Demand Planner

Job Title: Demand Planner
Location: East Hanover, NJ 07936
Duration: 3 + Months (Possible Extension)

Position Type: Onsite

Pay rate: $65.51/hr. on W2

Role Overview:
This role is a critical part of the Customer Demand Planning team, responsible for supporting customer- and location-level forecasting, short-term demand alignment, new item distribution and assortment forecasting, forecast reconciliation, and cross-functional demand representation.
 
Key Responsibilities:

• Customer & Location Forecasting: Develop bottom-up demand forecasts for key customers (Food Service & E-comm), ensuring regional and location-level accuracy.
• Short-Term Demand & Client Alignment: Manage near-term (0–13 weeks) forecasts and align with Lag 2 Month and Lag 5 Week forecasts.
• New Item, Distribution & Assortment Forecasting: Maintain forecasts for new product launches, customer-specific distribution changes, resets, and assortment updates.
• Forecast Reconciliation & Performance Management: Reconcile bottom-up and brand/IBP forecasts, track accuracy, investigate variances, and report bias.
• Cross-Functional Representation: Represent customer demand in S&OE and DMS forums, providing insights, promotional forecasting, and root-cause analysis impacting service and CFR metrics.

Required Skills & Experience:

• 5+ years of relevant experience or work-equivalent in demand planning/forecasting.
• Strong demand and forecasting experience; APO system functional knowledge preferred.
• Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, variance analysis).
• Ability to analyze forecast accuracy, bias, and error trends.
• Relationship building and influence without direct authority.
• Experience owning customer-level shipment forecasts in client, foodservice, or omnichannel environments.
• Ability to diagnose forecast variance across multiple dimensions (customer behavior, promotions, supply constraints).

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with APO planning system and Salesforce.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and storytelling skills.
• Comfort leading discussions, challenging inputs constructively, and connecting insights to business outcomes (service, revenue, inventory).
• Track record of building trust with sales teams and navigating tension.

Operating Style:
Highly organized, fast-paced, strong ownership mindset, balancing urgency in a high-pressure, short-term environment.