North America Area Demand Planning Hub Manager

Ferrero•Parsippany, NJ

73d•Onsite

About The Position

For our newly established Area North America Demand Planning Hub, we are currently looking for a Demand Planning Hub Manager, based in Parsippany NJ, who will report professionally to the Group Demand Planning & S&OP Manager and managerially to the Area Supply Chain and Area Business Planning and Development Managers. The Area Demand Planning Hub organization will be crucial for the company success, a robust demand planning process will enhance the effectiveness of the overall supply chain improving customer satisfaction, reducing at the same time the operating costs. As a Demand Planning Hub Manager, you will play a key role in driving and deploying the Demand Planning process in the organization, according to the standards set by Global Demand Planning Centre of Excellence and in alignment with the Operational Excellence initiatives. Equally important, you will be responsible for monitoring Demand Planning Performance and Model Adoption within the Area and execute Demand Planning activities in close collaboration with the Markets. Finally, you will support the Area S&OP consensus meeting, managing demand consolidation at Area Level where necessary.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in a relevant field such as Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain management or scientific studies such as data science/statistics/applied mathematics.
10-15 years of work experience; preferably cross geographics leading demand planning and transformation programs implementation in multinational companies preferably within the Consumer Packaged Goods industry.
Broad experience in driving demand planning processes, both in the design and set up phase both in running ongoing activities mastering the interactions with Regions and Group stakeholders within the broader context of the S&OP process.
High level of strategic thinking and planning, the capability to understand business dynamics, analytical skills to translate data into business insights, strong influencing and communication skills to engage with senior business stakeholders and support them in the decision-making process.
Consolidated project management experience, leading digital transformational projects in international environments within matrix organizations. This experience has strengthened your ability to drive change management initiatives and establish new ways of working.
A deep knowledge of statistical forecasting tools (e.g. Blue Yonder) and MS Office
Availability to travel up to 15% - 20% of the time both domestic and international.

Responsibilities

Support the development of the Global Standard Model and drive the adoption in each Region of the Area, ensuring consistent deployment of Global Templates, in alignment with the Operational Excellence initiatives.
Monitor the Target Operating Model implementation roadmap by Region/ Country and support the IT department on the tool's implementation (BlueYonder & SAP TM, among others).
Work on the enhancement of local capabilities through ad-hoc training initiatives and support the implementation of Change Management initiatives to ensure buy-in of the Global Model. Your role as demand planning professional family focal point will be crucial in ensuring seamless and continuous Region / Country demand planners' coordination.
Represent the center of statistical expertise for the Area, equipping the key stakeholders with the capabilities required to deploy the Group Template as well as develop process standards manuals ensuring understanding of Area context and business environment. Furthermore, you will be developing expertise on key drivers and variables impacting the model's development by category and type of customer unit, sharing best practices across Regions/Countries.
Monitor performance and KPIs, ensuring they align smoothly with the Global Centre of Excellence. This role supports defining and cascading related KPIs to regions and serves as the primary contact for demand expertise on monitoring, control, and root cause analysis at the area level.
Regarding the Demand Planning Baseline Generation, you will set up statistical forecasts in collaboration with the Area Demand Planning Hub team, the Global COE and Demand planners in the markets. You will also work in collaboration with markets to ensure understanding of the baseline and enable uplift definition as well as demand consolidation and communication with Area outlining main drivers and trend explanations.
Concerning the Area Consensus meeting, you will be the BPO (Business Process Owner). You will attend and facilitate the Area Consensus meeting with the CBO, managing demand consolidation; understand changes by Region / Brand / Category at area level and support the CBO office in deepening the demand root causes and making trade-off decisions.
Accountable for managing people, ensuring a management system based on Group values, motivation, diversity & inclusion, competence development and empowerment.