Demand Planning Manager

Chicken of the Sea is an iconic American brand that was founded in 1930. Today, Chicken of the Sea enjoys broad distribution across all major retail channels, with growth opportunities in foodservice and outside the U.S.

Chicken of the Sea International (COSI) has been wholly owned since 2000 by Thai Union (TU), the largest global producer of ambient seafood. Chicken of the Sea Frozen Foods is a sister U.S. company that focuses on frozen and chilled seafood sales. Other iconic seafood brands in the TU Global portfolio include John West, Mareblu, and King Oscar. Under the leadership of CEO Thiraphong Chansiri, Thai Union has more than tripled its revenue to over $4 billion annually and has an aggressive growth agenda.

Chicken of the Sea International operates under the common corporate vision, mission and values of Thai Union, an industry leader in sustainable fishing practices and manufacturing processes that capture the freshness, nutritional value, and sensorial experience of seafood. The global organization lives by the 6 deeply held values: Passionate, Humble, Respectful, Responsible, Collaborative, and Innovative.

COSI is an organization that is very proud of its heritage. First established as VanCamp seafood company more than 100 years ago (1914), the company celebrates its story as one of the oldest food companies in the country that is still in operation. The company is currently undergoing a significant business transformation aimed at accelerating business growth.

As the
Demand Planning Manager
, you will be responsible for leading the demand forecasting process for all COSI's brands. This role collaborates closely with Sales, Trade Planning, Marketing, Supply Planning, and Finance to create an accurate forecast to ensure inventory availability enables high service levels, allow for optimized inventory levels, and support the company's financial objectives.

This role is responsible for the U.S. market but will partner closely with the Global S&OP team. You'll report to the Senior Director of Supply Chain, with a dotted line to the Global S&OP and Supply Chain Strategy Manager. The ideal candidate for this role possesses strong analytical skills, has a background in S&OP processes within a CPG environment, and can effectively communicate at multiple levels throughout the organization.

Responsibilities
:

• Lead COSI's S&OP (Sales & Operations Planning) process
• Forecast product demands according to consumption data/trends, seasonality, promotions, selling price/price changes, etc.
• Analyze historical sales trends, research demand drivers, compile forecast data, create statistical forecast models, and evaluate forecast outcomes
• Identify, track, and communicate any significant risks or opportunities to the business not yet captured in the latest demand forecast
• Calculate and report out forecast accuracy and bias monthly; analyze key drivers and implement corrective actions.
• Drive implementation of best-practices, consistent tools, and templates across Branded BU in demand planning based on guidelines from global team
• Identify and implement initiatives to further improve demand forecast accuracy for the market (e.g. SKUs/ segments to be improved with business intel, promo activities to reflect into forecast, new launches trend)
• Partner closely with trade marketing, sales, and marketing team to gain insight to key demand drivers, competitor activity/trends, and new distribution/volume opportunities.
• Partner with supply planning to align demand to production capacity and inventory availability to build a constrained forecast.
• Facilitate market Demand Review with sales leadership to finalize demand forecast
• Collaborate with Ambient Branded BU Global DP & CSC Lead and Supply Planner in Global S&OP to settle any issues that might result in demand for the market not being met fully.
• Maintain/improve reporting dashboards and develop any additional reporting as needed.
• Support system implementation of demand forecasting tools as the subject matter expert.

Requirements
:

• Bachelor's degree in supply chain, Logistics, Business, or related field.
• 5+ years in demand planning, forecasting, or supply chain within a CBP organization.
• Excellent written/verbal communication skills. Effectively communicates at multiple levels within the organization.
• Takes initiative and works independently with minimal supervision while exercising good business judgment. Ability to deal with complexity and manage ambiguity.
• Must possess strong analytical skills along with intermediate to advanced skills in Excel and PowerPoint.
• Ability to work with and motivate people from various disciplines to improve forecasts, supply chain planning, and related procedures.
• Critical Thinking - using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.