Lead Demand Planning (Remote)

 

At Nestlé Health Science, we believe that nutrition, science, and wellness must merge, not collide. Here, we embrace the intrinsic connections of these three pillars, harnessing their collective strength to empower healthier lives. Our broad product portfolio includes renowned brands like Garden of Life®, Nature's Bounty®, Vital Proteins®, Orgain®, Nuun®, BOOST®, Carnation Breakfast Essentials®, Peptamen®, Compleat Organic Blends®, and more. We also have extensive pharmaceutical expertise, offering innovative medicines that aim to prevent, manage, and treat gastrointestinal and metabolic-related diseases.

 

At Nestlé Health Science, we bring our best for better lives. Our people are challenged to bring fresh, diverse views and make bold moves to empower healthier lives through nutrition. We know brilliant ideas can come from anyone, anywhere. Here we embrace the entrepreneurial spirit and collaborate with teams that champion focused and forward thinking. We are committed to fostering professional growth and celebrating the achievements of our people along the way. We offer dynamic career paths, robust development, opportunities to learn from talented colleagues around the globe, and benefits that support physical, financial, and emotional wellbeing. 

 

Join us to innovate for impact and reimagine the future of health and nutrition for patients and consumers. 
 

 

Position Summary:

 

The Lead Demand Planner is accountable for the accuracy and reliability of the Demand Plan for Nestle Health Science, Specialty business in the US.

 

This includes development and implementation of performance standards and operating procedures that affect the demand plan. Curator of demand planning tools/reports and owner of the forecast at both the Brand and customer aggregations.

 

The Demand Planning Lead will support the MBP (Monthly Business Planning), by providing the demand plan and analytics while partnering with key cross-functional teams (Sales, Brand, Finance & Supply) through various monthly meetings. The Lead Demand Planner will also mentor and guide the Specialty Demand Planning Associate in their day to day.  This is a remote position that will align to ET business hours.

 

 

Responsibilities:

 

• Generates and maintains a Demand Plan for the Specialty business (Solgar & Garden of Life) at the customer-item level to ensure alignment with business priorities and initiatives
• Understands and supports VMHS Demand Planning key performance metrics and targets defined by leadership
• Consistently improves Demand Plan Accuracy and Bias through detailed root cause analysis on past performance and maintain a performance log
• Challenges ways of working and manages process changes to improve overall Customer Demand Planning process
• Promotes the use of all Demand Planning system functionalities to enable an exception-based management approach
• Manages relationships and effective flow of information between Demand Planning and cross functional teams improving the quality of the Demand plan and signal sent to Supply
• Partners with the business to identify gaps between the demand plan and financial/sales targets and validate all corrective measures/gap closers
• Supports New Product Introduction meetings and the various deliverables associated with a New Product Launch 
• Quantifies New Product Launches utilizing historical data for both internal and competitive launches, planned marketing support and key account sales plans
• Creates and maintains the appropriate Master Data in the planning systems in use, minimizing errors, avoiding duplication/obsolescence, and reflecting product lifecycle (e.g.  Product Hierarchy, Finished Goods creation workflow, Demand Lifecycle Management)
• Engages with other functions to enable the use of external data into the Demand Planning process (e.g., Point of Sale, Consumption, Customer Inventory, etc.)
• Actively participates in the Monthly Business Planning (MBP) and Dynamic Forecast (DF) processes; facilitate and/or support FEM (Forecast Enrichment Meeting)
• Contribute to defining company-wide best practices.
• Cascades knowledge of Demand Planning Best Practices and tools, including the Monthly Business Planning (MBP), to other Demand planners, new hires, and cross-functional teams

 

Requirements:

 

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field
• 5+ years of experience in Finished Good Forecasting/Planning or related experience
• Management experience in Demand or Supply Planning
• Proficient in Excel with the ability to create complex spreadsheets & formulas to synthesize information and create a clear synopsis of key issues
• MS Office suite proficiency 
• Knowledge and experi