Vice President, Sales & Operations Planning

Advantage Solutions•Dallas, TX

About The Position

Vice President of Workforce – Sales & Operations Planning The Vice President of Workforce – Sales & Operations Planning serves as the enterprise owner of an integrated, end‑to-end S&OP discipline, responsible for building a unified planning ecosystem that aligns demand, supply, and workforce capacity across all business segments. This leader establishes the operating model, governance structure, and decision rights that bring sales, marketing, finance, workforce empowerment, talent acquisition, and analytics into a single, reliable planning rhythm. A core mandate of the role is developing and executing a scalable third‑party (3P) capacity strategy, optimizing partner selection, performance, cost structure, and flexibility to support both steady‑state operations and periods of volatility. The VP drives strategic investments in tools, talent, and external partnerships; resolves cross‑segment trade‑offs, and ensures the enterprise consistently delivers on service, growth, and margin commitments while strengthening resilience, scalability, and long-term capacity health. Job Will Remain Open Until Filled The Company is one of North America’s leading sales and marketing agencies specializing in outsourced sales, merchandising, category management, and marketing services to manufacturers, suppliers, and producers of food products and consumer packaged goods. The Company services a variety of trade channels including grocery, mass merchandise, specialty, convenience, drug, dollar, club, hardware, consumer electronics, and home centers. We bridge the gap between manufacturers and retailers, providing consumers access to the best products available in the marketplace today.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree (MBA or advanced degree preferred)
10–12 years experience in relevant field
Some travel expected
Hires, retains, trains, coaches, guides, directs, and develops direct reports using company-wide processes, tools and resources
May delegate work of others and provide guidance, direction and mentoring to indirect reports
Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate complex data into actionable insights and strategies
Excellent communication and presentation skills, capable of engaging and influencing stakeholders at all levels of the organization
Demonstrated leadership and mentorship abilities, with a passion for developing talent and fostering a collaborative, inclusive team environment
Deep knowledge of sales planning processes, trade management systems, and advanced analytic tools and methodologies
Strategic thinker with a results-oriented mindset, able to balance short-term operational needs with long-term business objectives
Proficiency in an office productivity suite including spreadsheets, word processing, presentations, and business intelligence reporting
Expertise in Operations Planning and Forecasting, including integrated demand and capacity planning
Advanced knowledge of Analytics and Data Science concepts applied to business planning and performance optimization
Strong capability in People Leadership, including team development and succession planning
Familiarity with governance frameworks and decision-making processes for S&OP cadence and performance management
Demonstrated ability to translate customer and commercial insights into demand signals and operational decisions
Proven capability in optimizing third-party (3P) spend, vendor portfolios, or external labor and supply models
Strong analytical rigor, process discipline, and cross-functional leadership skills required to oversee and mature an integrated S&OP function

Responsibilities

Enterprise S&OP Governance & Operating Model: Own the design and governance of the integrated S&OP/IBP operating model, decision rights, stage gates, and executive forums; ensure disciplined planning and auditable decision-making across all segments
External Supply & 3P Strategy (Enterprise): Set and govern the external supply strategy, with a strong emphasis on 3P partner management (selection, SLAs, commercial guardrails, risk diversification, and performance reviews); align 3P capacity and capabilities to enterprise demand
Forecasting & Capacity Alignment (Enterprise): Sponsor enterprise forecasting standards and assumption governance; approve structural capacity decisions (make/buy, vendor expansion/consolidation, long-term labor strategies) to meet service and margin targets
Financial Stewardship & Structural Investments: Own budget alignment for S&OP and External Supply; approve structural investments (systems, analytics, vendor contracts, workforce programs) and ensure ROI, total cost-to-serve, and margin objectives are met
Performance Management & Risk Posture: Set the enterprise KPI framework (service, growth, margin, capital efficiency, vendor OTIF); own risk posture and sponsor mitigation for single-source, lead-time variability, and labor capacity constraints
Cross-Segment Trade-Offs & Executive Arbitration: Chair executive forums to arbitrate portfolio trade-offs (mix, timing, service levels) across segments; resolve conflicts that materially impact strategic customers, margin profile, or capacity utilization
Enterprise Data Governance & Analytics Excellence: Own the analytics governance framework (data standards, taxonomy, model validation) and the planning systems roadmap (APS/BI/predictive); ensure insights compress decision cycle time and improve forecast accuracy enterprise-wide
Operating Excellence & Continuous Improvement: Set enterprise standards (SOPs, RACI, stage gates) for S&OP and 3P governance; lead continuous improvement initiatives that reduce cycle time, increase forecast accuracy, and improve vendor performance
Talent Strategy & Organizational Design: Define org design and succession for Directors (S&OP), 3P leadership, and analytics/enablement teams; build leadership capability and a culture of accountability, inclusion, and high performance
Stakeholder Leadership & Executive Communication: Provide clear executive communication to C-suite leaders; align Sales, Marketing, Finance, Workforce Empowerment, TA, and Analytics with enterprise planning priorities and external supply strategy