Director Demand Planning

Job Summary

The Director, Demand Planning is responsible for leading a team that owns developing and maintaining accurate forecasts and effective planning practices that drive product replenishment, supplier collaboration/performance, logistics, operations, and product lifecycle management activities. Inventory represents one of the largest liquid assets of the corporation. Prudent stewardship of inventory has a significant impact on service to and satisfaction of our customers, revenue growth and customer acquisition, as well as the efficient deployment of working capital to fund ongoing operations, strategic initiatives, and acquisitions. High quality demand planning is critical to sustain optimal product availability, fill rates, inventory levels, and flow of goods.

This role resides in Sysco’s corporate Supplier & Inventory Management function. On a day-to-day basis, this leader works closely with peer leaders across Inbound Supply Chain, Merchandising, Sales, Operations, Field Leadership, and Finance to achieve operational objectives and ensure the effectiveness of planning regimens.

This leader is expected to provide subject matter expertise, industry perspective, and technical proficiency in statistical algorithms, analytical techniques, performance measurement, systems capabilities, best practices and continuous improvement opportunities related to demand planning and forecasting. This leader is also expected to have a proficient understanding of the inventory cycles and processes end to end to ensure there is clarity on the impact of changes to demand planning.

Duties And Responsibilities

• Operational Execution: This role is responsible for 1) rigorous execution of demand planning, forecasting and associated analytical activities, 2) ensuring the effectiveness of resources, initiatives, enabling technologies, governance, and 3) cross-functional coordination and change management required to meet defined goals, targets, and KPI’s.
• Innovation & Strategic Road-mapping: Responsible for introducing industry best-in-class concepts, developing business-cases that support Sysco-specific business opportunities, and maintaining a strategic roadmap that drives the pace of innovation for effective demand planning & forecasting.
• Organizational Performance & Talent Development: Responsible for role definition & clarity, resource allocations, performance outcomes & management, and talent development of their team that successfully and sustainably achieves strategic business objectives, targets, and KPI’s.
• Process Adherence & Improvement: Responsible for ensuring consistent application of best practices and defined business processes across the function. Appropriately identifies activities that can be improved, automated, outsourced, and/or eliminated and leads efforts to achieve desired outcomes.
  
  

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Supply Chain, Logistics, Business Management, Mathematics, Data Science, Statistics, Operations Research, Engineering or related field with a quantitative focus
• 10 years of progressive leadership results in business / data analysis, inventory planning, integrated business planning and/or broader areas of Supply Chain within National Organizations
• Familiarity and experience within a distributor channel (ex. grocery, auto parts, MRO, pharmaceutical)
• 3 years of experience in a supervisory role with direct reports
  
  

Skills

• Pathfinder: Navigate a complex and changing organization. Ability to work across boundaries, cultivate a collaborative environment, and work within a changing set of norms, roles, and values.
• Problem solver: Ability to sense issues ahead and think and act quickly in response. Ability to synthesize learnings and apply pragmatically with a practical disruptor spirit.
• Operator Mindset: Outstanding strategic and operational competencies with the ability and willingness to bring a hands-on approach.
• Highly analytical: Able to draw insights, implications, and recommended actions from analytics. Able to develop metrics and accountability strategies from data.
• Continual Learner & Networker: High-level of intellectual curiosity. Strong orientation to seek new and different perspectives internally and externally. Maintains industry knowledge and engagement to advance best practices, mitigate risk, and expeditiously resolve disruptions.
• Collaborator: Outstanding interpersonal, influencing and collaboration skills to effectively leverage the resources across all business areas of the organization. Able to proactively partner with Business Leaders to develop strategy, solutions and seek feedback to inform continuous improvement efforts. Able to navigate, coach and influence at all levels of the organization.
• Results Orientation: Consistently demonstrates the ability to orchestrate the pace and progress of change/innovation while maintaining an acute focus, rigor, and peer interaction toward holding subordinate leaders and teams accountable to driving performance that achieves committed goals, targets, and KPI’s.
• Culture Builder: Passionate about business and its people. Desire and discipline to recognize differentiated performance while also engaging in courageous and constructive conversations around talent and performance.