SR Manager - Demand Planning

Blue Diamond Growers•Sacramento, CA

About The Position

The Senior Demand Planning Manager is a critical enterprise role responsible for owning Demand Planning capability and leading Demand as a core pillar of Integrated Business Planning (IBP). This role goes beyond forecast generation and serves as the single point of accountability for demand signal quality, demand driven decision making, and cross functional alignment with Commercial, Marketing, Finance, Supply, and Operations. The role leads the monthly Demand Review within IBP, ensures an unbiased and transparent demand plan, and elevates demand discussions from volume review to decision oriented trade offs, risks, and opportunities. The Senior Demand Planning Manager is expected to operate as an enterprise leader, influencing senior stakeholders and embedding IBP discipline across the organization

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree
5 years of related industry experience
Total minimum number of years of experience required in lieu of degree 7 -10years
Consumer Packaged Goods Experience

Nice To Haves

APICS or other Forecasting certification preferred
Technical & Business Skills Strong expertise in demand forecasting, lifecycle planning, and scenario modeling. Hands‑on experience with SAP IBP or comparable advanced planning systems. Solid understanding of commercial planning, promotions, innovation launches, and financial implications. Ability to translate complex data into clear, executive‑ready insights and recommendations.
Leadership & Behavioral Expectations Enterprise mindset with ability to influence without authority. Comfortable challenging assumptions and driving fact‑based decisions. Strong communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills. Operates with discipline, transparency, and a bias toward proactive risk management.

Responsibilities

IBP & Demand Review Leadership Own and lead IBP Step: Demand Review, ensuring high‑quality inputs, transparent assumptions, and decision‑ready outputs that seamlessly feed Supply Review, Integrated Reconciliation, and MBR. Translate commercial strategy, innovation and lifecycle plans, promotions, distribution changes, and customer/channel dynamics into an integrated, unconstrained demand plan aligned to the end‑to‑end IBP horizon. Proactively surface demand risks, opportunities, and bias, framing clear scenarios and trade‑offs for cross‑functional alignment and escalation across the IBP 5‑step cadence. Partner closely with Finance to ensure demand plans are financially validated and aligned ahead of Integrated Reconciliation, enabling clear margin, inventory, and service implications for executive decision‑making. Ensure Demand Review outputs are fully integrated into Supply Review IBP Step and Management Business Review Step , supporting enterprise‑level decisions with one aligned demand signal.
Demand Planning Excellence Develop, maintain, and continuously improve a rolling 18‑month demand plan using SAP IBP or equivalent advanced planning tools. Establish demand planning standards, governance, and best practices aligned to IBP principles and “one source of truth.” Lead demand accuracy, bias, and performance management, including root‑cause analysis and corrective actions. Ensure disciplined handling of lifecycle events (innovation, transitions, discontinuations, and exits) to minimize service risk and inventory exposure.
Cross‑Functional Partnership Act as the primary integration point between Demand Planning and Commercial, Marketing, Finance, Supply Planning, and Operations. Influence Sales and Marketing leaders to align assumptions, tradeoffs, and commitments. Collaborate with Supply Planning to proactively identify supply‑demand imbalances, constraints, and mitigation actions. Support Annual Operating Plan (AOP), rolling forecasts, and scenario planning within the IBP framework.
Team Leadership & Capability Building Lead, coach, and develop the Demand Planning team, build strong business acumen, analytical rigor, and IBP mindset. Drive clarity in roles, planning ownership, and handoffs across planners and categories. Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and enterprise thinking.
Systems, Data & Continuous Improvement Champion adoption and effective use of SAP IBP and demand planning analytics. Partner with Data, IT, and Finance COE teams to improve data quality, automation, and reporting. Eliminate manual workarounds and ensure scalable, auditable demand planning processes.

Benefits

In addition to working at the world’s largest, state-of-the-art almond manufacturer, we offer a safe and collaborative team environment, with numerous opportunities for free training and career advancement.
Check out the BDG Benefits, Health & Wellness Guide HERE .
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Blue Diamond Growers (BDG) is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. BDG provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, color, age, religion, protected veteran or disability status, or genetic information.
BDG also complies with all provisions of the U.S. Government's Executive Order 11246 dated September 24, 1965 and the rules, regulations and relevant orders of the Secretary of Labor.
Introduce yourself to our recruiters and we'll get in touch if there's a role that seems like a good match.
About Blue Diamond In 1910 a cooperative of 230 California almond growers formed with the following core values: To build strong relationships among growers and with their customers; To communicate directly and honestly; and To work as a team to realize the best return on their investment.
More than a century later, Blue Diamond Growers still adheres to these values at every level of our operation.
Our employees are strongly committed to the brand and to each other - the word "family" is often used to describe our culture.
Today, Blue Diamond Growers represents more than 3,000 almond growers in California - the state that provides over 80% of the world's supply.
We are one of the most recognized food brands in the world, with annual sales exceeding $1billion.
We believe in transparency and honest communication.
Our work style is team-based, working together to innovate, process, and distribute the best almond products to the world.
After more than 100 years, our core values of integrity, partnership, innovation and quality remain strong.
Our commitment to excellence has driven Blue Diamond's unprecedented growth, innovation, high quality, and value.
You'll find these values at work throughout our company.
We strive for a diverse workforce, always aiming for greater levels of inclusion.
In addition to a robust benefits package, we offer an employee wellness and fitness program, in which a majority of our workforce currently participates.