Demand Planning Managers are responsible for short-term and up to two-year forecasting at the item/customer level. The planner will use a variety of data sources including consumption trends, sales promotional data, new marketing product plans, and statistical models to create a demand signal. The monthly goal is to deliver an accurate and cross-functionally aligned rolling demand plan. A key responsibility of the Demand Planner is to develop, document, update and challenge the assumptions supporting the demand plan.

Key Responsibilities (or Principle Accountabilities):

• Support the Mars Culture by leading and living the Five Principles and communicating our expected business environment to all associates
• Demonstrate leadership in living the Purpose of Royal Canin business throughout the organization
• Ability to influence internal organization around business, customer, and market opportunities
• Enable the success of Royal Canin through Outstanding leadership in the areas of:
  • Leverage Business Unit and market intelligence to determine business impact
  • Monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) monthly to provide the most accurate projections of customers’ future needs to enable the end-to-end supply chain to execute a plan to best service our customers

Direct responsibility for oversight of:

• Work cross-functionally to develop and optimize a rolling 24-month statistical SKU-level forecast of over $1B in annual sales to guide both supply chain and financial planning decisions within the US market
• Royal Canin US Key User for the OMP Demand Planning system
• Maintain OMP as the primary forecasting system to forecast market trends, historical trends and Sales/Marketing Team DMR decisions
• Participate in monthly Demand Review Meetings with Sales & Marketing teams to gather information related to market activity and incorporate into the forecast
• Collaborate with Sales & Marketing to develop sales forecasts for new products
• As a key stakeholder in the S&OP+ process, maintain and present Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) along with in-depth business insights to the Business Units and Senior Leadership teams
• Influence functional business decisions through analytics presented to Senior Management and Business Unit Leadership Teams
• Partner with Sales Planning Managers in Demand Management Review (DMR) and Feeder Meetings that includes collaborating with Sales, Marketing, Finance, & Supply Chain
• Key stakeholder in the execution and continuous improvement of the S&OE/Short Term Planning Process

Functional Competencies:

• Comfort Around Higher Management – Participate in monthly BU Demand Planning Review meetings

• Analytical Capabilities - Understand the factors influencing accurate forecasting and be able to articulate the plan to cross-functional partners
• Standing Alone - Ability to challenge cross-functionally using fact-based arguments
• Prioritization - Ability to work independently and prioritize
• Problem Solving - Periodic KPI root causing across demand planning, customer service, and inventory management metrics to drive resolution and continuous improvement
• Dealing with Ambiguity – Ability to cope with change, take intelligent risks, and can make decisions with minimal guidance/information
• Mathematical/Statistical- Ability to analyze and compute large data sets of numbers in a manner that will drive conclusions and decision-making ability across the business

Key Supporting Competencies

• Dealing with Ambiguity
• Business Acumen
• Comfort Around Higher Management
• Organizational Agility

Key Functional Competencies and Technical Skills:

• Problem Solving
• Analytical Skills
• Written and Verbal Communication
• Channel Planning and Execution

Minimum Requirements:

• Minimum of a BA/BS in a Business, Supply Chain or a Business-related field
• MBA or other related Master’s Degree preferred
• Minimum 5 years of business experience in CPG industries, working with customers in Demand Planning, Supply Chain, Logistics, Marketing Services, or other similar functions

Preferred Requirements:

• Strong understanding of the Demand Planning process
• Strong computer and systems literacy including MS Excel, PPT, Visio, and Word
• Solid understanding of industry and S&OP+ process (preferred)
• Strong project management skills
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, particularly the ability to communicate to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Strong analytical experience
• Team Player that is a problem solver and motivates others