We have an immedate opening for an experienced Strategic Demand Planner to join our growing manufacturing team near London, Ontario. You will have full responsibility to develop and maintain a strategic demand plan, coach junior planners and provide backup support to the Demand Planning and S&OP functions. This position directly supports service level performance, inventory health, forecast quality, and revenue alignment.
Our ideal candidate loves manufacturing, is all about the details and thrives in a fast-paced, growth oriented environment. If you are passionate about resolving challenges in real time and connecting operational plans with financial goals this could be a perfect fit.
KEY RESPONSIBILTIES:
- Act as backup for the S&OP Manager, supporting facilitation and execution of the broader S&OP process when required
- Own KPI reporting and demand planning for department, including variance narratives, trend analysis, and leadership insights
- Prepare rolling 16-month demand forecast at the SKU–customer level, incorporating statistical, Sales, and Category inputs
- Lead cross-functional alignment ensuring consistent understanding of assumptions, risks, and opportunities across Sales, Product, Finance, and Supply driving maturity of the department S&OP process
- Provide consultation re complex forecasting issues improving demand quality, contributing to stronger fill rate/inventory performance
- Lead S&OP process, including cycle management, material preparation, data review, outcome publishing, and system updates
- Manage activities for the Commercial category (US/Canada)
- Represent demand planning in S&OP meetings, ensuring continuity of process and clear communication of risks, opportunities, and forecast performance
- Coach junior demand planners to elevate forecasting capability, analytics, etc.
- Improve forecast accuracy by reducing bias, applying analytics/leveraging customer trends
- Conduct root-cause analysis on forecast misses and drive continuous improvement
- Maintain and enhance forecasting metrics and trackers (accuracy, bias, etc.)
- Lead meetings with Sales, presenting data-driven recommendations
- Collaborate with Supply Planning to minimize disruptions and ensure alignment
- Support CI of the S&OP process, including routines, reporting, tools, data quality and analytical methods
- Execute monthly forecasting procedures utilizing Netstock
- Partner with Sales, Category, and Finance to understand demand drivers and assumptions
QUALIFICATIONS:
- College Diploma/University Degree in Supply Chain, Business, Economics or Statistics
- 5 - 7 years advanced experience in demand planning, forecasting, S&OP & IBP
- ASCM/APICS and IBF
- CPF or ACPF certifications preferred
- Proven excellence in analysis, decision-making, and problem solving
- Skilled at balancing tactical execution with broader S&OP process thinking
- Advanced Power BI (dashboards, data models), SQL familiarity (e.g., Viewpoint Sequel)
- Strong critical thinking and visualization skills to drive continuous improvement
- Ability to take calculated risks to drive customer and business value
- Excellent presentation skills, ability to translate complex data into actionable insights
- Strong work ethics, positive team attitude, ability to collaborate across functions
- ERP experience (JD Edwards) an asset
- Advanced MS Office skills (Advanced Excel/VBA/Power Query, Power Automate, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook
