Full Job Description
Job Title: Manager, Demand Planning & Analytics
Dept: Corporate Demand Planning
Reports To: Director, Corporate Demand Planning
Location: Lewisville, TX
FLSA: Exempt
Job Summary:
The Manager, Demand Planning and Analytics leads the Corporate Demand Planning team responsible for forecast performance, analytics, methodology, reporting, and planning-technology governance for SMP's Vehicle Control and Temperature Control divisions. Reporting to the Director, Corporate Demand Planning, this role owns forecast accuracy and bias performance, establishes statistical-forecasting and governance standards, leads executive reporting, and drives planning process improvement, AI-ready data practices, and data-governance initiatives. The position consolidates people leadership, forecast-performance accountability, and analytics ownership into a single role to improve planning discipline, decision quality, and cross-functional visibility.
This role directly manages the Demand Planning team, including the Senior Demand Planner and Demand Planners, and provides coaching, prioritization, performance guidance, and workload alignment to support consistent execution across assigned divisions and categories.
Key Responsibilities:
Forecast accuracy & forecasting governance
- Hold overall accountability for forecast accuracy and bias across assigned divisions and categories; drive root-cause analysis and corrective action.
- Own forecasting governance by defining statistical-forecasting methodologies, model-selection criteria, configuration standards, demand-modeling approaches, and forecast-process standards.
- Own forecast-system optimization and governance, including parameter standards, maintenance oversight for RELEX and Logility during the transition, the exception-management framework, and data validation, while partnering with Forecast Systems for hands-on configuration.
Analytics, reporting & insight
- Own forecast analytics, Sequel/BI tools, dashboard logic, KPI visibility, and analytical recommendations.
- Own KPI and forecast-accuracy reporting; provide executive-level visibility into forecast performance, planning risks, service implications, and improvement opportunities.
- Lead advanced business analytics and translate analytics into business action.
Process improvement & innovation
- Drive continuous improvement in forecast accuracy, bias, planner productivity, and planning-cycle efficiency.
- Lead planning innovation, including reporting automation, analytics maturity, AI-ready data practices, and data-governance standards.
- Support RELEX enablement with Forecast Systems, IT, and business stakeholders (workflows, adoption, validation, process improvement).
- Lead the demand planning organization's transition from Logility to RELEX - migration readiness, parameter re-establishment, planner adoption, and post-go-live validation - in partnership with Forecast Systems and IT.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business, Analytics, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field; equivalent experience may be considered.
- 5+ years of demand planning, forecasting, analytics, supply chain systems, or related business-planning experience.
- Strong forecasting, analytical, problem-solving, and process-improvement skills, including statistical-forecasting methodology.
- Experience with advanced planning systems such as RELEX (the company's go-forward platform), Logility, JDE, or comparable, including system parameter/configuration governance.
- Advanced Excel and reporting capability; experience with Sequel, SQL, Power BI, or similar BI/reporting tools preferred.
- Demonstrated ability to lead through influence, manage competing priorities, and translate analytics into business action.