About the Role:The Manager, Sales Planning - West serves as a key commercial leader responsible for driving the integration of sales, demand, and inventory planning across the organization, focusing on the Western Region of Grocery. This role is part of a high-performing team that partners cross-functionally with Sales, Brand, Finance, and Operations to deliver accurate forecasts, optimize trade investment, and improve customer inventory health. The Manager ensures that Kinder's commercial plans are data-driven, strategically aligned, and executed to support sustainable growth and operational efficiency.
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Key Responsibilities Include:Strategic Sales Planning Leadership- Lead the development of sales and demand plans, aligning volume, revenue, and trade investment targets with company strategy.
- Drive the end-to-end planning calendar, ensuring alignment and timely input from cross-functional partners including brand, sales, planning, and finance.
- Challenge assumptions and elevate the analytical rigor of commercial plans through data-driven insights and scenario modeling.
Team Development- Build team capabilities in forecasting, analytics, and cross-functional communication.
- Create a collaborative and performance-driven environment that emphasizes continuous improvement and proactive problem-solving.
Forecasting & Demand Planning- Own divisional monthly sales forecast accuracy and integration into the Demand Planning process.
- Manage cross-functional forecasting reviews, ensuring timely updates reflecting current market dynamics, customer performance, and promotional shifts.
- Partner with Finance to ensure forecast alignment with financial targets and strategic objectives for revenues, trade spend, and total promotional spend.
Trade & Promotional Effectiveness- Oversee post-event analysis and ROI evaluation for trade and promotional spend; analyzes total trade investment for partners include trade spend, marketing spend, slotting, and additional promotional activity.
- Identify opportunities to improve trade and total investment spend efficiency and recommend reallocation strategies to maximize growth and profitability.
- Support Trade Finance teams with integration of sales plans, trade planners, and trade promotional tools during annual promotional planning; monitor promotional tools for promotional alignment with sales strategy and planning.
Customer Inventory & Supply Optimization- Monitor customer-level inventory performance, driving proactive actions to prevent out-of-stocks or overstocks.
- Develop and maintain real-time dashboards and visibility tools for internal and external stakeholders.
- Partner with Supply Chain to ensure sales and operations alignment, supporting service level and inventory health goals.
- Anticipate inventory requirements for new items based upon historical sales performance of similar items, promotion analysis, and customer loading needs.
Process & Infrastructure Enhancement- Design and implement scalable processes, tools, and templates for sales planning, forecasting, and performance tracking.
- Partner with IT and Data teams to enhance system capabilities (e.g., TPM, ERP, BI tools).
- Standardize reporting and establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure and improve commercial planning effectiveness.
Executive Communication & Strategic Partnership- Serve as a liaison between Sales and cross-functional leadership, ensuring commercial plans are cohesive and actionable.
- Provide leadership with data-driven insights into sales execution, trade effectiveness, and forecast risk.
- Partner in executive-level presentations and represent the Sales Planning function in strategic business reviews.
What You Bring To The Table:Education & Experience- Bachelor's Degree required; MBA or related advanced degree preferred.
- 5+ years of progressive experience in Sales Planning, Demand Planning, or Commercial Analytics-preferably within CPG or Food & Beverage.
- Experience with major grocery retailers is a plus.
- Proven experience managing complex annual planning and forecasting cycles.
- Strong business acumen with experience collaborating across Sales, Finance, Supply Chain, and IT.
- Proficiency with trade promotion management systems (Exceedra, Confido, or similar) and intermediate Excel or BI tools; SAP Business One knowledge is a plus.
Leadership Characteristics- Strategic Operator: Thinks broadly and anticipates the commercial and operational impact of planning decisions.
- Analytical Innovator: Uses data and insights to influence strategic direction and improve business performance.
- Collaborative Partner: Excels at cross-functional communication and alignment in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
- Change Agent: Continuously improves systems, processes, and behaviors to drive better outcomes; isn't afraid to challenge current practices and speak candidly
Location and Travel:The position will be based onsite in Walnut Creek, CA. We strongly believe in the power of culture and community and have a hybrid work structure with 4 days in the office on a weekly basis to encourage collaboration and personal connections that will allow us to better serve our customers and consumer and to have more fun. Fridays are flex days with employees having the opportunity to choose to be either in the office or to work from home based on what makes most sense for them.
Pay Transparency:The expected starting salary range for this role is $135,000-$155,000 per year. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range based on the location of the role. The amount a particular employee will earn within the salary range will be based on factors such as relevant education, qualifications, performance and business needs.
SEASONED FOR SUCCESS:- No two days here are the same.
- We try to be good team members and good communicators, but we don't live by hierarchy and structure - everyone is a difference maker here.
- We make a lot of decisions in the face of incomplete information - our team embraces ambiguity and tries to make good decisions fast rather than great decisions slow.
- We believe our job is to take smart risk, not to eliminate risk.
- We believe in growing our skills and becoming a better company with more managerial expertise, but we are an entrepreneurial company at heart.
- We aren't trying to be average - we want to do exceptional things, and we are willing to work hard to achieve them.
BENEFITS THAT BRING MORE TO THE TABLE:We offer a range of total rewards that may include paid time off, 401k, bonus / incentive eligibility, equity grants, competitive health benefits, and other family-friendly benefits, including parental leave. Kinder's benefits vary based on eligibility and can be reviewed in more detail during the interview process.
OUR RECIPE FOR BALANCE:We believe great culture starts with people. We're a people-first company built on connection, collaboration, and balance. Most of our work happens in the office to spark creativity and community, but we also offer flexibility so team members have the autonomy to work outside the office when needed to support their work-life balance and personal commitments.
