Strategic Demand Planner

Rich’s, also known as Rich Products Corporation, is a family‑owned food company dedicated to inspiring possibilities. From cakes and icings to pizza, appetizers and specialty toppings, its products are used in homes, restaurants and bakeries worldwide. The company serves food‑industry professionals in foodservice, retail, in‑store bakery, deli and prepared foods, with more than 13,500 associates in 100 countries and annual sales of $5.9 billion.

Purpose

The role of the Strategic Demand Planner collaborates with key customers and gathers insights to improve the demand signal. During the forecasting process, this person is responsible for understanding customer demand, inventory on hand (if available), product shelf‑life status and the end‑to‑end order lifecycle.

Key Accountabilities and Outcomes

• Develop and manage a 24‑month forecast and demand plan at multiple levels of aggregation for multiple time horizons (operational and strategic).
• Evaluate accuracy of forecasts generated by demand‑planning tools and cross‑functional forecasts provided by sales managers, marketing managers, customers, and other stakeholders, and determine the forecast value add (FVA).
• Coordinate cross‑functional activities during IBP pre‑meetings to reconcile significant variances between system‑generated forecasts and functional forecasts, and refine the demand plan to reflect updated sales and marketing assumptions.
• Support sales managers and marketing managers in creating scenarios to address main gaps between the demand plan and annual operating plan.
• Evaluate past performance, assumptions and forecast‑value‑add in collaboration with Sales, Marketing and Finance to ensure current and accurate information is used for generating the forecasts and consensus demand plan in the current planning cycle.
• Participate in Demand Review meetings of IBP to present analysis and options around exceptions.
• Participate in Supply Review meetings to understand demand fulfillment risks, explore fulfillment options and provide guidance on demand probability.
• Release the consensus demand plan on a weekly basis to support tactical inventory and short‑term supply‑plan generation.
• Prepare and release the consensus demand plan on a monthly basis to support inventory planning, rough‑cut capacity planning and decision‑making under the IBP process.
• Assist and support sales managers in their collaboration with strategic customers to understand medium‑to‑long‑term outlook, including customer demand and priorities, order forecasts for Rich’s distribution centers, past fill‑rate performance, forecast accuracy, and product/service attributes.
• Identify opportunities for sharing insights and information to drive accuracy and stability in the demand signal.

Knowledge, Skills, and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Supply Chain Management or a related field, with 5+ years of statistical forecasting and supply‑chain experience.
• MBA preferred.
• Professional certification preferred (e.g., APICS).
• Statistical forecasting and model development.
• Knowledge of manufacturing, distribution and customer service.
• Strong written, interpersonal and presentation skills.
• Knowledge of Sales and Marketing functions preferred.
• Experience in Integrated Business Planning.
• Strong PC proficiency, including Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint (Access preferred) and advanced Excel.
• Strong administrative skills and attention to detail.
• SAP or related systems experience preferred.
• Experience with advanced ERP planning systems (BW, SAP, APO) preferred.

Compensation

Annual Range/Hourly Rate: $86,455.00 – $116,968.00 (estimated base compensation; actual amount may vary based on experience, knowledge, skills, abilities, shift differential, and location).