Senior Demand Planning Specialist

Nestl Health Science Demand Planner

At Nestl Health Science, we believe that nutrition, science, and wellness must merge, not collide. Here, we embrace the intrinsic connections of these three pillars, harnessing their collective strength to empower healthier lives. Our broad product portfolio includes renowned brands like Garden of Life, Nature's Bounty, Vital Proteins, Orgain, Nuun, BOOST, Carnation Breakfast Essentials, Peptamen, Compleat Organic Blends, and more. We also have extensive pharmaceutical expertise, offering innovative medicines that aim to prevent, manage, and treat gastrointestinal and metabolic-related diseases. At Nestl Health Science, we bring our best for better lives. Our people are challenged to bring fresh, diverse views and make bold moves to empower healthier lives through nutrition. We know brilliant ideas can come from anyone, anywhere. Here we embrace the entrepreneurial spirit and collaborate with teams that champion focused and forward thinking. We are committed to fostering professional growth and celebrating the achievements of our people along the way. We offer dynamic career paths, robust development, opportunities to learn from talented colleagues around the globe, and benefits that support physical, financial, and emotional wellbeing. Join us to innovate for impact and reimagine the future of health and nutrition for patients and consumers.

Position Overview

Responsible for the accuracy and reliability of the Demand Plan for Nestle Health Science, Vital Proteins Channel, in the US. This includes implementation of performance standards / operating procedures that affect the Demand Planning function; deployment of related demand planning tools / reports; and maintenance of demand forecast for the business unit. Additionally, this person will be the Champion of the Sales and Operations Planning Process (MBP - Monthly Business Planning), assessing the structure and content of the Forecast Enrichment (FEM), Dynamic Forecast Alignment (DFA) meetings, ensuring robust business processes and facilitating the interaction between Sales, Marketing, Finance and Operations.

Key Responsibilities

• Creates and maintains the appropriate Master Data in the planning systems in use, minimizing errors, avoiding duplication / obsolescence and reflecting product lifecycle (e.g. Product Hierarchy, Finished Goods creation workflow, Demand Lifecycle Management).
• Generates and maintains a Demand Plan for the business unit at the levels (product hierarchy & time) at which the decisions are taken, appropriately considering recent events.
• Understands Demand Planning key performance metrics and targets.
• Consistently improves Demand Plan Accuracy and drives out systematic forecast bias through detailed root cause analysis on past performance, maintaining an efficient learning log.
• Effectively uses all Demand Planning system functionalities to enable an exception based management approach. Implement improvements to the Demand Planning processes and tools to deliver tangible benefits (e.g. time saving, efficiencies).
• Uses appropriate statistical models and parameters, enriching statistical forecast to generate accurate base demand forecast. Collaborates with the Statistical Forecasting Team (Demand Analysts) in improving statistical models.
• Contributes to the cross-functional planning activities according to best practices and ensures necessary preparation and follow up actions for the Monthly Business Planning meetings are completed in due time.
• Makes recommendations on the baseline forecast for the business unit and defends the appropriate changes to the Consensus Demand Plan (CDP).
• Captures, prioritizes and analyses forecast assumptions used in the consensus demand plan, such as Marketing and Sales events, customer, consumer and competitor information, product launches and related cannibalization with impact to the demand plan.
• Analyses actual sales to Customers and sell-out (e.g. POS, if available) data to identify exceptional and un-forecasted activities, challenging the appropriate groups to help explain deviations to forecast. Use findings to drive timely and appropriate actions to minimize the impact of deviations from the Demand Plan.
• Presents outcomes for the Monthly Business Planning process to leadership and get buy-in from the relevant stakeholders.
• Through systematic reporting, ensures the latest Demand Plan is readily available to internal business partners as required.
• Holds meetings with Sales to review past performance of key distributors and identify gaps / changes to their actual sales in vs their trace sales out.
• Facilitate meetings with Sales to review upcoming contract wins / losses, identifying phasing, timing, run rate, quantity, etc and validating with Business Operations that actuals are coming in as planned. Clearly review what's in the CDP with the broader commercial team for alignment and agreement, and work with Finance to identify which initiatives should be included in the DF.
• Create and manage the monthly mid month projection tool, communicating to the MN Leadership team how we project to land for the month, with added input from Sales.
• Actively participates in Demand Planning functional meetings with other business units to share experiences and best practices.
• Cascades knowledge of Demand Planning Best Practices and tools to other Demand planners, new hires and cross-functional teams.

Education And Experience Requirements

High School Diploma is required, Bachelor's Degree is positive. Preferred 4 years of business experience in Demand & Supply Planning, Supply Chain Development, Procurement, Physical Logistics, Customer Service, Sales & Marketing, Finance or related field. SAP experience is strongly preferred.

Skills

Proven ability to influence others. Demand Planning and statistical forecasting techniques. Experience of implementing processes and systems to improve organization and working methods. Strong analytical aptitude with a proven ability to analyze / interpret data and build quantitative models of business problems. Excellent oral and written skills, organizational and time-management abilities, effective inter-personal skills, and the ability to work with personnel at all organizational levels. Flexibility and adaptability to the demands and requirements of a fast-paced environment with multiple demands and priorities. Creative thinking skills with emphasis on developing innovative solutions to complex problems.

This position will be either a remote or hybrid role based on the selected candidate's geographic location. Preference will be given to applicants who live within a commutable distance of Bridgewater, NJ, Chicago, IL, Palm Beach Gardens, FL or Long Island, NY.

The approximate pay range for this position is $90,000 to $100,000. Please note that the pay range provided is a good faith estimate for the position at the time of posting. Final compensation may vary based on factors including but not limited to knowledge, skills and abilities as well as geographic location. Nestl offers performance-based incentives and a competitive total rewards package, which includes a 401k with company match, healthcare coverage and a broad range of other benefits. Incentives and / or benefit packages may vary depending on the position.

It is our business imperative to remain a very inclusive workplace. To our veterans and separated service members, you're at the forefront of our minds as we recruit top talent to join Nestl. The skills you've gained while serving our country, such as flexibility, agility, and leadership, are much like the skills that will make you successful in this role. In addition, with our commitment to an inclusive work environment, we recognize the exceptional engagement and innovation displayed by individuals with disabilities. Nestl seeks such skilled and qualified individuals to share our mission where you'll join a cohort of others who have chosen to call Nestl home. The Nestl Companies are equal employment opportunity employers. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Prior to the next step in the recruiting process, we welcome you to inform us confidentially if you may require any special accommodations in order to participate fully in our recruitment experience. Contact us at accommodations@nestle.com or please dial 711 and provide this number to the operator : 1-800-321-6467. This position is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship. Review our applicant privacy notice before applying at . Job Requisition : 378789