Job Description

About Sara Lee Frozen Bakery

Sara Lee desserts have always stood for incredible flavor and superior value in the frozen food aisle and away from home markets.  The Sara Lee Frozen Bakery collection of top brands includes Sara Lee®, Chef Pierre®, Van’s®, Bistro Collection®, Superior on Main® and Cyrus O’Leary’s®.

Sara Lee Frozen Bakery is proud to take these iconic brands into a new era and to continue the evolution that transformed one small Chicago bakery into an American institution. Using carefully sourced ingredients and time-honored recipes, the company is committed to making life’s moments a little sweeter, putting its customers first and discovering new ways to make everyone’s favorite foods even better.

Working for Sara Lee

Our vision is to be the world’s most beloved bakery by creating irresistible foods, growing with our customers, and delivering value for all.  We will achieve success through collaboration and innovation in an environment where employees feel empowered to execute with speed. We believe that each of us has unique points of difference and experience to offer. We believe that there is always a better way, and we will never be satisfied with status quo. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, continually seek process improvements and a strong sense of customer service, then this is the right type of environment for you.  

Position Summary

The Demand Planner will be responsible for executing the analysis work and planning activities associated in the creation of a monthly long term demand plan. The role will act as an integration point between Sales, Marketing, Finance and Supply Planning and will be responsible for analyzing and adjusting data, improving results against critical KPI’s such as Forecast Accuracy and Bias, and working with key cross functional partners in gathering business intelligence.  This position will support the Demand Manager in coordinating, conducting, and contributing to the demand activities associated with the monthly S&OP process.

Responsibilities:

• Leverage data and analytics to anticipate trends and identify deviations as part of improving the overall bias and forecast accuracy. Monitor, analyze, and report on key performance indicators (KPI's) on a regular basis against budget and/or performance targets
• Manage the cadence of demand planning activities and meetings involved with sales consensus, supply and demand alignment, and S&OP process.  Focus on driving discussions around demand assumptions and drivers that will impact the forward-looking demand plan.    
• Develop strong partnerships with key internal customers including Operations, Supply Planning, Customer Service, Sales, Marketing, and Finance.  
• Partner with the business to identify gaps between the demand plan and financial/sales targets and validate all corrective gap closers
• Provide input to the Supply Planning team to develop inventory strategies on existing items, new products, and product phase-outs
• Drive a continuous improvement effort across all aspects of demand planning to ensure a robust, reliable, and repeatable end to end process is in place. Focus on reporting tools and processes geared to improve forecast capabilities, efficiency, and accuracy.

The position responsibilities outlined above are not to be construed as all encompassing.  Other duties and responsibilities may be required and/or assigned as necessary.

Knowledge and Skill Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations, Business Administration, or related degree
• 3-5 years of demand / supply planning experience- CPG industry a plus
• Strong leadership skills, well organized, self-motivated, able to multi-task within a fast-paced environment
• Experience in working with demand planning software applications ex. John Galt, SAP, Manugistics  
• Proficiency with MS Office and advanced Microsoft Excel skills required 
• Strong analytical, decision making, and interpersonal skills
• Thorough working knowledge of supply chain principles and processes, including S&OP, planning, and forecasting
• APICS Certification a plus

Sara Lee Frozen Bakery provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.