Director, Demand & Supply Planning

Job Description

About Us

NEST NEW YORK has a unique approach to fragrance, artfully blending notes of the familiar, the exotic, and the unexpected. Crafted with master perfumers and the finest ingredients, our award-winning fragrances transform the everyday through scents that transport, inspire, and captivate the senses. Since 2008, NEST NEW YORK has evolved into a premium lifestyle brand, expanding beyond fragrance and home collections into wellness, personal care, and fragrance technology.

About the Role

We're seeking a Director, Demand & Supply Planning to lead the organization's integrated demand and supply planning capabilities and drive alignment across the end-to-end supply chain. This role will translate commercial objectives, market dynamics, and innovation plans into accurate demand forecasts, optimized supply plans, and inventory strategies that support profitable growth and customer service objectives. The Director will lead the S&OP/IBP process and serve as a key cross-functional partner to Sales, Marketing, Finance, Operations, Procurement, and Product Development. The successful candidate will bring strong analytical expertise, operational discipline, and executive presence, with a demonstrated ability to build scalable planning capabilities in a complex, high-growth environment.

Job Duties and Accountabilities:

Demand & Inventory

• Own the end-to-end demand planning process across the brand's portfolio, channels, and markets.
• Develop an accurate, unbiased, and commercially aligned demand forecast incorporating historical trends, consumer behavior, seasonality, promotions, distribution changes, pricing, and market dynamics.
• Partner closely with Sales, Marketing, E-Commerce, Finance, and Supply Planning to translate commercial plans into an actionable demand signal.
• Proactively identify demand risks and opportunities, including changes in consumer trends, retailer performance, promotional effectiveness, and SKU productivity.
• Establish clear ownership and accountability for forecast assumptions and demand inputs.
• Monitor forecast accuracy, bias, and forecast value-add and lead root-cause analysis to drive continuous improvement.
• Balance demand, service, and inventory considerations to support both growth and working capital objectives.

Supply Planning

• Own the end-to-end supply planning process, translating demand requirements into feasible production, procurement, and inventory plans.
• Partner closely with Operations, Manufacturing, Procurement, and external suppliers to ensure product availability and optimal production plans.
• Establish capacity planning processes across internal and external manufacturing partners.
• Balance customer service, inventory investment, manufacturing constraints, minimum order quantities, lead times, and working capital.
• Proactively identify potential shortages, excess inventory, supply constraints, and obsolescence risks and develop mitigation plans.
• Lead inventory strategy across finished goods and, as appropriate, key raw materials and packaging components.
• Establish appropriate safety stock, service-level, and inventory policies by SKU/channel.

Launch & Innovation

• Lead demand planning for new product launches, innovation, product renovations, limited editions, and portfolio expansions.
• Partner with Marketing, Product Development, Sales, Finance, and Supply Chain from early-stage innovation through commercialization.
• Develop launch forecasts using market insights, historical analogs, consumer trends, distribution assumptions, pricing, promotional plans, and channel strategies.
• Establish clear launch planning milestones, assumptions, risks, and forecast ownership.
• Monitor launch performance versus forecast and rapidly adjust the demand plan based on early sales and market signals.

S&OP / Governance

• Lead the demand planning process within the company's S&OP / IBP cycle.
• Establish a disciplined monthly planning process that creates alignment across Commercial, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, and Operations.
• Facilitate demand reviews and drive consensus around the most likely business outlook.
• Ensure commercial plans, demand forecasts, supply capabilities, inventory objectives, and financial expectations are aligned.
• Establish planning governance, decision rights, standard processes, and accountability across functions.
• Clearly communicate key assumptions, risks, opportunities, and trade-offs to senior leadership.
• Drive timely decisions and follow-through on actions resulting from the S&OP process.
• Continuously improve the planning process, tools, data, and organizational capabilities.

Growth Planning

• Partner with Commercial, Marketing, Finance, and Strategy to translate brand and category growth strategies into actionable demand plans.
• Support annual operating plans, long-range planning, and strategic business initiatives.
• Develop demand scenarios to evaluate growth opportunities, including new channels, retailers, geographies, distribution expansion, pricing, promotions, and assortment changes.
• Provide data-driven insights on consumer and category trends to inform commercial decision-making.
• Challenge growth assumptions and provide an independent, fact-based view of expected demand.
• Quantify the demand, supply, and inventory implications of different growth scenarios.
• Ensure growth plans are realistic, achievable, and aligned with supply chain capabilities.

Inventory Optimization

• Own the demand planning contribution to inventory optimization and working capital improvement.
• Partner with Supply Planning, Operations, and Finance to establish appropriate inventory targets and policies by SKU, channel, and demand profile.
• Improve inventory productivity through stronger forecasting, demand segmentation, safety stock strategies, and improved demand visibility.
• Proactively identify excess, slow-moving, obsolete, and at-risk inventory and partner with cross-functional teams on mitigation plans.
• Develop strategies to manage inventory risk associated with launches, promotions, seasonality, assortment changes, and product discontinuations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business, Finance, Economics, Statistics, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• 8+ years of experience in demand planning, supply chain, forecasting, S&OP, or a related discipline.
• Proven experience leading demand planning and S&OP / IBP processes in a complex organization.
• Strong understanding of inventory management and optimization principles.
• Experience supporting new product launches, innovation, and portfolio changes.
• Demonstrated ability to connect demand planning with commercial strategy and business growth.
• Strong analytical capabilities and experience using data to drive business decisions.
• Advanced Excel skills and experience with ERP, demand planning, and/or business intelligence platforms.
• Excellent communication, influencing, presentation, and stakeholder-management skills.

Pay range and compensation package - $150,000 - $170,000 per year with annual bonus potential.

Equal Opportunity Statement - NEST New York is an equal opportunity employer. We offer a welcoming and inclusive environment in service to one another, our products, the diverse consumers we represent, and the communities we call home. We do all of this with kindness, empathy and respect for each other.