Strategic Customer Analyst

J.D. Irving, Limited; Toronto; On-site; CAD 60,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a dedicated VMI Analyst to enhance business synergies and optimize customer forecasts. In this dynamic role, you will leverage your analytical skills to manipulate and interpret data, collaborate with cross-functional teams, and drive continuous improvement initiatives. With a focus on enhancing inventory management and ensuring customer satisfaction, this position offers the opportunity to work in a fast-paced environment where your contributions will directly impact business success. Join a team that values innovation and collaboration, and make a difference in the supply chain landscape.

Benefits

Flexible medical, dental, and vision plan

Employee & family assistance program

RRSP matching program

Health & Wellness reimbursements

Product purchase program

Job-related training and development opportunities

Relocation cost (if applicable)

Qualifications

• 2+ years experience as VMI Analyst, Demand Planner, or related role.
• Strong analytical skills with advanced Excel proficiency.
• Ability to work collaboratively and communicate effectively.

Responsibilities

• Increase business synergies between Irving and the Customer.
• Prepare forecast reviews to improve accuracy and lead initiatives.
• Monitor inventory and provide recommendations to customers.

Skills

Analytical Skills

Problem-Solving Skills

Communication Skills

Critical Thinking

Collaboration Skills

Detail-Oriented

Ability to Work Under Pressure

Flexibility

Education

Bachelor's Degree in a related field

Tools

MS Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, SharePoint)

Cognos

Tableau

PowerBI

RetailLink

SAP

JDA

Job description

What We Offer:

• Flexible medical, dental, and vision plan
• Employee & family assistance program
• RRSP matching program
• Health & Wellness reimbursements
• Product purchase program
• Opportunities to take part in job-related training and development
• Relocation cost (if applicable)

Qualifications

• 2+ years as a VMI Analyst, Demand Planner, Replenishment Analyst, CPFR Analyst, or related field
• Ability to assess customer needs, develop recommendations, and drive solution implementation.
• Ability to quickly pivot to customer requirements and strategize thoughtful solutions working alongside various team members to help influence and execute as needed.
• Analytical skills with the ability to manipulate, summarize and interpret large amounts of data using advanced Excel skills.
• Ability to effectively summarize and present information.
• Detail-oriented with strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Able to manage priorities and multi-task.
• Critical Thinking, requiring a strong ability to draw sound conclusions from information from less vital ones with respect to solving a particular business problem; also have the capacity to analyze data objectively, applying logical thought and proffering solutions, taking a long-term perspective.
• Collaborative skills: They must be able to work with cross-functional teams and have the maturity to interact directly with senior executives across departments, as well as provide leadership to teams on the implementation of strategic initiatives.
• Strong professional verbal, written and overall communication skills.
• Independent worker, reliable, resourceful, motivated and a fast learner.
• Must be able to work well under pressure in a very fast-paced environment.
• Strong proficiency with MS Office skills to include MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and SharePoint.
• Experience with relevant analytical tools such as Cognos, Tableau, PowerBI, RetailLink, SAP, or JDA would be considered an asset.
• Flexibility to adapt to changing plans.
• Ability to work with minimal supervision.

Responsibilities

• Increase business synergies between Irving and the Customer.
• Collaboration with customer on forecast and complete root cause analysis.
• Prepare forecast reviews to improve forecast accuracy.
• Complete Postmortem analysis on key promotions to improve processes.
• Lead, create and execute continuous improvement initiatives.
• Establish and maintain KPI’s and data visualization.
• Within your assigned customers, review customer’s forecast and communicate over/under forecasting and adjust with key external and internal partners, Sales, Demand Planners and Supply Chain.
• Review weekly promotional forecast to coordinate and ensure proper volumes/shipments minimizing excess inventory at the distribution center level.
• Coordinate Customer’s forecast allocation with Sales, Demand Planners and Supply Chain.
• Prepare forecast reviews to improve forecast accuracy.
• Collaboration with customer on forecast and buffers.
• Monitor customer POS and inventory to ensure in-stocks and weeks of supply meet or exceed customer targets, with an increased focus on high volume stores, inclusive of item transitions.
• Investigating and coordinating with customer on any Non-Compliance related deductions.
• Provide recommendations to customer on inventory based on upcoming activities.
• Strategically influence customers to gain support for replenishment and recommend item/store inventory strategies to ensure appropriate store level product replenishment.
• Utilize Customer reporting capabilities to provide analytical support to internal & external customers.
• Provide recommendations to customer on inventory based on upcoming activities and DOH velocity by distribution center.
• Improve In Stock Availability, closing gap between Inbound Fill Rate and Outbound Fill Rate with strong focus on exceeding service level targets.
• Ongoing collaboration and partnership with customer in customer facing capacity.