Demand Planner

Description

• SCHEDULE: Monday-Friday 40+ hours a week
• BENEFITS: This position is full-time benefit eligible, elective benefits include:
  • Medical, dental, hearing and vision insurance. 
  • Marathon Health Clinic - a premier on-site healthcare provider. A separate entity from Herr's, located at our Nottingham, PA facility. This facility ensures easy access to tailored healthcare services, preventative care, wellness programs, for employees on any medical plan 
  • Opportunity to contribute to a 401k, with a company match. 
  • Paid vacation, holiday and sick time.
  • Paid Employee referral program. 

Key Responsibilities

• Focuses on understanding the business to recognize the business driver inputs and initiatives.
• Translate customer and Business Development team contribution for input into the demand plan. 
• Responsible for baseline forecasts in a high SKU count branded and private label portfolio.
• Assemble and analyze large volumes of data pertinent to creating the forecast (historical sales, market trends, seasonality, promotions), and provide insight and recommendations to improve process internally and externally. 
• Develop and execute changes to the demand plan based on changes in demand, promotions, and market trends, including new product launches and placement.
• Collaborative planning with internal customers as part of Integrated Business Planning to layer inputs into baseline forecasts. Ensure reasonableness of forecast inputs. Challenge assumptions & escalate for decisions as needed.
• Track monthly forecast error results versus established targets and identify and report on the root cause.
• Participate in IBP Demand Reviews, clearly interpreting the demand plan and underlying assumptions to a cross functional audience.
• Support implementation of new demand planning system(s), including data validation, testing, and process
• Support Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning process by reviewing model selection, monitoring the change introduced by statistical forecast adoption to baseline for sense check, and making appropriate adjustments to stat adopted baseline where necessary to align with business assumptions/expected trends.
• Work to maintain high accuracy rates as defined by Management, at the Sales Channel and Product Family level.
• Support other arms of the Integrated Business Planning Process as needed (PMR, Supply Review, IR, MBR).
• Bridge IBP long-term demand plan to short term execution, analyzing orders against forecast and demand signals to production.
• Short-term weekly demand planning, partnering with Supply Chain Analyst, is another critical piece of this role. 
• Part of cross-functional teams with Business Development, Marketing, Supply Chain, Customer Service, and Operations to ensure cross-functional alignment and meet customer fill rate objectives.
• Play an active role in the annual budget process.

Qualifications

• Effectively manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment undergoing transformation
• Self-directed, approachable problem-solver comfortable speaking up and dealing with ambiguity.
• Ability to summarize and highlight key messaging
• Understanding of statistical forecast principals
• Demonstrated communication, collaborative and analytical competencies
• Experience in category level Integrated Business Planning preferred
• Strong Microsoft Excel skills required. Intermediate required. Advanced preferred.
• Knowledge of demand planning software is a plus.
• B.S degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, Statistics, Operations Research, or related field
• 3-5 years of previous experience in consumer product forecasting, preferably within the food industry or Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) related companies