What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Space Planning Analyst position at JD Finish Line?
We are seeking a highly analytical and strategic Senior Space Planning Analyst to support new store openings, remodels, and fleet optimization initiatives across our athletic footwear and apparel retail portfolio. This role is responsible for establishing and managing store space distribution, merchandise capacity, option targets, and back-of-house planning to ensure stores are optimized for sales productivity, operational efficiency, and customer experience.
The Senior Space Planning Analyst partners closely with Merchandising, Analytics, Store Design, Visual Merchandising, Real Estate, and Store Operations teams to create scalable, data-driven store environments that support both performance and lifestyle product assortments.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead space planning activities for new store openings, remodels, relocations, and major store refresh projects
- Establish merchandise capacity plans, option counts, and category space distribution by location
- Determine back-of-house storage requirements and stockroom layouts to support inventory flow and replenishment efficiency
- Partner with Merchandising and Planning teams to align assortment breadth and inventory depth with available selling and storage space
- Provide space productivity analysis and recommendations using sales, inventory, traffic, and productivity metrics
- Support macro and micro space planning initiatives across the retail fleet, including seasonal capacity adjustments and prototype development
- Maintain and update store space databases, fixture inventories, and capacity documentation
- Participate in store walk-throughs and field visits to validate space assumptions and identify optimization opportunities
- Build reporting and presentations that communicate space allocation strategies and investment recommendations to leadership
- Ensure consistency in store planning standards while accommodating market-specific and format-specific business needs
Required Education and/or Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Retail Merchandising, Business Analytics, or related area
- 5–7 years of experience in Retail Merchandising, Space Planning, Store Planning, or related retail analytics functions
- Advanced knowledge of Excel and Google Suite
- Ability to derive cohesive insights from a variety of data sources
- Ability to communicate complex insights to both technical and non-technical audiences
- Desire to continually learn new skills, methods, and technologies as the job requires
Preferred Education and/or Experience
- Experience in athletic footwear, sporting goods, or apparel retail
- Experience supporting new store development and remodel initiatives in a multi-store retail environment
- Understanding of retail stockroom operations and inventory flow processes
Physical Demands
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- Sit for more than 6 hours per shift
- Use hands to finger, handle and feel
- Reach with hands and arms
- Talk and/or hear
- Walk or move from one location to another
- Periodically may need to climb, balance, stoop, kneel, or crouch
- Lift and/or move up to 10 pounds regularly and up to 50 pounds occasionally
Work Environment
The work environment for this position is a moderately noisy office setting.
The company reserves the right to modify this job description with or without notice. Employees may be asked to perform additional duties outside of normal job scope on a temporary basis per company policy.
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