Demand Planning Specialist

Job Description

Job Description

JAKKS Pacific, Inc., a leading designer and marketer of toys and consumer products, with a wide range of products that feature some of the most popular brands and children's toy licenses in the world, currently seeks an experienced, energetic, self-starter for the role of Demand Planning Specialist for our headquarters in Santa Monica, CA. The Demand Planning Specialist plays a critical role in ensuring product availability by balancing customer demand, production capacity, and supply chain constraints. This role partners closely with Sales, Marketing, Operations, and our overseas Merchandising team to support successful product launches, promotional activities, and ongoing replenishment while minimizing excess inventory and supply risks.

Responsibilities include:

• Coordinate production releases for raw materials (including electronic components and fabrics) and finished goods based on forecasted demand, production lead times, and minimum order quantity (MOQ) requirements.
• Analyze demand forecasts and production capacity to develop supply plans that support customer requirements and business objectives.
• Partner with Sales, Marketing, Operations to align supply plans with promotional events, product launches, and changing customer demand.
• Review production capacity and identify potential supply constraints, recommending solutions to minimize risk and maximize customer service levels.
• Allocate production across global markets while balancing inventory availability, customer priorities, and manufacturing capacity.
• Monitor product launch timelines and coordinate cross-functional activities to ensure new SKU readiness and on-time delivery.
• Collaborate with the Hong Kong Merchandising team to ensure production volumes, purchase commitments, and shipment timing align with business plans and factory lead times.
• Perform data analysis to support assortment planning, product lifecycle management, inventory optimization, and supply chain decision-making.
• Develop recommendations to minimize inventory liabilities at the factory.
• Prepare reports, analyze KPIs, and communicate risks, opportunities, and action plans to internal stakeholders.

Skills & Experience required:

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business, Operations, Finance, or a related field preferred.
• 2+ years of experience in Demand Planning, Production Planning, Supply Planning, Purchasing, or Supply Chain.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including PivotTables, XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, and data analysis.
• Ability to analyze demand forecasts and translate them into actionable production and supply plans.
• Strong understanding of production lead times, minimum order quantity (MOQ) requirements, inventory management principles, and production planning processes.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities with excellent attention to detail.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to collaborate across multiple departments.
• Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience working with ERP systems such as JD Edwards or a similar ERP system is preferred.
• Experience within consumer products, toys, retail, or manufacturing is a plus.

Our Benefits:

• Health and Wellness: Medical, dental, vision, disability, life & accident insurance and employee assistance program
• Savings: 401K matching, pre-tax spending accounts, and employee discount programs
• Compensation : JAKKS Pacific offers a competitive salary. Compensation for this role commensurate with experience, qualifications, location, and education and typically ranges from $75,000-$80,000.

Company Overview

A leading designer and marketer of children’s toys and consumer products, JAKKS Pacific® is always on the lookout for talented, bright and creative individuals to join our ever-growing team.

Best known for our toy and entertainment products, JAKKS produces impressive and innovative products across multiple categories spanning from action figures, collectibles, and dolls, to high performance activity toys and vehicles, and let’s not forget our deep portfolios of beloved licensed characters. In other words, we work hard to make play more fun, and we believe it has paid off.

Included in Fortune’s 100 Fastest Growing Companies for four years in a row, and Forbes’ 100 Best Small Companies for three years, JAKKS is an aggressive and passionate company, with a commitment to customers and a dedication to growing our business.

Our goal is to continuously cultivate a talented and diverse workforce while providing a safe and productive work environment and an excellent career growth opportunity while working with a dynamic team who loves what they do and for a Company that ultimately makes children smile, play and succeed!

Jakks Pacific, Inc is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

No Recruiters Please. No Relocation Assistance is associated with this position.