Senior Manager, Demand Planning

Description
About Us
Congo Brands is at the epicenter of where consumer demand meets product development. Through brand partnerships with lead influencers, we are afforded an inside look at what consumers truly desire. Congo Brands houses some of the World’s most noted brands including Alani Nu, Prime Hydration, Prime Energy, and 3D Energy only to include more within the coming years.
Congo Brands is a health and wellness brand that sells supplements, fitness snacks, hydration drinks, energy drinks, and many more through ecommerce and retail partnerships. E-commerce becomes the laboratory for consumer feedback and serves as a data pool for future retail endeavors. Congo Brands is on pace to become one of the World’s most noted consumer product brand companies, with revenue growth increasing exponentially year over year. Congo Brand’s goal is to be the go-to ‘Better for You Brand’ for everything from nutritional supplements, energy drinks, snacks and much more.
The role:
This is an in-office, full-time position at Congo Brands HQ in Louisville, KY.
We are hiring a Senior Manager of Demand Planning who is responsible for developing and maintaining a 3-12-month unit forecast at the item level using advanced forecasting methods to enhance accuracy, and optimize inventory levels.You'll join at the beginning of a transformative journey, driving change, standardization, and value through process improvements at Congo Brands.
This role manages relationships, escalates concerns, and utilizes resources to meet customer needs and achieve financial objectives. Additionally, the role involves providing supply chain thought leadership, and serving as a center of excellence for end-to-end supply chain planning. This leadership position within the Operations Business Unit will contribute to integrated business planning, making it suitable for high-potential functional leaders within Congo Brands.
Decision Making & Strategic Forecasting

• Take ownership of forecast drivers, ensuring business outcomes are understood and presenting finalized forecasts.
• Act as the key decision maker for S&OP, influencing production planning and targets.
• Utilize historical sales data, market trends, and statistical models to develop accurate demand forecasts for our business.
• Oversee S&OP process, ensuring alignment with long-term planning.
• Prioritize and frame impactful scenarios for analysis, devising strategies to mitigate risks and capitalize on opportunities.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Serve as the bridge in the S&OP process to align demand forecasts with production, procurement, and inventory management activities.
• Proactively collaborate with Sales, Manufacturing and Finance to integrate perspectives into a cohesive plan.

Process Execution & Improvement

• Ensure data quality by addressing input data issues and holding owners accountable.
• Lead end-to-end process, aligning with strategic priorities and best practices.
• Manage changes to process and product in line with guidance from centralized team.
• Track process health, assisting in improvement plans if necessary.
• Monitor metrics and risks, taking actions to build efficiency, and increase throughput.
• Work with production planning and manufacturing to translate the consensus forecasts into an operational forecast for the entire network.

Reporting, Communication, and Planning

• Support annual planning processes through the preparation of standardized spreadsheets. Identify opportunities, risks, and new product expectations.
• Provide visibility to weekly/monthly orders versus forecast and assesses potential mix issues and impact to the future forecast.
• Analyze internal data to identify demand patterns, market trends, and potential risks or opportunities. Leverage data-driven insights to refine demand forecasts and improve planning accuracy.
• Anticipates potential supply chain issues, actively communicates to Operations leadership, and develops corrective actions.
• Supports S&OP process by developing a comprehensive monthly forecast review meeting covering current forecast, prior forecast, prior year, and inventory position. Incorporates overall performance and its impact on the forecast.

People Management & Expertise

• Analysis oversight / expertise: Oversee related analysis supporting team members and providing business guidance, framing support, and sense checks as needed
• Team hiring, training & development (e.g. performance evaluations, recruiting, coaching)

To be successful in this role, you will need:
This role requires a seasoned professional with a proven track record in planning solutions, industry-specific expertise, effective communication skills, strong business acumen, analytical proficiency, collaborative abilities, and a willingness to travel as needed.

• Industry Background: Highly preferred industry experience within Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) or Food & Beverage.
• Experience: 7 + years in Supply Chain Management, Sales & Operations Planning process, and/or business management

○ Solid business acumen within enterprise planning and various supply chain execution functions, including transportation planning, manufacturing planning, and warehouse management.
○ In-depth understanding of the CPG beverage marketplace, specifically key demand drivers
○ Exposure to operating in / influencing large-scale transformation efforts
○ Experience and Desire to build a team and drive improvement

• Business Acumen: Strong understanding of enterprise planning functions and various supply chain execution functions, including transportation planning, manufacturing planning, and warehouse management.
• Communication Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders in adopting industry best practices for business processes and technology solutions.
• Travel: Willingness and ability to travel up to 15% to visit supply facilities.
• Analytical Skills: Proficient in research, data analysis, and problem visualization.
• Collaboration: Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with multiple teams. Experience operating in / influencing large-scale transformation efforts; Cross-functional leadership experience, particularly through demonstrated P&L/ operational experience

Key Competencies

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to present/communicate complex data to a diverse audience
• Strong Relationship Management skills
• Innate curiosity
• Self-motivated
• Analytical and interpretation skills

Benefits & Perks

• Competitive Salary
• Health Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, Disability, HSA / FSA / Dependent Care FSA
• Free product
• AND MUCH MORE!
• 401(k) plan with employer match
• Monthly cell phone stipend
• 6 weeks paid parental leave
• 3 weeks PTO + 8 paid holidays

Congo Brands, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status, age, or any other classification protected by Federal, state, or local law.
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