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Basic Function:
Leads and develops a team of demand planners responsible for maximizing service levels, sales, and inventory productivity by accurately and responsively forecasting time-phased demand by Business Unit, key customer, distribution segment, product, and other attributes as needed. Responsible for detailed forecast rollup along with support generating a macro top-down forecast for comparison. Applies exceptional quantitative and analytical skills, along with strong knowledge of retail and advanced forecasting, to deliver actionable insights to Management and key cross-functional stakeholders including Supply Planning, Logistics, Account Support, Finance, Sales and Merchandising.
Specific Responsibilities:
-Collaborates with Sales, Merchandising, and customers to develop pre-season assortment plans and demand forecasts by business unit, customer, style_color_label, by month. This includes year-over-year, side-by-side comparisons as well as progress against strategic objectives.
-Creates and maintains demand forecasts submitted monthly to Supply Planning and Finance which extends out months into the future with a cascading level of product granularity, ultimately down to SKU for purchasing. These demand forecasts will be used for long-range supply chain network capacity planning; materials planning; volume and cost negotiations; product range rationalization and life-cycle management; inventory management and liquidation cadence; and purchasing finished goods. These demand forecasts should be aligned to given top-down guardrails and guidance.
-Documents forecast methodology, inputs, assumptions and submission-to-submission change drivers. Provides indicators with forecast submission as to levels of demand risk, inventory risk, and confidence level.
-Monitors and measures forecast accuracy and volatility. Diagnoses, categorizes, quantifies and summarizes root causes of inaccuracy, poor service levels, and higher-than-expected excess and obsolete inventory. Leverages the results of this analysis in future forecasting process improvement.
-Provides demand forecasts as inputs into Annual Operating Plans, Financial Forecast Revisions, and Long-Range Plans
-Collaborates cross-functionally to deliver against demand forecast and financial expectations. This includes shepherding demand through the value chain from forecast to delivery, taking actions to minimize risks and maximize opportunities. Works with the Sales team to develop incremental opportunities to close gaps to expectations.
-Assists in auditing and cleansing the customer sales order/demand pool by analyzing order backlogs, cancelations, supply allocation inside lead-time, and forecast and bulk order consumption. Alerts Supply Planning as to demand inaccuracy risks and suggest corrective action to the Account Support Team.
-Provides standardized and ad-hoc analysis including but not limited to the following; Shipments; At-once Orders; Cancelation Rates; Order Expectation Curves; Size Analysis and Curves; Customer Adoption Patterns; Price Sensitivity; New Product Launches; Life Cycle Analysis; Pareto Curves; Assortment Optimization / Diminishing Returns of Assortment Adds; Profitability; Replacement/Cannibalization; Promotions/Events; Allowance Risk Monitoring and Mitigation, Marketing Styles; Hot and Slow Seller Early Warning Indicators; Lost Demand Due to Out-of-Stocks (at retail and wholesale); Logistics Route to Customer; Measuring Specific Tests; Market Trends; Formal Seasonal Hindsight; Seasonality Curves; Customer Fill Rates; Service Levels; Return Rates; etc.
-As needed, supports Vendor Managed Inventory and customer planning/merchandising activities such as, but not limited to, replenishment and allocation
-Assists in preparing demand inputs for a Monthly Executive S&OP Meeting. Attends and provides inputs into regular cross-functional meetings such as Buy Meetings, Inventory Meetings, Business Reviews, etc. Prepares to provide insight and propose actions to mitigate risks and capitalize on opportunities.
-Collaborates cross-functionally on go-to-market preparation including aligning Buying/Stocking Strategies with Supply Planning; Customer and market distribution business planning with Sales; Product life cycle and marketing strategies with Merchandising.
Qualifications and Competencies:
-Experience managing, developing, and coaching a team to improve. Accountability for performance of team members.
-Minimum of undergraduate degree or equivalent, preferably in the area of Supply Chain, Mathematics, Statistics, Operations Research, or other quantitative business discipline is required.
-At least 3 years of experience in Demand Planning, Sales Planning, Forecasting, or other related field is required. Experience in Wholesale Customer/Account Service and/or Finance a plus. Footwear or apparel industry experience is a plus.
-Must have excellent quantitative skills including, advanced forecasting algorithms / methods, statistics, financial analysis. Apply quantitative methods both predictively and diagnostically to identify root causes and improve processes and outcomes.
-Excellent planning, organization, coordination, problem-solving and follow-through skills are required.
-Deep functional knowledge of demand planning, forecasting, integrated business planning and other related areas is required. Proven experience helping build and implement best in class practices from the start is desired.
-Must have outstanding computer analytical skills working with large datasets, including advanced Excel; MS Access or other database management tools; and reporting/analysis, data mining and manipulation tools such as Tableau, Business Objects, Crystal Reports, MicroStrategy, SQL, etc. Must be able to learn new systems and tools quickly.
-Prior experience using and/or implementing demand forecasting tools such as JDA, Logility, etc. preferred.
-Must have a solid knowledge of broader Wholesale business processes and must be familiar with supply chain management, order fulfillment, inventory management as well as domestic and import logistics
-Ability to function independently, take initiative, and lead cross-functionally without direct authority. Must take accountability and responsibility for your actions and decisions.
-Passionate customer-oriented mindset with demonstrated deep sense of urgency and attention to detail is a must.
-Strong written and verbal communication skills, including both presentation to leadership and interpersonal skills. Must be able to document facts, changes, assumptions and models in an easily understood format, and present them clearly is required.
-Must exercise sound business judgement, utilizing knowledge and skills to provide insight, create solutions, and drive results to meet or exceed KPIs and goals.
-Listens effectively, seek opinions, anticipate issues, be prepared to challenge others but also embrace consensus.
-Readily adapts to change and changing priorities. Effectively manages time, including multiple tasks/projects and consistently meeting deadlines.
-Ability to collaborate effectively in cross-functional teams, influencing others in a productive and professional manner, including remote and external resources is required.
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08/12/2022
10/05/2022