Demand Planning Manager

The Demand Planning Manager will build upon the company’s existing demand planning tools and processes by establishing a streamlined, structured, and scalable process that supports business objectives and enables effective cross-functional decision-making. The Demand Planning Manager will serve as both a people leader and a hands-on contributor, directing day-to-day demand planning activities while coaching and developing others inside the organization. The Demand Planning Manager will partner with Sales, Customer Service, Finance, Product Management, Supply Planning, IT, Analytics, and other stakeholders to improve forecast quality, align business assumptions, and support the maturity of the S&OP process.

Essential Functions:

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

1. Leads the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of the company’s demand planning function.
2. Transforms existing demand planning practices into a formal, standardized, and scalable process aligned with S&OP objectives.
3. Establishes governance, standard work, roles, responsibilities, KPIs, and a formal forecasting calendar.
4. Defines and documents demand planning policies, procedures, workflows, and performance expectations.
5. Leads monthly demand review and consensus forecasting meetings.
6. Owns and maintains demand forecasts for assigned customers, product families, business segments, and markets.
7. Reviews statistical forecast outputs and incorporates customer forecasts, market intelligence, sales input, commercial insights, and documents business assumptions into a balanced demand plan.
8. Develop forecasts that support growth, customer service, inventory performance, and operational excellence.
9. Establishes and monitors forecast accuracy, forecast bias, demand plan adherence, and other performance measures.
10. Leads improvements that enhance forecast quality, process efficiency, data integrity, and stakeholder confidence.
11. Measures and improves stakeholder adoption of the demand planning process.
12. Collaborates with Sales, Customer Service, Finance, Product Management, Supply Planning, Operations, and other stakeholders to align demand assumptions and business priorities.
13. Supports the design and implementation of Power BI tools, including forecast accuracy and forecast bias dashboards.
14. Translates business needs into clear reporting specifications and ensure dashboards provide actionable insights for S&OP.
15. Prepares and presents monthly demand planning reports, insights, risks, opportunities, and recommendations to executive leadership.
16. Builds confidence in the demand planning process through transparent assumptions, reliable analysis, and actionable recommendations.
17. Other duties can be assigned based on company needs and employee capabilities.

Competencies:

1. Communication and Presentation Proficiency
2. Time Management
3. Collaboration Skills
4. Personal Effectiveness/Credibility
5. Ethical Responsibility
6. Customer Service
7. Data Analytics

Required Skills / Abilities:

1. Ability to handle highly sensitive business data and other information with confidentiality and discretion.
2. Ability to establish relationships within OTR Engineered Solutions’ global network.
3. Ability to speak clearly and succinctly relative to needs, questions, goals, etc.
4. Able to act independently, operating on accurate details and excellent judgment.
5. Ability to collect, analyze, and present large amount of data.

Supervisory Responsibility:

This position will oversee coach and mentor personnel employed in the Supply Chain department and support facility managers and their staff across all regions.

Work Environment:

This position operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, and filing cabinets. At times, employee might be exposed to manufacturing environment, including forklift traffic, fumes, noise, and operating manufacturing equipment.

Physical Demands:

1. Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
2. Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.

Position Type and Expected Hours of Work:

This is a full-time position. Days and hours of work are Monday through Friday, 8:00AM to 5:00PM. In order to meet our customer demands and internal objectives, at times this role will be required to work outside of the normal schedule, including weekends.

Travel:

There may be occasional local day travel or overnight travel as it related to training activities or support of assigned plants/locations.

Required Education and Experience:

1. Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Finance, Accounting, Engineering, Business Administration, or equivalent work experience and/or education.
2. At least five years of experience in demand planning, forecasting, S&OP, SIOP, supply chain, or a related discipline.
3. Experience leading or significantly contributing to a formal demand planning or S&OP process.
4. Experience managing, mentoring, or leading supply chain professionals.
5. Experience preparing and presenting business insights for executive leadership.
6. Strong understanding of demand planning principles, forecasting methods, forecast accuracy, and forecast bias.
7. Advanced Microsoft Excel skills and experience with forecasting tools, ERP systems, and planning applications.
8. Experience with BI tools such as Power BI, Tableau, or similar.
9. Proficient in Microsoft Office, especially Excel; capable of learning and utilizing ERP systems to access data.

Preferred Education and Experience:

1. Experience working in a fast-paced, high-growth company.
2. APICS certification or other related Supply Chain certifications
3. Project Management experience.
4. Manufacturing, Distribution or global supply chain experience.
5. Strong Microsoft Office knowledge and application.
6. Minimum of 7 years of experience.

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice. Other job duties and responsibilities may also be assigned by the incumbent’s manager at any time based upon Company need.

OTR Engineered Solutions is an equal opportunity employer and will not tolerate discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, disability, ethnicity, national origin, marital status, veteran status, genetic information or any other legally protected classification or status.