Role Overview
The Demand Planner, Brand & Innovation is responsible for working cross-functionally with strategic commercial teams such as Marketing, Innovation and Finance to create and maintain a consensus depletion forecast at the brand and item levels as part of the IBP process, enabling effective operational planning, financial guidance, organizational execution signals and strategic direction at the enterprise level.
This role serves as the primary demand planning counterpart to Marketing, bridging brand strategy and execution by translating portfolio decisions, innovation plans and cannibalization impacts into a coherent demand outlook, and generating content for decisions needed in the Portfolio Review process. As a Planner, this role supports the Manager, Brand and Portfolio Demand Planning in additional key activities such as team process definitions and improvements, long-range annual planning and scenario development.
The role requires a professional with a strong analytical background, the ability to communicate effectively and collaboratively, and a track record of delivering results.
Key Responsibilities
Forecasting & Demand Planning
• Proactively gather and validate commercial assumptions that are aligned and approved with appropriate insight owners prior to integration into demand plans.
• Demonstrate the ability to quantify relationships between business drivers and demand outcomes.
• Apply statistical modeling to forecasting, and use data visualization and business intelligence tools to drive decision making and consensus across cross-functional partners.
• Apply advanced analytics and ML models, including predictive and prescriptive analytics.
• Own and defend demand volumes, drivers, and Risks & Opportunities (R&Os) at item, brand and brand-family levels.
• Provide content for the Monthly Portfolio Review meeting and process, framing tradeoffs, risks and opportunities for gap closure to plan.
Collaboration and Communication
• Foster strong relationships with marketing, operations and finance teams to integrate relevant data and insights and drive the right forecast enhancements.
• Work closely with counterparts in the regional Demand Planning team to ensure brand insights are appropriately integrated into the consensus forecast.
• Lead cross-functional meetings with partners in sales, marketing and finance to align on commercial insights affecting the depletion forecast.
• Communicate clearly, concisely and persuasively in both written and oral form.
Continuous Improvement
• Stay updated on and apply relevant industry trends, best practices and emerging technologies in demand planning and supply chain management.
• Challenge the status quo to improve demand planning processes and tools.
• Drive continuous improvement efforts to increase forecast accuracy and operational efficiency.
Role Expertise
• Bachelor's degree required; 2 years' experience in a demand planning, sales or marketing forecasting role preferred.
• Experience in the CPG industry preferred.
• Experience leveraging data and analytics solutions such as o9 and Power BI preferred.
• Excellent quantitative and qualitative skills to consolidate and analyze large volumes of data, with the ability to translate information for all areas of the business.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills across all levels of the organization, with strong customer service skills.
Individual Skills
• Excellent analytical skills, with a demonstrated ability to zoom into the details to find root causes of deviations and zoom out to understand the big-picture impact to the organization.
• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex concepts and influence stakeholders at all levels.
• Demonstrated ability to lead customer-facing meetings and collaborative efforts across multiple levels of the organization.
• Skilled collaborator, able to work cross-functionally with co-workers, related internal functions, external partners and project teams.
• Experience using digital solutions to drive performance, with a demonstrated ability to use data to tell a story.
• Detail-minded, deadline-oriented self-starter who can work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
Mindsets & Behaviors
• Passion to challenge the status quo, find new solutions and drive out-of-the-box ideas.
• Consumer obsessed, with a commitment to delivering a best-in-class customer experience.
• Believes in a non-hierarchical culture of collaboration.
Compensation and Benefits
The posted salary range for this role is $82,400.00 – $123,600.00 per year. Constellation Brands states this is the lowest to highest salary it believes in good faith it would pay for the role at the time of posting; actual pay within the range depends on factors including relevant education, qualifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location and performance. The company offers a comprehensive benefits package including paid time off, medical/dental/vision insurance and 401(k) for eligible employees.
More information
Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States. Travel: less than 10%. Requisition R-40438.
Apply through the link on this listing. Please see the original Constellation Brands posting for full details, including the company's equal employment opportunity statement.
