Demand Planner
Demand Planner (Mid–Senior Level)
Location: New York, NY ( 4 days in office Monday - Thursday, Fridays remote)
Department: Operations / Supply Chain
Compensation: 95k-115k
Reports To: Senior Director of Supply Chain
About the Role
We are seeking an experienced Demand Planner to own and drive our forecasting processes across all channels and product lines. This role is responsible for delivering accurate, timely, and actionable demand forecasts that empower Supply Planning, Sourcing, and NPD to execute the right inventory, capacity, and purchasing decisions, while also supporting Commercial with clear sales forecast visibility and partnering closely with Finance to ensure accurate projections for revenue planning, cash flow modeling, and budgeting needs.
This is not a supply planning role. The Demand Planner will not own inventory levels, purchase orders, supply constraints, or replenishment. Their primary responsibility is to build, maintain, and communicate a forecast that is deeply data-driven, aligned cross-functionally, and reflective of real commercial demand.
You will be a critical partner to cross-functional teams, ensuring that the business has clear visibility into trends, risks, and opportunities.
Key Responsibilities
Forecast Management & Analytics
- Own the creation, maintenance, and presentation of the weekly, monthly, and seasonal demand forecast across all channels (Retail, DTC, Amazon, International).
- Analyze historical sales, POS data, market trends, seasonality, promotions, product lifecycle stage, and customer commitments to build consensus forecasts.
- Manage SKU-level forecast inputs, including new item set-ups, SKU transitions, cannibalization assumptions, and demand curves.
- Drive continuous improvement in forecast accuracy by identifying error patterns and implementing corrective actions.
Cross-Functional Alignment (No Supply Planning Ownership)
- Deliver clean, accurate, and timely forecasts directly to Supply Planning, Sourcing, and NPD for:
- Purchase recommendations
- Component ordering strategies
- Capacity planning
- New launch readiness
- Support Commercial with clear sales forecast visibility and alignment on retailer commitments, marketing events, promotions, and channel performance.
- Partner closely with Finance to ensure demand forecasts fully support revenue planning, cash flow modeling, margin forecasting, and budget alignment.
- Act as the primary forecasting partner for Commercial, Finance, and Inventory teams—ensuring alignment on assumptions, events, and risks.
- Facilitate monthly S&OP / forecast review meetings, highlighting significant demand shifts, upside opportunities, and downside risks.
New Product Development Support
- Own forecast development for all new launches, including pre-launch demand assumptions, phase-in/phase-out planning, and post-launch performance tracking.
- Work closely with NPD and Commercial to update forecasts as new information becomes available (e.g., retailer commitments, marketing activations, influencer support).
Data Integrity & Reporting
- Maintain demand planning tools, forecast models, and reporting dashboards.
- Deliver weekly and monthly reporting on:
- Forecast accuracy (MAPE/Bias)
- POS trends
- Channel performance
- Top movers/bottom movers
- Demand risks & opportunities
- Ensure data integrity across demand-related datasets and systems.
Qualifications
- 4–8+ years of experience in Demand Planning, Forecasting, Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), or related Supply Chain roles.
- Experience in CPG, beauty, retail, or high-SKU-velocity environments preferred.
- Strong analytical skills with proven ability to translate data into actionable insights.
- Highly proficient in Excel/Google Sheets; experience with forecasting tools (NetSuite, Anaplan, SAP IBP, Logility, DEAR, etc.) is a plus.
- Strong understanding of forecasting methods (statistical, regression, SKU lifecycle modeling).
- Excellent communication and presentation skills — can align cross-functional teams and influence decision-making.
- Strong business judgment and the ability to operate in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment.
- Extremely detail-oriented and comfortable owning accuracy and consistency.
What Success Looks Like
- Forecast is consistently accurate and validated by cross-functional teams.
- Supply Planning, Sourcing, and NPD have clear, actionable forecasts that drive better purchase decisions and fewer surprises.
- Commercial and Finance teams rely on the demand plan for sales planning, cash flow forecasting, and budget accuracy.
- Forecast assumptions are well-documented, communicated, and proactively updated.
- POS and sales trends are surfaced early, with clear insight into “why.”
- The company experiences fewer stockouts, fewer excess buys, and smoother launches due to better demand visibility.