Director of Demand Planning

We’re looking for a builder. Spindrift is growing fast, and we are seeking an experienced, strategic demand planning leader to join our Supply Chain Leadership Team as Director of Demand Planning. This is a rare opportunity to design and stand up Spindrift’s demand planning function from the ground up – defining the processes, tools, capabilities, and governance that will turn market and customer insight into a single, trusted view of demand for the entire business. This is a senior, hands-on leadership role for someone who wants to build.

The Director of Demand Planning will own the demand side of our Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process and serve as the connective tissue between Sales, Marketing, Finance, Innovation, and Operations. This leader will bring the voice of our customers and consumers into supply chain decision-making – and the voice of supply chain into commercial planning – driving forecast accuracy, service, inventory health, and margin. If you are energized by a blank page, a high-growth brand, and the chance to leave a lasting mark on how a company plans, this is your role.

Responsibilities

Function Build & Strategy

• Design and stand up Spindrift’s demand planning function from the ground up, defining its vision, multi-year roadmap, operating model, and roles and responsibilities.
• Serve as a senior leader within the supply chain organization, contributing to overall supply chain strategy, priorities, and cross-functional alignment.
• Operate as a hands-on individual contributor at launch – personally building and owning the forecast – while defining the talent plan and organization design needed to scale the function over time.
• Establish demand planning as a trusted strategic partner to the business, shaping how Spindrift sees, plans for, and responds to demand.

Demand Planning & S&OP Process Design

• Design and lead the monthly demand review as a foundational step of Spindrift’s S&OP cycle, delivering a consensus, unconstrained demand plan aligned across Sales, Marketing, and Finance.

• Build and own the SKU-level forecast by customer and channel across short-, mid-, and long-range horizons, including baseline, promotional, and new-item volume.
• Analyze historical sales trends, sell-in vs. sell-out, distribution and store counts, and rate of sale to understand demand drivers and evaluate forecast results.
• Partner with Marketing and Innovation to build accurate new item and launch forecasts, and with Sales to incorporate customer programs, promotions, and distribution changes.
• Lead the demand inputs to the annual operating plan (Y+1 volume during budget season) and long-range plans, reconciling the demand plan with financial targets.
• Establish a weekly demand sensing cadence to monitor near-term performance, flag risks and opportunities, and adjust quickly.
• Define allocation guidelines and lead allocation across customers when inventory is constrained.
• Develop the SKU classification framework (ABC portfolio segmentation) and partner with Supply Planning to define the associated inventory strategy, including service level and safety stock targets by segment.

Cross-Functional Leadership & Influence

• Build strong partnerships with Sales, Revenue Management, Marketing, Finance, and Innovation, serving as the single voice of demand for the organization.
• Drive consensus across functions – facilitating trade-off conversations, constructively challenging assumptions, and aligning the business on one number.
• Present demand plans, risks, opportunities, and scenarios to the executive team, translating complex data into clear, actionable recommendations.
• Partner with Sales to collaborate with key retail partners on forecasts, promotions, and data sharing.
• Partner closely with Supply Planning to translate the demand plan into supply, production, and inventory strategies that balance service, cost, and working capital.

Planning Transformation, Tools & Analytics

• Define requirements for, select, and implement the demand planning system and statistical forecasting capabilities needed to support scale, integrated with our ERP (NetSuite or equivalent).
• Build the foundational data and reporting that drive forecast success, including sales history by customer, channel, and item; SKU database; promotional calendar; and outlier events (e.g., product recalls, raw material shortages, weather).
• Leverage POS, syndicated, and retailer data to strengthen demand insights and improve forecast quality.
• Re-map the demand pegging table to align demand to the right supply nodes and facilitate network optimization shifts.
• Lead the digital transformation of demand planning, moving the business from spreadsheet-based forecasting to a scalable, system-enabled process.

Governance, Performance & Continuous Improvement

• Define and institutionalize demand planning KPIs – forecast accuracy, bias, and forecast value add – at multiple levels (SKU, customer, channel, and total business), with regular reporting and root-cause analysis.
• Establish demand planning governance, including the planning calendar, horizons and time fences, decision rights, and documentation of key assumptions.
• Provide scenario planning, risk assessment, and decision support for executive leadership.
• Identify, implement, and institutionalize process improvements and best practices that increase scalability and resilience.

Deliverables

• Stand up a fully functioning demand planning process, including a monthly demand review integrated into Spindrift’s S&OP cycle.
• Deliver a single, consensus demand plan that the business trusts and uses to drive supply, financial, and commercial decisions.
• Deliver measurable improvements in forecast accuracy and bias, enabling higher service levels, lower inventory and obsolescence, and improved working capital.
• Implement the demand planning tools, data foundations, KPIs, and governance needed to scale with Spindrift’s growth.
• Contribute demand insights to the development of one-, three-, and five-year operating plans.

The fast-paced growth of our business will require a candidate who has built before – someone who can draw from a depth of experience to design, organize, and prioritize, and who is equally comfortable setting strategy and rolling up their sleeves to build capabilities and processes ahead of where we are today.

• Leadership & Influence: Demonstrated success building or transforming demand planning functions within consumer packaged goods or similar industries, ideally in a high-growth environment. Exceptional strategic influencing and collaboration skills, with a proven ability to earn credibility and drive alignment with Sales, Marketing, Finance, and senior leadership. A builder’s mindset: comfortable with ambiguity and thriving in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial, growth-oriented environment.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Operations, Finance, Economics, or related discipline (Master’s preferred).
• Experience: 10+ years of progressive experience in supply chain planning, including significant demand planning leadership. Deep understanding of S&OP, statistical forecasting, promotional and new product forecasting, and end-to-end supply chain processes. Experience implementing a demand planning system strongly preferred.
• Analytical Skills: Strong analytical and statistical aptitude, with the ability to find trends and errors in large data sets and translate data into insights and actionable strategies.
• Technical Skills: Advanced computer literacy: MS Excel expertise and familiarity with syndicated and POS data (e.g., SPINS, Circana/Nielsen) required; experience with demand planning systems and ERP (NetSuite or equivalent) strongly preferred; Power BI and familiarity with AI tools such as Claude or ChatGPT for coding and analysis a plus.
• Communication Skills: Experience presenting to senior audiences; ability to distill complex scenarios into digestible and actionable takeaways.
• Travel: Ability to travel to our Newton, MA HQ office 1 - 2 times per month.

Why Join Us?

• Build something from the ground up: design and launch a function that will shape how a fast-growing beverage brand plans for its future.
• Be part of a fast growing-beverage company with a strong presence in the national retail market.
• Collaborate with a passionate team dedicated to delivering high-quality products to consumers.
• Competitive salary, benefits and opportunities for professional growth.
• Dynamic and innovative work environment with a focus on operational excellence.

Compensation & Benefits

The salary range for this position is $150,000 to $170,000 and is dependent on the candidate’s experience prior to joining Spindrift.

Benefits include:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid holidays, vacation, sick, personal, and parental leave
• Annual allowances for product, wellness, professional development, and social justice education
• Voluntary life and disability coverage