This position has ownership of demand planning activities for one of our largest and most strategic customer, Amazon and is responsible for ensuring the demand planning process delivers a reliable forecast as a key input to the supply planning system. Collaboration with members of the sales and Amazon support teams is critical to deliver on service and inventory availability objectives. This collaboration process will be managed through the IBP structure already in place. As a Demand Planning Manager, He/she will focus on:

Working with the Business Units, Sales, Operations, Supply Planning and Finance teams in the Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process to assure alignment in between the Demand, Sales and financial plans

Developing and monitoring process metrics to drive process conformance, problem solving and improvement. Identifying quantified risks within the demand plan, reviewing gaps with Customer and Trade teams and developing appropriate countermeasures for resolution. Managing directly and indirectly the input of SKU/DC/Customer requirements for replenishment, promotions, events, seasonal volumes and adds/deletes and validating plans directly with the customer.

Responsibilities:

• Create and/or maintain forecasting models for each item at each stocking location and for every customer within designated product lines to achieve established forecast accuracy goals.
• Executing the demand planning process, clarifying ambiguity, developing approaches to new conditions, addressing bias and delivering forecasts of unconstrained customer level demand.
• Leading the forecast collaboration process with Customer and Channel Trade teams to provide a baseline dollar forecast for lower-level forecast alignment.
• Assessment of customer level POS forecasts, establishment of metrics and facilitation of guardrail forecasting related to promotion and expectation above.
• Identifying quantified risks within the demand plan, reviewing gaps with Customer and Trade teams and developing appropriate countermeasures for resolution.
• Understand the key business drivers at key customers to identify opportunities for growth and risks to current plans.
• Integration of development activities and align Trade Marketing expectations internally through IBP/PRM processes.
• Reviewing system generated statistical forecast for account level sku/dc inconsistencies and making adjustments across the planning horizon by utilizing customer prior shipments, POS data, knowledge of business unit trends, and upcoming promotions to guide decision making.
• Manage demand history to realign forecasts based on item version changes, customer entity changes, etc.
• Ensuring that all discrete forecasts are appropriately added to the system, including promotions, events, POG's, discontinued and new products, and version changes.
• Prepare and present the demand plan and its assumptions, drivers and risks during the S&OP Demand Review meeting.
• Communicating with plants, Supply Planning, Trade, Sales and Finance to ensure translation of the demand plan across and through the organization.
• Problem solving the highest causes of error by researching error, determining root cause and driving for improvement.
• Contribute to the success of the overall business by representing supply chain interests in cross-functional project teams to implement changes to business processes
• Operating as a strategic thought leader/change agent working collaboratively with the supply chain teams on priority initiatives that optimize service, inventory and cost for the total value chain
• Mentors and trains team members on systems and processes as well as trading partners and groups in other business units or departments
• Identifies opportunities for improvement, makes constructive suggestions for change and drive for results

Requirements:

• Bachelor's Degree in Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Business Management or related technical field.
• Minimum 7 years' experience which includes:
• Experience across multiple aspects of the supply chain with previous roles in inventory management, supply/production planning and/or demand planning.
• Working in a CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) organization or a business-to-business supplier organization
• Technical understanding of ERP or bolt-on forecasting systems (SAP IBP preferred)
• Proven ability and willingness to develop relationships with internal customers and internal functional partners
• Expertise in data acquisition, spreadsheet/database development and analysis.
• Experience utilizing Lean principles and tools (Flow, Pull, Kanban, Kaizen, Value Stream Mapping, etc.).

Ability to:

• Process large amounts of data and deliver a concise recommendation.
• Influence others and drive cross-functional alignment.
• Communicate at various organizational levels and back-up thoughts with facts.
• Build strong, collaborative relationships with internal and external business partners.
• Work effectively in a constantly changing, fast paced team environment.
• Manage your own schedule and exhibit flexibility to support multiple projects while meeting all deadlines.
• Proficiency with Excel, Access, other MS Office applications, reporting and data warehouse and forecasting systems. SAP APO/IBP or Power BI experience is a plus.
• Strong communication (written and verbal) skills with the ability to back-up thoughts with facts and analysis.
• Strong results orientation and work ethic; able to work independently.
• Occasional travel required to Company, customer and/or partner locations in support of supply chain initiatives.