Senior Customer Planning Manager

Perfetti Van Melle•Erlanger, KY

About The Position

Perfetti Van Melle (makers of Mentos, Airheads, Dentyne, Trident and Bubblicious!) is one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of confectionery and chewing gum with global brands that are being enjoyed in more than 150 countries worldwide. We’re currently seeking a passionate and enthusiastic Senior Customer Planning Manager to join our growing team. The Senior Customer Planning Manager will lead Category Sales Planning for given brand(s) across channels to translate PVM objectives and strategies into sales and channel-specific strategies and objectives that drive sustainable, profitable growth. They will facilitate communication between sales and brand marketing, and provide business intelligence for given products to the sales team to create and develop customer plans. The SCPM will steward go-to-market processes ensuring that sales/customer voice is considered (customer business planning, new product launches/forecasting, etc.). They will also maintain a cross-channel view for new product launches and brand launches and support leadership in making go/no-go launch decisions. Additionally, they will work cross-functionally across sales, marketing, category/insights, and supply chain to drive connectivity, alignment and business results.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business or related field required; MBA preferred.
10+ years of CPG experience.
Strong understanding of channel and key retailer practices.
Involvement with customer annual planning process.
Ability to work effectively across departments — Marketing, Supply Chain, Finance, Category/Insights, Retail Growth Management.
Demonstrated ability to influence across the organization.
Matrix management and project management experience.
Financial acumen, including P&L management exposure.
Thrives in fast-paced, multi-tasking environment while being highly organized and structured.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills with internal and external stakeholders.
Senior-level relationship-building and direct decision-making skills.
Strong Word, Excel and PowerPoint skills.
Exposure to syndicated/customer data such as Nielsen or Circana.

Responsibilities

Translate PVM objectives and strategies into sales and channel-specific strategies and objectives: Own the customer planning process and oversee the development of plan creation (e.g., guidance provided by finance, input from marketing based on priorities, sales creating customer-specific plans, etc.). Set clear and specific executional (assortment, merchandising, pricing and shelving) objectives for each brand and communicate objectives to sales team/customer planning. Ensure that channel-specific strategies and innovations are being developed by the Brands (e.g., club-specific SKUs, etc.) – work with marketing and sales to enhance this process. Develop display vehicles across different channels that support key initiatives and base/new products.
Coordinate with Marketing to build the brand plans and stories for sales to execute: Work with marketing to develop brand story, including what shopper and customers care about. Understand the competitive landscape and provide the business with context on what is happening in the market. Provide business intelligence for specific brand/products; be well versed on what is happening in the business. Create the standard brand collateral and share with category management and customer teams in a customer-friendly manner, so that they can tweak the story for the category/customer (deployed 2X/year).
Lead portfolio management, including the commercialization of new product development/launches and managing the life cycle of our portfolio of products: Help shape innovation pipeline by providing relevant insights into the R&D process (e.g., shopper insights, shelving, etc.) – especially for product design and packaging design. Engage with the cross-functional innovation team and provide the voice of sales/customers. Build new product launch plan to articulate where we are going first with new products, right pricing, ship dates, etc. Advise category management team on key inputs to retailer selling story. Provide recommendations for SKU rationalization to ensure portfolio health.
Represent the priorities of sales and marketing, when needed: Act as a liaison between Sales, Brand Marketing and other functions to ensure that customer execution is in line with strategic brand and category objectives. Provide sales input into the marketing/innovation team regarding product development (e.g., pricing, pack size, etc.) – maintain cross-channel view for new product and brand launches. Ensure consistent approach across all the different customers managed by the field teams by ensuring cross-functional alignment of trade investment plan. Represent customer and field voice in internal, cross-functional meetings.