Forecast Analyst

Location: New Braunfels, Texas

Position Summary

The Forecast Analyst supports demand planning and supply-chain decision-making by developing and maintaining accurate product forecasts. This position analyzes historical sales, customer demand, inventory levels, promotions, seasonality, and market trends to identify changes in demand and improve forecast accuracy.

The Forecast Analyst works closely with Sales, Product Management, Operations, Purchasing, Finance, and other cross-functional partners to ensure forecasts reflect current business conditions. The ideal candidate is analytical, detail-oriented, comfortable working with large data sets, and able to clearly communicate findings and recommendations.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain forecasts at the product, customer, and SKU levels.
• Analyze historical sales, demand trends, seasonality, promotions, new-product introductions, and product lifecycle changes.
• Review forecast performance and identify significant variances, trends, risks, and opportunities.
• Track forecast accuracy, forecast bias, and other relevant planning metrics.
• Partner with Sales and Product Management to incorporate customer information, promotional plans, and market intelligence into forecasts.
• Collaborate with Purchasing, Operations, and Inventory teams to support appropriate inventory levels and product availability.
• Assist with monthly demand-planning and Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) activities.
• Prepare reports, dashboards, and presentations that clearly communicate forecast changes and business impact.
• Investigate inventory shortages, excess inventory, and slow-moving products to determine potential forecasting causes.
• Support forecasting for new products, discontinued products, and products with limited historical data.
• Maintain accurate planning data within the company’s ERP, forecasting, or demand-planning systems.
• Recommend improvements to forecasting tools, reports, processes, and data quality.
• Complete ad hoc analysis and other supply-chain projects as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, business, finance, economics, statistics, data analytics, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
• One to three years of experience in forecasting, demand planning, inventory analysis, supply-chain analysis, financial analysis, or a related analytical role.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including pivot tables, lookups, formulas, charts, and the analysis of large data sets.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to identify trends and translate data into practical business recommendations.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to data accuracy.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and meet established deadlines.
• Ability to work collaboratively with employees and leaders across multiple departments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a manufacturing, distribution, automotive, consumer-products, or aftermarket environment.
• Experience working with an ERP, MRP, demand-planning, or forecasting system.
• Familiarity with demand-planning concepts and metrics such as forecast accuracy, forecast bias, MAPE, and WAPE.
• Experience with Power BI, Tableau, or another reporting and visualization tool.
• Exposure to S&OP or integrated business-planning processes.

Competencies

• Analytical thinking
• Business and financial awareness
• Attention to detail
• Planning and organization
• Cross-functional collaboration
• Clear communication
• Initiative and accountability
• Continuous improvement
• Adaptability

Work Environment

This position operates primarily in a professional office environment and regularly uses computers, spreadsheets, reporting tools, and business systems. The Forecast Analyst may occasionally enter warehouse or manufacturing areas and may be required to travel periodically for meetings, training, or business support.

Physical Requirements

The employee must be able to perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation. The role generally requires prolonged periods of sitting and working at a computer, as well as occasional standing, walking, reaching, and lifting of light materials.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The company is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable law.