Director, Demand Planner

ReKruiting Advisors LLC.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 130,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

ReKruiting Advisors LLC. is seeking a Director, Demand Planner to oversee demand planning activities across multiple brands. This position requires a strong leader to manage a team of planners, ensuring alignment with business projections and managing forecasting for 1000+ SKUs.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in consumer goods, a solid background in forecasting, and the ability to communicate complex ideas effectively. This role reports directly to the VP of Operations, and offers opportunities for significant impact on the operations organization.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in Demand Planning in fast moving consumer goods.
• 8+ years of experience managing teams.
• Expert knowledge of forecasting and inventory management.

Responsibilities

• Lead demand consensus process and align with business targets.
• Manage monthly S&OP process and internal meetings.
• Analyze statistical models and perform ad-hoc analysis.

Skills

Demand Planning

Team Management

Forecasting

Data Analysis

Communication Skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Math, Engineering, Supply Chain or Finance

Tools

Anaplan

Excel

Power BI

NetSuite

Job description

Director, Demand Planner

The Director, Demand and S&OP Planning will oversee a team of demand planners and be responsible for managing forecasting activities for multiple brands comprising 1000+ finished good SKUs sold globally. This role reports to the VP, Operations. To be successful in this role, 1) you must be a strong leader able to make quick decisions under ambiguous conditions while building consensus with cross-functional partners, 2) coach a team of demand planners with various experience levels, 3) articulately present ideas, data and conclusions to multiple levels of the organization.

Responsibilities

• Lead demand consensus process with internal stakeholders via pre-S&OP meetings to ensure demand plan is aligned with business projections and financial targets while accounting for overall supply chain KPIs- target service rates on core brands and core customers, maintaining the right SKU mix to reduce excess and obsolete inventory and reducing forecast error and bias.
• Lead monthly S&OP process in partnership with Supply planning lead; represent Demand Planning team in internal Operations meetings as well as cross-functional calls.
• Ownership of all demand planning building blocks and the ability to build Excel-based models and analyze statistical models generated by Anaplan.
• Exhibit ease at macro and micro level analysis and root causing gaps between forecast and actuals; routine analysis of shipments vs consumption at key retail partners; ability to perform time-sensitive ad-hoc analysis.
• Partner with PMO, Finance & Sales on NPD forecasts to ensure successful launch to market; understanding innovation timeline and performance monitoring and measurement is key.
• Be able to provide insight on pipe fill, replenishment velocities, cannibalization rates and promotional activity related lifts.
• Be an active partner to Sales & Marketing when developing recommendations on deletes.
• Motivate and coach the demand planning team to be curious and to dig deeper in order to effectively contribute to the overall service metrics for the operations organization.
• Own the demand planning module of our planning tool Anaplan & champion improvement of demand plan models; own all reporting dashboards in Power BI relevant to forecasting analysis and metrics.
• Identify opportunities for operational improvements, streamline processes and implement best practices.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in Demand Planning in fast moving consumer goods for major national retailers across mass, drug, club and grocery
• 8+ years of experience managing teams
• Bachelor’s degree in Math, Engineering, Supply Chain or Finance with a strong analytical background
• Expert knowledge of forecasting, S&OP or IBP process, inventory management, and scenario planning processes
• Experience with demand planning software such as Anaplan, Valogix and experience in an ERP/MRP environment
• NetSuite experience
• Superb communication skills, verbal + written – ability to clearly and concisely communicate complex ideas to various cross-functional stakeholders
• Demonstrated capability in making timely, difficult decisions to ensure critical business goals are met
• Highly proficient in data analysis using Excel, Power BI, etc.
• Results-driven mindset, ability to dig deep into data and question everything; high degree of comfort with ambiguity & organizations in transformation