**OPEN TO BOTH CHICAGO, IL AND OMAHA, NE LOCATIONS!**
Job Summary
Manages the development of demand forecasts in anticipation of customer needs and in accordance with the organization’s sales and service objectives. Directs the review of historical sales trends and forecasts. Reviews statistical forecast models and evaluates forecast results. Coordinates communication with sales, marketing, finance, procurement, supply planning and other departments to ensure that current, accurate information and data are available for forecasts. Scope: Large, more complex portfolio or equivalent number of brands
Position Responsibilities
- Owns and facilitates monthly S&OP forecast consensus process
- Strong project management skills with proven success in delivering complex projects
- Strong collaboration and influence management skills as evident by cross functional alignment and delivery of initiatives
- Collaborate with key partners in sales, brand, supply chain and finance to obtain consistent forecast inputs
- Systematically identify and work to reconcile discrepancies and close gaps among inputs on an ongoing basis
- Work with production planning and deployment to transfer/translate consensus forecasts for operational purposes
- Ensure successful customer promotion execution through effective planning and leverage of key customer event inputs
- Track weekly/monthly forecast error results versus established targets and identify and report on root cause for forecast misses
Position Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Finance, Business, Statistics, Mathematics or related field
- Strong analytical skills and some statistical knowledge
- Demonstrated communication, collaboration and leadership skills
- Ideally 3-5 years consumer products forecasting and/or supply chain operations experience
- Experience in and/or exposure to S&OP processes and procedures, customer planning and/or supply planning
- Experience with any forecasting application or supply planning software and/or SAP, APO, SAS
- Experience with or knowledge of IRI, Retail Link, and other external customer data sources
- Experience in leading projects – strong project management skills
- Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Suite of tools
