimize sales, margin, inventory productivity, and long-term growth while advancing Dollar Tree’s broader merchandising strategy.

Your day-to-day responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

Strategic Planning & Business Leadership

• Provide strategic leadership in the development and execution of assortment strategies that advance category financial objectives, customer value propositions, and Dollar Tree’s broader merchandising vision.
• Drive innovation in assortment planning through thought leadership, best practices, and advanced analytical methodologies that improve decision quality, inventory productivity, and operational effectiveness.
• Lead high-impact initiatives from concept through implementation, translating innovative ideas into scalable solutions that deliver measurable enterprise value.
• Leverage customer behavior, internal insights, market intelligence, and external trends to identify opportunities and inform merchandising strategies and business decisions.
• Simplify and optimize business processes by eliminating unnecessary complexity, streamlining decision pathways, and identifying opportunities for automation and improved ways of working.

Assortment Strategy & Planning

• Lead the development and execution of customer-centric assortment strategies through Product Line Reviews, weekly decomposition processes, and disciplined financial oversight.
• Partner with GMMs and Merchandising leaders to shape category strategies and tactics, translating customer insights, merchant vision, and business opportunities into actionable assortment decisions.
• Provide strategic direction to the Assortment Planning team, ensuring high-quality plans that support merchant initiatives, end-to-end Product Line Reviews, business reviews, and key enterprise priorities.
• Own the end-to-end assortment planning strategy, balancing customer needs, merchant vision, productivity, and financial objectives.
• Drive assortments that optimize sales, margin, inventory productivity, and sustainable category growth.

Analytical Leadership & Innovation

• Build and advance the analytical capabilities of the Assortment Planning organization, establishing a solution-oriented culture grounded in critical thinking, structured problem solving, and data-driven decision-making.
• Equip the team to diagnose root causes, solve complex business challenges, and confidently leverage a robust ecosystem of data, tools, and planning methodologies.
• Champion advanced analytics and AI-enabled capabilities, encouraging experimentation, innovation, and new ways of working that improve the speed and quality of assortment decisions.
• Partner across Merchandising, Inventory Management, Finance, and other functions to translate analytical insights into strategies, decisions, and measurable business outcomes.
• Advance planning capabilities across assortment planning, item planning, merchandise financial planning, store clustering, and related disciplines.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team of 20+ Assortment Planning professionals, including Managers and individual contributors.
• Recruit and develop talent that combines merchant curiosity, analytical thinking, design thinking, and strong business acumen.
• Create a culture of ownership and accountability by connecting individual work to customer and business outcomes and reinforcing accuracy, discipline, executional excellence, and independent critical thinking.
• Establish training and development programs that strengthen technical, analytical, leadership, and business capabilities across the team.
• Provide ongoing coaching and mentorship, helping associates achieve their professional goals while increasing their ownership of business outcomes.
• Build a strong talent and leadership pipeline through clear career paths, cross-functional exposure, mentoring opportunities, and increasing levels of responsibility.
• Foster a culture of continuous learning that keeps the organization current on emerging retail trends, planning methodologies, technology, analytics, and industry best practices.

Cross-Functional Leadership & Influence

• Serve as a strategic partner and advisor to senior leaders across Merchandising, Inventory Management, Finance, Marketing, Sales, and Operations.
• Facilitate cross-functional alignment around assortment priorities, inventory strategies, financial objectives, and key business initiatives within a complex matrixed environment.
• Influence business decisions through strong analytical storytelling, clear recommendations, and an ability to translate complex information into actionable strategies.
• Build strong partnerships across functions to ensure assortment strategies can be effectively executed throughout the organization.
• Contribute to broader transformation initiatives and champion the adoption of new tools, processes, technologies, and capabilities.

What We’re Looking For:

• 6+ years of progressive experience in retail planning, assortment planning, merchandise planning, inventory management, advanced analytics, or a related discipline.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Economics, Analytics, Finance, Merchandising, or a related field; Master’s degree preferred.
• Deep understanding of retail planning principles, merchandising processes, and advanced analytics.
• Demonstrated expertise in planning methodologies including assortment planning, item planning, merchandise financial planning, and store clustering.
• Strong analytical and financial acumen with the ability to translate complex data into actionable business strategies.
• Experience partnering closely with Merchandising and Inventory Management teams to drive measurable business results.
• Demonstrated experience leading, developing, and building high-performing teams.
• Strong strategic thinking, problem-solving, and change leadership capabilities.
• Ability to influence senior leaders and drive alignment across multiple functions within a matrixed organization.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to effectively engage associates and leaders at all levels of the organization.
• Ability to balance long-term strategic thinking with disciplined execution and operational excellence.

Salary Range: $185,000 - $203,500 base + bonus + equity