Senior Manager, Planning and Performance Management at Coca Cola Refreshments Canada in Atlanta, GA

Role Summary:

• Leads development of customer price package plan in support of overall Collaborative Business Plan
• Stewardship of performance management routine for account leadership team
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• Generates pricing & promotional ideas for gap closure vs plan 
• Partners with Sales Leadership & Finance on determining incremental trade investments and pricing exception requests for account base
• Provides input to Finance Forecast team on mid to long range implications and guidance on key promotional events 
• Franchise Leadership role in gaining alignment for price/package/promotion plans

Key Responsibilities:

Lead Customer Annual Planning Process: 

• Stewardship of population of forecasting and Joint Business Planning models – work with account managers to ensure that account plans meet overall category goals (volume and gross profit) and are consistent with price architecture guardrails & retailer profitability metrics
• Connection point with Business Planning Center of Excellence on inputs & direction for development of Customer Plan
• Linkage with Trade Spend Optimization -- Ensure that Customer Collaboration Fund spend requirements are met and that event optimization guidance is reflected with Customer plans
• Partner with Sales leadership on all multi-year / strategic customer planning – inclusive of non-price value added initiatives

Pricing & Trade Spend Stewardship:

• Evaluation of all price exception requests from within account base – accountable for conducting standardized Center of Excellence directed analysis upon each event and determining business impact vs. plan for customer & implications within broader marketplace
• Partner with finance & sales leadership on determining incremental trade investment decisions that are within Customer Collaboration Fund $ allotment and within pricing guardrails
• Partner with finance on submission of any exception requests that exceed trade spend $ budget OR violate pricing guardrails – accountable for representing customer teams business rationale during approval process
• Work with account managers and finance owners to build approved price exceptions request business planning tools

Stewardship of Customer Performance Management Routine: 

• Develop and steward all management routine requirements for account leadership team -- Inclusive of interpretation of weekly standard reports, development of monthly stewardship sessions and quarterly / trimester business reviews. 
• Scope of responsibility includes all relevant internal & syndicated marketplace data systems – Internal sales reporting tools (volume, pricing, gross profit), Nielsen, Ad view, customer specific systems (e.g. Dunnhumby)
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• Responsible for conducting all gap vs. plan analysis against volume, pricing & gross profit opportunities
• Provides perspective on pricing & promotional ideas for closing gap vs. plan – develops fact-based evaluation of business impact for contingencies & gap solves
• Provides account leadership team perspective and analysis on competitive activity & position within account
• Coordination of all management routines & reporting needs with Business Planning & Performance Management Center of Excellence

Provide Guidance on Customer Forecast & Checkbook

• Provides perspective and analysis to account managers on key holiday activities or special promotional events to better inform near term forecast (within 13-week horizon)
• Provides an objective and fact-based perspective on mid to long range (beyond 13-week horizon) business trends (inclusive of gap solves & new item launches) and implications on forecast guidance 
• Evaluates full year Customer Collaboration fund checkbook balance – ensuring accuracy in capturing events spend levels; provides perspective back to sales leadership team on most effective means of deploying Customer Collaboration Fund $’s to maximize performance vs category goals

Qualifications:

Education

• Minimum Required: Bachelor’s degree
• Preferred Level: MBA or other graduate degree

Experience

Minimum Required: 

• 3- 5 years’ experience, preferably in the consumer goods/beverages industry
• Experience in developing business plans / business cases; strategic thinking (forward-looking vision and anticipating of future needs)
• Experience and comfort working directly with Customers
• Experience and comfort working in Microsoft Excel, and highly proficient in analytical modeling, pivot tables, and excel advanced formulas
• Experienced in developing Pricing & Promotion structures
• Experience and comfort working directly with senior leaders; aligning senior execs w/ differing perspectives
• Collaborating with customer teams and other key internal/external stakeholders; effective in influencing wide variety of stakeholders
• Effectively communicates & builds relationships at all organizational levels

Preferred Level: 

• 8 -10 years’ experience, preferably in the consumer goods/beverages industry
• Large Regional Customer/Total Beverage Team Planning
• Customer/Sales management experience
• Region/Business Unit Planning experience
• Influencing Independent Bottler Decisions

Skills:

Minimum Required: 

• Strong analytical skills – ability to draw insights and actions from data; ability to develop volumetric & financial models that can accommodate multiple inputs from diverse data sources and be used for scenario planning
• Extensive experience with price/package/promotion plan development & analytics
• Ability to lead complex analytical exercises/projects and which lead to actionable direction within the marketplace
• Working knowledge of key data systems: planning tools (e.g. AIP, Scenario Builder, Price Simulator), syndicated marketplace information & data (e.g., Nielsen); forecasting systems (e.g. KAEP, UFP); internal financial & sales reporting; internal performance management & execution metrics (e.g. RED – Right Execution Daily)

Preferred Level: 

• Experience developing and managing trade management programs
• Deep knowledge & experience base with core Coca-Cola data systems: planning tools (e.g. AIP, Scenario Builder, Price Simulator), syndicated marketplace information & data (e.g., Nielsen); forecasting systems (e.g. KAEP, UFP); internal financial & sales reporting; internal performance management & execution metrics (e.g. RED – Right Execution Daily)