Sr. Manager, Demand & Inventory Process Excellence

Novolex; Lake Forest (IL); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) match

Medical, dental, vision insurance

Paid time off

Parental leave

Holidays and wellness program

Job summary

Novolex seeks a Lead, Demand & Inventory Process Excellence to govern enterprise demand planning and inventory management within the SIOP framework. This role ensures unbiased forecasts, policy compliance, and decision-ready targets across the organization.

You will partner with analytics to align metrics, drive governance, and advance maturity in planning standards while developing a team of policy analysts and ensuring cross-functional collaboration.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required in a related field (see education)
• 8+ years of experience in demand planning, inventory strategy, or integrated planning environments
• Hands-on experience in S&OP / SIOP operating models
• Strong working knowledge of forecasting methods, inventory policy, and segmentation strategies

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain enterprise demand planning and inventory management standards
• Govern forecasting methodologies, consensus rules, and bias thresholds
• Own segmentation frameworks and inventory policy principles
• Audit demand planning and inventory processes for compliance with enterprise standards
• Identify gaps in planning discipline, data usage, and adherence to policy
• Certify demand and inventory readiness entering SIOP forums
• Serve as the Process Excellence authority for demand and inventory topics within SIOP
• Partner with Analytics to align metric definitions and insights
• Lead and develop analysts supporting demand and inventory governance

Skills

Demand planning

Inventory management

S&OP / SIOP

Forecasting methods

Governance & policy design

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Statistics, Operations, Industrial Engineering, or related field

Job description

Company Overview

Why Choose Us?

Novolex is a leading manufacturer of food, beverage, and specialty packaging that supports multiple industries including foodservice, restaurant delivery and carryout, food processing, grocery and retail, and industrial sectors. Novolex manufacturing and sourcing expertise spans a diverse range of substrates including resin, paper, molded fiber, aluminum and more. We provide customers a broad array of stock and customized solutions with 120 product categories, 250 brands and over 39,000 SKUs.

Our Sustainability Commitment

The Novolex sustainability vision is built upon three pillars: our products, our operations and our people. Each is critically important to our growth and future as a business. These pillars form the foundation of our company-wide commitment to sustainability, helping us achieve our ambitious goals through our wide-ranging initiatives.

Job Description

This is a hygrid position.

Role Overview

The Lead, Demand & Inventory Process Excellence owns the enterprise standards, policies, and governance for demand planning and inventory management within the SIOP operating model. This role ensures that demand forecasts and inventory targets are unbiased, policy-compliant, decision-ready, and align to enterprise objectives.

This role exists to govern how demand and inventory plans are created, not to create the plans themselves – providing assurance, discipline, and transparency so SIOP decisions are credible, comparable, and executable across the enterprise.

Key Responsibilities

Demand & Inventory Policy Governance

• Define and maintain enterprise demand planning and inventory management standards
• Govern forecasting methodologies, consensus rules, and bias thresholds
• Own segmentation frameworks and inventory policy principles
• Ensure consistent application of demand and inventory standards across business units

Planning Discipline & Assurance

• Audit demand planning and inventory processes for compliance with enterprise standards
• Identify gaps in planning discipline, data usage, and adherence to policy
• Certify demand and inventory readiness entering SIOP forums
• Ensure assumptions, methodologies, and targets are decision-ready

SIOP Integration

• Serve as the Process Excellence authority for demand and inventory topics within SIOP
• Partner closely with Analytics to align metric definitions, diagnostics, and insight usage
• Support Demand Consensus and Pre-SIOP with governance perspective, not analytical ownership
• Escalate policy conflicts, bias risks, and structural demand/inventory issues to the Director

Maturity & Continuous Improvement

• Assess demand and inventory planning maturity and policy effectiveness
• Drive continuous improvement in planning standards, governance rigor, and assurance methods
• Contribute to enterprise SIOP maturity roadmaps and governance evolution

Leadership & Capability Development

• Lead and develop Process & Policy Analysts supporting demand and inventory governance
• Build repeatable audit tools, templates, and standards documentation
• Act as a subject-matter authority on demand and inventory governance across Supply Chain

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Statistics, Operations, Industrial Engineering, or a related field
• 8+ years of experience in demand planning, inventory strategy, or integrated planning environments
• Hands-on experience in S&OP / SIOP operating models
• Strong working knowledge of forecasting methods, inventory policy, and segmentation strategies

Core Competencies

• Planning standards and policy design
• Forecast evaluation and bias identification
• Inventory strategy and capital efficiency
• Process auditing and assurance
• Cross-functional collaboration and influence
• Governance mindset with strong business judgement

Success Measures

• Forecast bias maintained within defined policy thresholds
• Inventory targets consistently aligned to enterprise policy
• Demand and inventory readiness scores at SIOP
• Closure rate of audit findings and governance gaps
• Increased confidence in demand and inventory inputs to executive SIOP

A reasonable estimate of the current range is $150,000-$170,000+ bonus + benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target salaries for the position across all US locations. Within the range, individual pay is determined by job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. At Novolex, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at the top of the range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case.

The benefits for this role include 401(k) plan with company match, comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, flexible spending and health savings accounts, paid vacation, and sick days, paid parental leave, paid holidays and wellness program.

#LI-Hybrid

Company Benefits

What You'll Get From Us

Benefits

With safety as our top priority and a commitment to employee well‑being an important focus, we offer comprehensive and competitive benefits that include medical, dental and vision insurance as well as a variety of other well‑being resources focused on mental, physical and financial health. Specific benefits and well‑being programs may vary depending on where you work.

Community Engagement

At Novolex, giving back to the local communities that support us is important. Our Focused Giving Program prioritizes support for organizations whose missions promote sustainability initiatives or address food and hunger needs. We also encourage facility level support of activities in the communities where our employees live and work.

Training and Development

We offer constant opportunities for advancement. From skills development to advanced education programs, training and development programs and courses are available through MyLearning. Programs include company and industry training curricula, support for formal education through the Tuition Reimbursement Program (Non-Union), and a Learning Management System that supports and enhances employee skills at all levels of the organization.

Novolex is committed to providing equal employment opportunity in all employment practices, including but not limited to selection, hiring, promotion, transfer, and compensation to all qualified applicants and employees without regard to age, race, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, handicap or disability, genetics, citizenship status, service member or veteran status, or any other category protected by federal, state, or local law. Any individual who, because of his or her disability, needs an accommodation in connection with an aspect of the Company's application process should contact [e-mail].

Formerly Pactiv Evergreen