Demand Planner

HYDROJUG

Demand Planner — Wholesale Channel

Full-Time · On-Site

Department Demand Planning Reports To: Director of Demand Planning & Execution

ABOUT HYDROJUG

HydroJug is a fast-growing hydration brand sold across direct-to-consumer, eCommerce marketplace, and wholesale retail channels. We design products that help people stay hydrated and live healthier lives — and we distribute them through some of the country’s leading sporting goods, lifestyle, and specialty retailers. Our Demand Planning team is the connective tissue between what we sell and what we make, and we’re building the function with the rigor and structure it deserves.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Demand Planner — Wholesale Channel is a newly created role sitting at the intersection of demand planning, sell-through analytics, and wholesale account strategy. You will own HydroJug’s wholesale demand forecast at the account and SKU level — building plans that reflect real retail performance and feeding them into our broader omnichannel demand plan.

Your daily work is equal parts analytical and commercial: leveraging POS data to

develop assortment recommendations, right-sizing product depth and launch timing by retailer, and partnering closely with the Sales team and retail buyers to drive healthy sell-through and sustainable gross margins.

This is not a back-office planning role. You’ll have a seat at the table in buyer conversations and seasonal line reviews, and your analysis will directly shape the assortment and go-to-market decisions we make with our key retail partners. If you’re a planner who wants to see their work matter commercially — this is that job.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

Wholesale Account Demand Planning

• Own the demand forecast for key wholesale accounts by retailer and SKU — building and maintaining

account-level plans that reflect current sell-through performance, buyer commitments, and seasonal signals.

• Integrate wholesale forecasts into the broader omnichannel demand plan; submit inputs and flag changes

proactively so the plan always reflects current account reality.

• Partner with the Sales team and retail buyers to ensure forecast inputs are grounded in actual demand

signals, not just historical order patterns.

• Monitor forecast accuracy at the account and SKU level; identify systematic biases and refine inputs overtime.

• Flag forecast risk and upside early — particularly around new launches, retailer promotions, and seasonal peaks — so supply chain and finance can plan ahead.

SKU-Level Assortment Optimization

• Analyze POS data by account to develop SKU-level assortment recommendations: which product types are

working, which are lagging, and where the assortment needs to be right-sized for healthy sell-through and margin.

• Recommend launch timing adjustments by retailer based on current inventory position, sell-through velocity, and seasonal transition signals — the goal is clean sell-through on outgoing product before new product arrives.

• Identify underperforming SKUs, assortment gaps, and cannibalization risks; bring data-backed recommendations to Sales and buyers.

• Partner with buyers on seasonal assortment reviews, new item introductions, and exit strategies for end-of- life products.

POS Analytics & Sell-Through Health

• Monitor on-hand levels, weekly sales velocity, and period sell-through rates by UPC and account using weekly retail POS data across all reporting wholesale accounts.

• Identify early sell-through signals — positive or negative — that should influence the forward forecast or prompt a proactive conversation with Sales or the buyer.

• Track weeks-of-supply at retail; flag replenishment windows and excess stock situations before they become a reactive problem.

• Build and maintain account-level sell-through summaries that give the Sales team a clear, actionable view of retail performance ahead of buyer meetings and line reviews.

Buyer & Sales Team Partnership

• Serve as the day-to-day planning resource for the internal Sales team — equipping them with data, analysis, and recommendations ahead of buyer meetings, line reviews, and seasonal planning sessions.

• Build direct working relationships with retail buyers; bring a credible, data-backed planning perspective that strengthens our positioning at every account.

• Translate inventory and supply chain constraints into account-level context that buyers can act on — bridging operational realities with commercial priorities.

• Support the development of seasonal go-to-market plans by account: launch timing, order phasing, and in-season replenishment strategy.

Reporting — Weekly, Monthly & Post-Launch

• Weekly: Contribute to the Demand Planning team’s weekly exception report — surfacing material changes to wholesale demand, sell-through anomalies, and assortment flags with clear business context and planning implications.

• Monthly: Produce a wholesale account performance report covering prior-month sell-through by account, forecast accuracy, and assortment health — paired with relevant competitive market context. Share findings with the Director of Demand Planning and VP of Sales.

• Post-Launch: Following each significant product launch into wholesale, produce a post-launch performance summary covering sell-through by account, on-hand vs. plan, reorder signals, and accounts that are over- or underperforming the forecast. Use findings to refine the forward plan and improve future launch assumptions.

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

Required

• 3 years in wholesale planning, retail buying, merchandise planning, or a closely related analytical role in a cpg or soft goods environment

• Hands-on experience with retail POS data — comfortable building sell-through analysis from raw data and translating findings into assortment recommendations and forecast adjustments

• Advanced proficiency in Excel and/or Google Sheets — pivot tables, VLOOKUP/INDEX-MATCH, comfortable working with large and imperfect datasets

• Strong commercial instincts — you can connect data to business outcomes and communicate clearly to buyers, sales leadership, and planning peers

• Retail background and merchandising knowledge is a plus

• Collaborative communicator who works fluidly across planning, sales, and commercial functions

Preferred

• Experience supporting or attending buyer line reviews, seasonal planning sessions, or retail trade market meetings

• Background in omnichannel or DTC brands that also sell through wholesale — understanding of how channel dynamics interact on shared inventory

• Familiarity with demand planning methods and inventory optimization concepts

• Experience with ERP systems (NetSuite or comparable) for order and inventory data extraction

• Experience with retail EDI or POS data platforms (SPS Commerce or similar)

WHAT YOU’LL JOIN

You’ll be joining a Demand Planning team that’s being intentionally built — with clear roles, structured processes, and a genuine commitment to getting the function right. This role works alongside a dedicated inventory commitment planner and is supported by a wholesale analytics function that produces weekly normalized POS data across all retail accounts. You’ll have the data, the cross-functional relationships, and the organizational support to do the job well.

The role is focused on our highest-priority key accounts initially, with a clear path to expanded account ownership as the wholesale business grows. Final go-forward wholesale commitments are made in partnership with the Director of Demand Planning and the VP of Sales.