Business Planner Skill Sets

• Position calls for highly analytical, technical, inquisitive, self-starters who embrace and initiate change. Requires strong negotiation skills with proven record of consensus–building across various disciplines and levels of management
• Analytical experience in demand planning, supply chain, finance, sales administration or marketing required

New Product Planning

• Global Business Planners “own” new product volume estimates/forecasts from the Concept stage through the Monitor stage. Business Planners support brand marketing & financial objectives through the following New Product Process:
  • Prepare objective, fact-based, detailed projections for each saleable SKU/market combination. Volumes support the innovation planning process and translate into forecast guidelines
  • Provide detailed analyses of historic internal and external like-product performance (shipments and sell thru where available) and market trends. Includes most-likely scenarios for cannibalization, marketing support, door distribution plans, market share/category growth projections, SKU management, pipe requirements, etc. Communicate forecast guidelines to the regions and assist them in incorporating them into their business plans.
  • Global Business Planners negotiate with Global Marketing, Regional Sales & Marketing and Regional Demand Planning teams to gain consensus on projections/assumptions
  • Proactively re-evaluate projections as needed throughout the Innovation to Execution stages and issue detailed forecast guidelines by market/SKU combination to affiliates for local forecasting
  • Investigate unexpected and/or missing forecasts and approve final forecast volumes, gaining consensus where results differ materially from original projections.

Strategic / Business Planning & Reporting

• Global Business Planners are critical in ongoing Strategic & Financial Planning processes by identifying sales opportunities at the category/product/market levels, creating and presenting reporting to optimize the business.
• Provide business and portfolio analytics to support the Global Brand. This includes the issuance of several standard monthly and quarterly reports as well as general ad-hoc analyses.
• Provide analytical support for the annual innovation planning, strategy, budget and long-term planning process.
• Evaluate actuals vs. plan/prior year, analyze variances and initiate appropriate corrective actions working through the Regional and Affiliate Brand, Global Marketing, Demand Planning, Finance, and Gbsc organizations.
• Prepare, analyze and issue reports such as the Innovation Sufficiency Side-by-Side, Mix-of-Business, Retail/Trade Inventory Analysis, Phase-Out Assessment, Time Phased Safety Stock Volume Estimates, etc.
• Identify opportunities for and develop new analytics to continue to evolve reporting and analytics within the brand.
• Utilize reporting to provide insights and recommendations for action to brand leadership and the Regional teams.
• Monitor brand sales trends across all Regions and Markets and drive for adjustments to improve demand plans.
• Drive for Promotional sufficiency. Monitor the usage plans for the Non-Saleable product portfolio which includes Samples, Gifts, Testers, and Collateral items.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree in Business, Finance, Marketing, Engineering. Master’s degree helpful but not required.
• 5+ years broad functional combined experience in the following preferred: Demand Planning, Supply Chain, Marketing Analytics, Finance, Business Development, Consulting
• Strong Microsoft Office Skills- Advanced Excel Skills, strong PowerPoint skills
• Experience with SAP, Tableau, and Alteryx preferred
• Strong Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) knowledge base
• Strong knowledge of the demand planning process and business planning, Systems thinking mindset.
• Excellent analytical, critical thinking, detail orientation, presentation, collaboration, and negotiation skills.