Title:  Manager, Demand Planning

Job purpose

The Demand Planning Manager is responsible for driving, owning and implementing systems for Sun Brand supply and distribution. This role takes ownership of delivering accurate sales forecasts and creating the final consensus forecast in collaboration with the commercial team for the Canadian Market. The Demand Planning Manager manages inventory of all finished goods and leads national demand planning for 600+ SKUs.

Duties and responsibilities

• Generate and publish monthly dashboards inventory performance indicators, be able to interpret them, explain them and find ways to correct problematic situations by measuring the evolution of results.
• Month-End Analysis – current inventory and projections for finished goods.
• Product Launches – initiate and support strategic product launches to meet corporate timeline.
• Create manual customer orders and forward to distribution at UPS.
• Create quarterly cycle count accuracy reports.
• Responsible to manage third party purchases and supply.
• Collaborate with Sun Supply team and CMO’s to ensure a continuous supply of committed inventory.
• Responsible to review backorder report and perform root cause analysis.
• Coordinate with Quality Assurance to identify priorities for release of Finished Goods inventory to avoid market shortages or excess inventory.
• Attend S&OP meetings with commercial team to confirm supply on track.
• Coordinate shipments, inventory movements, customs processes and samples request for QA/QC & 3PL.
• Responsible for preparing, analyzing and maintaining relevant reports pertaining to the demand planning process and S&OP.
• Analyze forecast statistics to create consensus demand.
• Responsible for Canadian Finished goods short dated analysis and ensure the inventory is in the right buckets.
• Annual verification of Item Master. Ensure APO and ECC Master Data alignment.
• Provide leadership and support on day to day operations of supply chain.
• Increase forecast accuracy at SKU level by refined statistical modeling.
• Coach and manage a team of 2 Demand Planners.
• Institutionalize demand segmentation and exception-based planning logic to reduce forecast bias and improve forecast trust.
• Serve as process owner for S&OP demand alignment, bridging Sales, Marketing, Finance, and Operations with actionable insights and a unified demand view.
• Design and implement SOPs for lifecycle management, warehouse transitions, and new item introductions—enhancing planning agility and data integrity.
• Develop a centralized monitoring dashboard for all Demand Planning KPIs, improving visibility and driving data-driven decisions and elevating executive reporting.
• Partner with the Sales team to form monthly Sales Business Reviews to manage demand changes and integrate market intelligence into supply planning, supporting business continuity and launch readiness.
• Manage Finished Goods inventory targets.
• Manage SLOB inventory and reduce write offs.
• Manage logistics budget by driving demand planning with proper lead times.
• Other duties as assigned.

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Additional responsibility (Only applicable to customer facing roles)

Report any adverse event received from customers for company products to the pharmacovigilance department / Drug Safety on the same day or within 1 business day

Qualifications

• Minimum University education (Bachelors degree in Business management/ Engineering. Having Master’s degree is an asset).
• 7+ years’ experience in supply chain in a pharmaceutical or food industry.
• Demonstrated leadership to see a longer term view, develop an action plan to get there and effectively influence others to support the effort.
• Expert knowledge of supply chain processes ideally in the Pharma Brand / Generics pharmaceutical industry.
• Experience in interfacing and interacting with diverse business groups.
• Experience in Operations, Materials Management, Production Planning.
• SAP knowledge of software functionality and data extraction.
• Problem Solving Skills:
  • Ability to perform in depth inventory investigations for purposes of reconciliation.
  • Ability to evaluate processes in order to determine root causes of deficiencies.
  • Ability to analyze costs in order to reduce operating costs while maintaining or improving efficiencies.
• Strong communication skills in order to converse intelligently and appropriately with senior management, subordinates and colleagues.
• Proficient at Microsoft Office – Excel, Word, Project, Outlook EDI, Tableau, SAP ECC and APO.

Working conditions

• General conditions include office and warehouse work.
• Clean environment.
• Ability to work in a fast pace environment and ability to prioritize workload.

Physical requirements

• Mix of standing, walking, and desk work.

Direct reports

Two (2) Demand Planners