Director of Demand Planning

Spindrift

1d • $150,000 - $170,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

We’re looking for a builder. Spindrift is growing fast, and we are seeking an experienced, strategic demand planning leader to join our Supply Chain Leadership Team as Director of Demand Planning. This is a rare opportunity to design and stand up Spindrift’s demand planning function from the ground up – defining the processes, tools, capabilities, and governance that will turn market and customer insight into a single, trusted view of demand for the entire business. This is a senior, hands-on leadership role for someone who wants to build.
The Director of Demand Planning will own the demand side of our Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process and serve as the connective tissue between Sales, Marketing, Finance, Innovation, and Operations. This leader will bring the voice of our customers and consumers into supply chain decision-making – and the voice of supply chain into commercial planning – driving forecast accuracy, service, inventory health, and margin. If you are energized by a blank page, a high-growth brand, and the chance to leave a lasting mark on how a company plans, this is your role.

Requirements

• Demonstrated success building or transforming demand planning functions within consumer packaged goods or similar industries, ideally in a high-growth environment.
• Exceptional strategic influencing and collaboration skills, with a proven ability to earn credibility and drive alignment with Sales, Marketing, Finance, and senior leadership.
• A builder’s mindset: comfortable with ambiguity and thriving in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial, growth-oriented environment.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Operations, Finance, Economics, or related discipline (Master’s preferred).
• 10+ years of progressive experience in supply chain planning, including significant demand planning leadership.
• Deep understanding of S&OP, statistical forecasting, promotional and new product forecasting, and end-to-end supply chain processes.
• Experience implementing a demand planning system strongly preferred.
• Strong analytical and statistical aptitude, with the ability to find trends and errors in large data sets and translate data into insights and actionable strategies.
• Advanced computer literacy: MS Excel expertise and familiarity with syndicated and POS data (e.g., SPINS, Circana/Nielsen) required.
• Experience with demand planning systems and ERP (NetSuite or equivalent) strongly preferred.
• Power BI and familiarity with AI tools such as Claude or ChatGPT for coding and analysis a plus.
• Experience presenting to senior audiences; ability to distill complex scenarios into digestible and actionable takeaways.
• Ability to travel to our Newton, MA HQ office 1 - 2 times per month.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree
• Experience implementing a demand planning system
• Experience with Power BI
• Familiarity with AI tools such as Claude or ChatGPT for coding and analysis

Responsibilities

• Design and stand up Spindrift’s demand planning function from the ground up, defining its vision, multi-year roadmap, operating model, and roles and responsibilities.
• Serve as a senior leader within the supply chain organization, contributing to overall supply chain strategy, priorities, and cross-functional alignment.
• Operate as a hands-on individual contributor at launch – personally building and owning the forecast – while defining the talent plan and organization design needed to scale the function over time.
• Establish demand planning as a trusted strategic partner to the business, shaping how Spindrift sees, plans for, and responds to demand.
• Design and lead the monthly demand review as a foundational step of Spindrift’s S&OP cycle, delivering a consensus, unconstrained demand plan aligned across Sales, Marketing, and Finance.
• Build and own the SKU-level forecast by customer and channel across short-, mid-, and long-range horizons, including baseline, promotional, and new-item volume.
• Analyze historical sales trends, sell-in vs. sell-out, distribution and store counts, and rate of sale to understand demand drivers and evaluate forecast results.
• Partner with Marketing and Innovation to build accurate new item and launch forecasts, and with Sales to incorporate customer programs, promotions, and distribution changes.
• Lead the demand inputs to the annual operating plan (Y+1 volume during budget season) and long-range plans, reconciling the demand plan with financial targets.
• Establish a weekly demand sensing cadence to monitor near-term performance, flag risks and opportunities, and adjust quickly.
• Define allocation guidelines and lead allocation across customers when inventory is constrained.
• Develop the SKU classification framework (ABC portfolio segmentation) and partner with Supply Planning to define the associated inventory strategy, including service level and safety stock targets by segment.
• Build strong partnerships with Sales, Revenue Management, Marketing, Finance, and Innovation, serving as the single voice of demand for the organization.
• Drive consensus across functions – facilitating trade-off conversations, constructively challenging assumptions, and aligning the business on one number.
• Present demand plans, risks, opportunities, and scenarios to the executive team, translating complex data into clear, actionable recommendations.
• Partner with Sales to collaborate with key retail partners on forecasts, promotions, and data sharing.
• Partner closely with Supply Planning to translate the demand plan into supply, production, and inventory strategies that balance service, cost, and working capital.
• Define requirements for, select, and implement the demand planning system and statistical forecasting capabilities needed to support scale, integrated with our ERP (NetSuite or equivalent).
• Build the foundational data and reporting that drive forecast success, including sales history by customer, channel, and item; SKU database; promotional calendar; and outlier events (e.g., product recalls, raw material shortages, weather).
• Leverage POS, syndicated, and retailer data to strengthen demand insights and improve forecast quality.
• Re-map the demand pegging table to align demand to the right supply nodes and facilitate network optimization shifts.
• Lead the digital transformation of demand planning, moving the business from spreadsheet-based forecasting to a scalable, system-enabled process.
• Define and institutionalize demand planning KPIs – forecast accuracy, bias, and forecast value add – at multiple levels (SKU, customer, channel, and total business), with regular reporting and root-cause analysis.
• Establish demand planning governance, including the planning calendar, horizons and time fences, decision rights, and documentation of key assumptions.
• Provide scenario planning, risk assessment, and decision support for executive leadership.
• Identify, implement, and institutionalize process improvements and best practices that increase scalability and resilience.
• Stand up a fully functioning demand planning process, including a monthly demand review integrated into Spindrift’s S&OP cycle.
• Deliver a single, consensus demand plan that the business trusts and uses to drive supply, financial, and commercial decisions.
• Deliver measurable improvements in forecast accuracy and bias, enabling higher service levels, lower inventory and obsolescence, and improved working capital.
• Implement the demand planning tools, data foundations, KPIs, and governance needed to scale with Spindrift’s growth.
• Contribute demand insights to the development of one-, three-, and five-year operating plans.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid holidays, vacation, sick, personal, and parental leave
• Annual allowances for product, wellness, professional development, and social justice education
• Voluntary life and disability coverage

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director