Sr. Planner, Demand Planning

Ferrara Candy Company - Chicago, IL

Full-time - Mid Level

Chicago, IL

11-50 employees

Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods

About the position

As a Senior Planner in Demand Planning, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the demand forecast strategy for the organization. This individual contributor position is essential for driving accurate and strategic demand forecasts that align with the company's business goals. You will collaborate with various cross-functional teams, including Sales, Marketing, and Supply Planning, to develop and maintain comprehensive demand plans that support organizational objectives.

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and refine 36-month demand forecasts, complementing the Sales team's 18-month forecast.
• Review statistical forecast outputs and incorporate insights from sales and market intelligence to ensure accuracy.
• Analyze historical sales trends, demand drivers, and use statistical models to inform forecasts.
• Understand and incorporate foundational building blocks of demand forecasts, such as store facings, store count, and product sales rates, to ensure forecasts align with market size and realities.
• Validate demand forecasts by leveraging calculations using metrics such as sell-through rates, distribution coverage, and market penetration.
• Collaborate with Sales to gather essential inputs, including promotional plans, customer forecasts, and new product introductions, ensuring these are accurately reflected in the demand plan.
• Integrate external market intelligence, such as competitor activities, economic indicators, and category trends, to fine-tune forecasts.
• Analyze and interpret a wide range of data sources, including historical sales, customer behavior, and market conditions, to improve the reliability of demand forecasts.
• Track and improve forecast KPIs such as accuracy, bias, forecast value add, and fill rate.
• Lead and facilitate monthly Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) meetings, ensuring a collaborative planning approach with internal teams.
• Coordinate with Sales, Marketing, and Finance to reconcile variances and ensure alignment of demand forecasts.
• Provide input to Supply Planning on inventory strategies for existing products, new launches, and product phase-outs.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience in Demand Planning or data analytics.
• Knowledge of the Integrated Business Planning (IBP) and Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) processes.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to handle large datasets and derive actionable insights.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, for effective collaboration with cross-functional teams.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience working within the food & beverage or fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry is preferred.
• Strong working knowledge of SAP IBP, SAP APO, Tableau, BOBJ, and Circana/IRI data.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel (vlookups, pivot tables) and PowerPoint.