Senior Manager - Demand Planning

Job Description

Job Description

Who We Are

CREO Group is a leading consumer product, nursery, and greenhouse supply company. While others make plastic, we build relationships. As both a full-service designer and manufacturer, we offer a wide range of national and private-label products while delivering the flexibility, quality, and innovation our partners expect.

At CREO, work is more than a job - it is a journey. Our mission is to be the market-leading provider of innovative container solutions that enhance everyday living. We partner with our customers to deliver best-in-class, high-quality, and environmentally responsible products through disciplined operational execution. Powered by an engaged, high-performing team, we create enduring value for our employees, partners, and the communities we serve.

Being part of CREO means joining a community that celebrates collaboration and thrives on the diverse strengths of our people. You will work alongside colleagues who bring unique experiences, perspectives, and skills to the table, and together we will achieve more than we can alone.

CREO offers eligible full-time employees’ competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits, including health, dental, vision, life insurance, short- and long-term disability coverage, paid time off, holidays, and a 401(k) plan with Company match. Eligibility is governed by the applicable plan documents and Company policies.

Position Overview

The Senior Demand Planning Manager leads CREO Group's enterprise demand planning process and converts customer, market, and commercial inputs into a reliable, consensus-building demand plan. This role owns the demand review component of Sales and Operations Planning and Integrated Business Planning and serves as the primary connection between Sales, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, and Operations. The position builds the forecasting discipline, analytics, systems, and team capabilities needed to improve customer service, inventory productivity, manufacturing efficiency, and profitable growth across CREO's consumer business unit.

Success requires strong knowledge of consumer packaged goods manufacturing and retail demand patterns. The Senior Demand Planning Manager must account for seasonality, promotions, new product introductions, customer resets/line reviews, point-of-sale trends, resin and component lead times,

manufacturing capacity, , and distribution constraints. The role provides an objective view of demand, clearly communicates risk and opportunity, and helps leaders make timely decisions based on data and business judgment.

Key Responsibilities

Demand Planning and Forecasting

1. Lead the enterprise demand planning process across product categories, customers, channels, and locations; maintain an unconstrained rolling forecast at the appropriate item, customer, and time horizons.
2. Develop statistical baselines using shipment history, orders, point-of-sale data, customer forecasts, inventory positions, seasonality, promotions, market intelligence, and known commercial events.
3. Challenge assumptions and facilitate cross-functional consensus so the approved demand plan reflects the most likely business outcome rather than sales targets or production constraints.
4. Establish planning policies, segmentation logic, forecast horizons, exception thresholds, and governance appropriate to demand variability, lead time, product lifecycle, and customer requirements.

Sales and Operations Planning and Integrated Business Planning

1. Own and facilitate the monthly demand review, including assumptions, changes from prior plans, key risks and opportunities, forecast gaps, scenario analysis, and decisions requiring executive alignment.
2. Partner with Supply Planning and Operations to translate the consensus demand plan into capacity, labor, tooling, resin, packaging, warehouse, and transportation requirements.
3. Provide Finance with a reconciled demand outlook that supports revenue, margin, working-capital, and annual operating plan projections.
4. Maintain decision and assumption logs and ensure approved changes flow accurately into planning systems and downstream supply plans.

Customer and Channel Planning

1. Build accurate forecasts for mass retail, home improvement, warehouse club, e-commerce, distributor, nursery, and greenhouse channels, recognizing distinct order patterns and service expectations.
2. Incorporate customer resets, line reviews, promotions, pallet programs, store counts, distribution changes, weather sensitivity, and seasonal sell-through into demand assumptions.
3. Monitor customer orders, sell-through, inventory, and forecast consumption; identify demand shifts early and coordinate corrective actions that protect on-time, in-full performance and customer-required arrival dates.
4. Partner with Sales and Customer Service to improve forecast collaboration, document customer commitments, and quantify upside and downside scenarios without overstating the base plan.

Manufacturing and Inventory Alignment

1. Translate demand into actionable planning signals while considering injection molding, blow molding, and related production constraints, including press tonnage, cavities, cycle times, mold availability, changeover requirements, scrap, and maintenance schedules.
2. Balance customer service, manufacturing efficiency, and working capital by helping define inventory targets, safety stocks, campaign strategies, and pre-build requirements.
3. Identify projected stockouts, excess and obsolete inventory, slow-moving items, and capacity bottlenecks; recommend options and quantify the service, cost, and inventory implications.
4. Support production scheduling and master planning with a stable demand signal while clearly separating forecast changes from supply execution issues.

Product Lifecycle and Commercial Support

1. Lead demand planning for new product introductions, product transitions, customer launches, packaging changes, sourcing changes, and discontinuations.
2. Coordinate phase-in and phase-out assumptions to minimize launch risk, stranded materials, obsolete finished goods, and duplicate inventory.
3. Partner with Commercial and Finance leaders to evaluate promotional lift, incremental opportunities, cannibalization, customer losses, and business cases using fact-based scenarios.

Analytics Systems and Continuous Improvement

1. Own forecast performance reporting, including forecast accuracy (SMAPE/WAPE), bias, , and inventory measures at meaningful levels of aggregation.
2. Conduct root-cause analysis and implement corrective actions for recurring forecast error, bias, master-data issues, and process noncompliance.
3. Serve as business owner for demand planning tools, data models, hierarchies, parameters, workflows, and dashboards; partner with IT to improve integration, data quality, controls, and user adoption.
4. Standardize demand planning practices across CREO locations and use automation, advanced analytics, and responsible AI capabilities where they improve decision quality and process efficiency.

Leadership and Team Development

1. Lead, coach, and develop demand planning employees; establish clear accountabilities, performance expectations, development plans, and succession readiness.
2. Build productive relationships across functions and locations and influence decisions through clear analysis, constructive challenge, and practical recommendations.
3. Promote disciplined execution, continuous improvement, and a culture of accountability consistent with CREO values.

Education and Experience

1. Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations, Business, Industrial Engineering, Statistics, Data Analytics, Economics, or a related field or equivalent professional experience master's degree preferred.
2. Five or more years of progressively responsible experience in demand planning, forecasting, supply planning, or sales and operations planning within a multi-site manufacturing or consumer products environment.
3. Three or more years of leadership or people-management experience, including responsibility for building planning processes and developing team capability.
4. Experience supporting plastics manufacturing, injection molding, blow molding, extrusion, or another high-volume, asset-intensive manufacturing environment strongly preferred.
5. Demonstrated experience forecasting for major retailers, distributors, e-commerce customers, or seasonal product categories preferred.
6. Proven success leading cross-functional demand reviews and influencing senior leaders through analysis, facilitation, and clear recommendations.

Technical Skills and Knowledge

1. Advanced knowledge of demand planning principles, statistical forecasting, forecast consumption, product segmentation, safety stock concepts, inventory management, and S&OP/IBP governance.
2. Ability to interpret point-of-sale, order, shipment, inventory, promotion, customer forecast, and market data and translate findings into actionable business decisions.
3. Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and Power BI or comparable analytics tools; working knowledge of SQL or similar data-query tools is beneficial.
4. Experience with enterprise resource planning and advanced planning systems such as SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, Blue Yonder, o9, Logility, Kinaxis, or comparable platforms.
5. Strong understanding of manufacturing capacity, bills of material, lead times, production economics, customer service, and working-capital tradeoffs.
6. Excellent facilitation, executive communication, problem-solving, prioritization, and change-management skills.

Certifications Preferred

1. ASCM Certified in Planning and Inventory Management or Certified Supply Chain Professional.
2. Institute of Business Forecasting Certified Professional Forecaster or Advanced Certified Professional Forecaster.
3. Lean, Six Sigma, or related continuous improvement certification.

Performance Expectations and Core Competencies

The Senior Demand Planning Manager will be expected to improve forecast quality and process discipline, enable timely cross-functional decisions, support service and inventory objectives, and build a capable, accountable demand planning function. Specific annual measures will be established through CREO's performance management process and may include forecast accuracy and bias, forecast value add, plan adherence, customer service, inventory health, planning-cycle completion, data quality, team development, and completion of improvement priorities.

All CREO Group employees are expected to:

1. Demonstrate the CREO Core Values of Collaboration, Respect, Empowerment, and Opportunity in all interactions.
2. Support the Company's Value Creation Plan through Commercial Innovation, End Market Expansion, Operational Execution, and Nurture Our Team.
3. Promote a culture where people thrive, partners grow, and innovation takes shape.
4. Perform work safely, ethically, efficiently, and with a commitment to continuous improvement.
5. Contribute positively to One CREO by working collaboratively across functions and locations.

Physical Requirements and Work Environment

The physical demands and work environment described below are representative of those required to perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

1. Work is primarily performed in a professional office environment, with extended periods of sitting or standing and frequent use of a computer, keyboard, telephone, and other standard office equipment.
2. Must be able to communicate and exchange accurate information in person, by telephone, and through electronic channels.
3. Occasionally lift, carry, push, or pull office materials or equipment weighing up to 15 pounds.
4. Travel to manufacturing plants, distribution facilities, customer locations, and Company meetings is required. Plant visits may involve walking or standing for extended periods and exposure to moving equipment, forklift traffic, industrial noise, plastic resins, varying temperatures, and other manufacturing conditions.
5. Must wear required personal protective equipment and comply with all site-specific safety rules while in manufacturing and warehouse areas.
6. The position may require occasional work outside normal business hours to support planning cycles, customer needs, launches, or operational issues.

CREO Group reserves the right to revise or update this job description as business needs change. This description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or qualifications associated with the position.

CREO Group is an E-Verify and Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants. The Company provides reasonable accommodation for qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Individuals who require accommodation to perform the essential functions of the job or participate in the application process should notify Human Resources.