Lead Specialist, Demand Planner, Orthopedics

Work Flexibility: Hybrid

What you will do

• Create and maintain high quality demand forecasts and demand forecast analytics.  Must assemble and analyze all data pertinent to creating/maintaining the demand forecast, including historical order bookings/shipments, item master data, market and macro-economic trends, seasonality, promotions, and product life-cycle management.
• Serve as the primary demand planning contact for the General Manager, Marketing, Sales and Finance business partners and for the IBP Franchise Manager, Analyst or Global Operations Master Scheduler(s). Lead the demand planning process and monthly Executive Demand Review meetings and coordinate / consolidate plans with other Demand Planners, to ensure the process is effective and runs efficiently. 
• Perform financial reconciliation against the financial plan, lead efforts to address financial plan gaps as well as demand-supply gaps and improving key metric performance such as forecast accuracy and forecast bias. Work cross-functional to develop appropriate action plans to close gaps
• Represent the demand planning process within Stryker’s Integrated Business Planning (IBP) process, demonstrating thought leadership, creativity in solving problems and the ability to appropriately communicate and escalate issues as needed
• Act as the primary liaison to cross-functional senior management to provide education around the demand plan and its implications and risks, and provide monthly, detailed documentation of key assumptions.  Partner with the IBP team to ensure demand plans are communicated effectively across the supply function. 
• Identify actionable insights and recommendations to support strategic decision making for senior leaders & lead defined elements of divisional demand planning team, including but not limited to process improvement, weekly/monthly reporting, documentation, and product life-cycle management
• Ensure the demand plan is collected and approved by the required business and financial leaders as defined in the process flow per the required monthly cadence
• Support execution of the product life-cycle management process for all new product launches and product exits as it relates to the demand planning function.  Monitor SKU levels and recommend rationalization initiatives for future consideration to Divisional/Global Operations leadership.  Partner with the Business System Administrator and Forecast Modelers to create reporting of analytics to support the business needs for better information in decision-making
• Understand the corporate/departmental objectives for demand planning and ensure adherence to established standard business and system processes
• Drive continuous improvement in the development, modification and adjustment of procedures, policies, processes and technologies within the demand planning organization. Lead training and education sessions as needed both within the demand planning team and across the organization as warranted
• Maintain awareness of industry best practices and the ability to advocate for and translate those into forecasting practices where appropriate
• Lead major supply chain process improvements and system implementation projects as required by the business & manage demand planning and data analytics for multiple or large segments of the business  

What you need

• Degree level in Business/Engineering/Supply Chain management
• APICS accredited or professional supply chain accreditation & must have knowledge of demand management/forecasting tools, forecasting processes in sales, marketing operations, finance, manufacturing and supply chain issues.
• Strong MS Office skills (Excel, PowerPoint, Access)
• Must understand end to end supply chain interactions and interdependencies.

Must Required

• Minimum of 4 years of business experience in: Supply Chain Planning, Demand Management/Forecasting, Sales Operations/Planning, Finance/Accounting, or Marketing
• Background in sales analytics, inventory management, new product introductions and supply chain metrics is required.
• Prior experience with demand planning tools like Oracle Demantra, Demand Solutions or i2 is preferred.
• Knowledge of ERP (Oracle) transactional data and SAP is preferred

Travel Percentage: 30%