Demand Manager - Remote possible in Laatzen bei Xylem

Xylem |ˈzīləm|

1) The tissue in plants that brings water upward from the roots;

2) A leading global water technology company.

Water challenges are escalating around the globe, placing people and communities, our environment, and our very future at risk. By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity. We are a Fortune 1000 global water technology provider with with over 22.000 employees and one mission: to help our customers solve water through the power of technology and expertise. We are the leading global provider of efficient, innovative and sustainable water technologies improving the way water is used, managed, conserved and re-used. Together, we can make water more accessible and affordable, and communities more resilient. Let’s create a world that is more water-secure and sustainable for all. We have the opportunity of a lifetime to solve water. Let’s work together and lead the way.

The role:

This role is a critical part of the organization's SIOP team and is responsible for managing long and short-term forecasts for all assigned product lines and families. This role interacts closely with Sales and Product Management to build a cross-functional demand plan that will be used as the basis for production planning and material purchasing throughout the supply chain.

The Demand Manager (m/f/d) uses a variety of data sources including sales promotional data, new product plans, and statistical modeling to create a demand signal to drive supply chain and Integrated Business Planning. The monthly goal is to deliver an accurate and cross-functionally aligned 24 month rolling demand plan. A key responsibility of the Demand Manager is to develop, document, update and challenge the assumptions supporting the demand plan.

Essential Duties/Principal Responsibilities:

• Lead the Demand Planning process for the assigned market
• Develop demand forecasts (operational forecasts) at multiple levels of aggregation and time horizons as part of a demand planning function
• Continuously analyze, report, and evaluate forecast error rates and develop root-cause action plans to reduce forecast errors and continuously improve the process
• Review historical sales trends, research demand drivers, prepare forecast data, develop statistical forecast models, and evaluate forecast results
• Coordinate cross-functional research activities to reconcile significant variances and refine the forecast model to reflect updated sales and product management assumptions
• Interact with sales, product management, and finance to understand demand forecast drivers such as end of month / year activities or other promotional or event-based activities
• Use and maintain the Demand software as the primary forecasting system tool
• Provide input to the Supply Planning organization in developing inventory strategies on existing items, new products, and product phase-outs
• Closely coordinate and communicate demand signals with supply planning
• Partner with Product Management by leading the demand review meetings to develop and communicate a consensus forecast
• Generate and distribute reports to communicate forecast changes throughout the organization and how those changes might impact inventory or capacity
• Create statistical forecasts: Gather, analyze, and validate data; Execute statistical modeling software; Review resulting statistical forecast model; Apply error analysis techniques to improve forecasting; Summarize/aggregate statistical forecasts
• Review sales plans, financial budgets and estimates and other demand drivers: Present, solicit, and assess feedback on the various forecasts from Product Management, Sales, and Finance
• Achieve consensus for operational demand forecasts by facilitating a collaborative planning process with marketing sales, and finance personnel: Prepare relevant material to facilitate research and discussion
• Provide input to volume planning (latest estimates / annual process): Facilitate monthly demand review meetings
• Maintain demand planning system and software: Enter and modify data to ensure a good statistical forecast. Evaluate and maintain outlier demand. Monitor trends in forecast error; Identify relevant market-related data and competitive intelligence

Qualifications: Education, Experience, Skills, Abilities, License/Certification:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Marketing, or a related field
• Advanced technical or business degree, MBA preferred
• Demonstrated Continuous Improvement (CI) experience - Lean Six Sigma experience and/or Green Belt.
• Strong leadership, communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills to drive decisions and build consensus among stakeholde