Senior Director, Demand Planning

About the role

Quality, efficiency, and safety all play a big role in our work at Danone. Manufacturing the best products and supplying them to meet demand is a key driver for the Supply Chain team. We are currently looking to hire a Head of Demand Planning based in Louisville, CO or White Plains, NY!

Responsibilities

• Oversee and drive team facilitation of the monthly GPS (S&OP) process including maintaining the rolling 18-24 month consensus demand planning process while partnering across all Danone Business Units (BUs) and Sales Channels including VP/GMs, Sales, Marketing, Finance and Supply Chain.
• Perform as the functional leader/owner for driving effective implementation of the Demand Planning Target Operating Models (TOMs) including daily, weekly, monthly and annual interaction models.
• Act as a key supply-chain leader throughout the escalation process with key stakeholders across business units, sales channels and the supply chain leadership team.
• Responsible for the quality of outputs as measured by KPIs including forecast accuracy measures, adherence to the planning cycle and effective communication throughout the organization.
• Effectively lead and manage a team that includes Directors, Senior Managers, Managers and Demand Planners who drive the full planning cycle across all time fences to achieve desired results.
• Lead, coach and develop the Demand Planning team as is consistent with Danone Mission and Values including effective talent management and succession planning while ensuring team members have opportunities to excel in roles and elevate their skills.
• Enable the Demand Planning team to drive the attainment of key case fill KPIs while also ensuring the plan supports delivery of finished goods at the lowest landed cost and minimizes obsolescence and waste throughout the supply chain.
• Establish annual forecast accuracy targets and communicate monthly forecast error results versus established targets while ensuring a process that drives a state of continuous improvement in results is in place and executed throughout the Demand Planning team.
• Participate as a key cross-functional leader to continuously improve how the team is working and ensure key tools are leveraged to their full extent while providing feedback to the Process Stewards, Data Stewards, Forecast Analysts and o9 System Solution Owners.
• Continue to research and leverage Danone Global and industry best practices around demand planning/forecasting, systems and tools that will support the company's growth and optimize the efficient use of resources.

Requirements

• B.S. degree (Master's Degree preferred), preferably in Supply Chain, Logistics, Statistics, Operations or related subjects.
• 12–15 years relevant demand planning and leadership experience including S&OP management.
• Advanced skills in interfacing with senior leaders, while effectively collaborating, aligning and achieving results across multiple functional areas including Business Units, Sales, Supply Chain and Finance.
• Previous knowledge of Microsoft products: Excel, PowerPoint, Word, SAP ECC.
• Functional expertise in end-to-end demand planning systems and processes.
• Strong knowledge of demand planning processes, tools and systems (e.g., SAP APO/IBP, o9, Oracle, JDA, Kinaxis).
• Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) experience.
• Robust analytical skills, and advanced proficiency in data-driven decision-making and scenario planning/problem resolution.

Skills

• Effective formal and informal communication skills at the senior-leadership level including verbal and non-verbal (e.g., Email, PowerPoint, Excel) skills and abilities.
• Strategic planning experience including development of 3–5 year business plan.
• Managing overall execution and team performance.
• Ensuring effective team leadership skills in driving performance to target and KPIs while delivering consistent results.
• Leadership in monitoring and tracking of planning targets and directing of team priorities.