Demand Planning Lead MT

Built on talent, technology, and trust, Grace is a leading global supplier of catalysts and engineered materials. The company’s two industry-leading business segments—Catalysts Technologies and Materials Technologies—provide innovative products, technologies, and services that enhance the products and processes of our customers around the world. Grace employs approximately 4,300 people in over 30 countries.

Job Description

The Demand Planning Lead performs a critical role in our cross-functional, integrated planning and decision-making process – proactively managing, coordinating, and communicating forward-looking demand projections to ensure superior service to customers and predictability of business performance. This role requires a unique and demonstrated capability to lead cross-functional engagement in market and customer intelligence gathering as a complement to underlying statistical and predictive analysis of market and business patterns.

Responsible for continued development and enhancement for Demand Planning while leading the consolidation and development of a rolling monthly volume demand forecast with a minimum 18 month effective horizon at appropriate planning levels aligned with cross-functional decision-making process (product family, SKU, aggregate, etc.).

Responsibilities

• Contributes transformational thought leadership and drives adoption of the Demand Planning system.
• Develops and manages key business policies / processes to guide behaviors in support of effective Demand Planning capabilities.
• Interacts with key stakeholders in Business Management, Supply Planning, Sales, Marketing, and Finance to maintain alignment on the demand outlook, gaining insights on customer dynamics, strategic growth strategies, demand drivers, global market conditions, and business plans.
• Drives the use of predictive modeling / statistical forecasting where possible.
• Prepare effective Demand Review briefing materials to inform Leadership of the latest operational demand outlook and identify key opportunities for Leadership influence to effect outcomes.
• Defines and tracks demand forecast accuracy, bias, and other relevant metrics to drive continuous improvement of predictability.
• Leads and facilitates Demand Reviews with active involvement of key stakeholders and measured process adherence to ensure effectiveness.
• Publishes the Consensus Demand Plan (CDP) in a timely manner, including documented assumptions, risk, and opportunities.
• Works with Supply Planning and Product Managers to account for constrained supply conditions as needed.
• Proactively engages cross-functional resources to manage off-cycle updates during the development of a monthly Demand, Supply, and Integrated Consensus Demand Plan with clear delineation of materiality threshold across the portfolio.

Required Qualifications

• 8 plus years of relevant Demand Planning experience with Marketing or Commercial exposure.
• B.S. degree in a technical or business field.
• Strong analytical skills with an ability to assimilate multiple inputs into a cohesive output that is easily explained and defended.

Preferred Qualifications

• Excellent communication skills, including inter-cultural understanding.
• Ability to make independent decisions with strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Highly organized with attention to detail and ability to manage competing priorities as well as complexity.
• Strong Initiative skills.
• MBA

Grace is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity. Please, no phone calls or emails. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at Grace via email, the Internet or in any form and/or method without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of Grace. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by Grace as a result of the referral or through other means.