Sales Demand Planner

About the Opportunity

The purpose of the Demand Management department is to support Driscoll’s Mission through skilled planning and execution that ensures effective supply and demand alignment, enabling exceptional service for both internal and external customers. The team supports go to market and customer strategies through detailed 52 week demand planning across all sales channels.

The Sales Demand Planner is a member of the Sales Demand Management team and is responsible for driving capability and process improvements that effectively align mid range supply and demand. This role partners closely with Sales, Product Business Management, Customer Development, Marketing, Sales & Operations Planning, and the Supply Forecasting team to forecast and manage sales demand to optimize pricing, support customer growth objectives, and drive value creation. The position requires a highly motivated individual who combines strong business acumen, an innovative can do mindset, and practical demand planning expertise.

The Sales Demand Planner will ensure customer demand, customer priority strategies, fruit price optimization and market conditions are accurately represented for their assigned Customers to support planning processes for all berries to achieve strategic and fiscal year price and customer performance targets. This role is accountable for meeting the expectations of the demand planning process.

 Responsibilities

• Promotes the development of flexible, adaptive and innovative processes through effective partnership, collaboration and communication with all of Driscoll’s functional groups, vendors and customers

• Identify, develop and implement flexible, adaptive and innovative continuous improvement (CI) end-to-end demand planning processes for effectiveness, efficiencies & accuracy. Champion of best practice opportunities

• Excellent interpersonal skills, including diplomacy and collaboration, and the ability to maintain strong working relationships

• Manages supply and demand alignment process to optimize fruit revenue and improve customer service through thoughtful mid-range demand plans

• Partners with Sales, Sales Leadership and Customer Development on a daily basis to collaborate on key demand management processes, strategize on sales opportunities and seasonal selling requirements, and share market updates

• Develops Annual Go To Market plans (AGTM) in collaboration with Sales & Customer Development, creating a plan that follows customer strategies and aligns with the seasonal production forecast

• Analyzes channel allocation strategy to support customer and market strategies while optimizing price

• Follows Company policies and practices while representing Driscoll’s in an ethical and business-like manner in all interactions with employees, government agencies, growers, vendors, customers, etc.

• Performs other duties as instructed by the Director of Demand Management and Senior Manager of Demand Planning

    Candidate Profile

•    Bachelor’s Degree
•    5+ years of progressive & successful produce and/or berry industry leadership experience
•    2+ years Demand Forecasting experience preferred
•    4+ years Sales, Marketing, Category Development and/or Supply Chain experience required
•    Experienced subject matter expertise of berry sales, operations, processes and systems
•    Strong knowledge in the channels of distribution of perishable products 
•    Advanced use of Microsoft Office Suite applications, including Excel, Word, Power Point and Outlook 
•    Experience with Tableau, Oracle ERP, and Anaplan preferred

Preferred (other) Qualifications
•    Exceptional presentation, written and oral communication skills 
•    Resourceful and creative with the ability to work independently with little supervision, influence cross functional staff and team members, initiate new ideas, create new systems and develop and train others in new processes
•    Ability to lead and collaborate as needed to support weekly planning goals
•    Demonstrated success and a history of high-performance accomplishments ideally in Sales, Demand Planning or Supply Chain environments preferred
•    Ability to manage up, down, and across, to influence others, resolve conflict, recognize cultural differences and adopt alternative methods
•    Self-driven, self-motivated individual with a strong work ethic required
•    Strong analytical skills with experience in utilizing information and communication technologies, along with key sales analysis 
•    Business travel may be required, both domestic and international
•    Driver’s license and ability to be covered under company sponsored vehicle insurance
•    Valid passport and the ability to travel internationally without restrictions required

Compensation & Benefits:

The following information is provided in good faith as a general description of the salary range and benefits for the position posted.  The actual compensation offered to the successful candidate is dependent upon experience, skills, education, work location, internal pay equity, and other objective job-related factors.

Salary Range estimated for the Sales Demand Planner: $88,000 to $113,000 USD.

Driscoll’s is committed to a culture of care and offers an attractive benefits package that includes comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, life insurance, and disability coverage for positions working more than 30 hours per week. Other benefits include: 401(k) with employer match, profit-sharing participation, paid sick time, paid vacation, paid personal and family care leave, and a free Employee Assistance Program (EAP).  More detailed information regarding the benefits package will be shared during the application process.
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