Key Account Planner

Job description

A mutually rewarding experience.

Work. Realize your ambitions. And realize there's more to being in business than just making a profit. That's the Mars philosophy. And the opportunity we offer every one of our Associates. An opportunity to take what you do and make it mean more for you, for those around you and for the planet. What you get here is challenging, interesting work. You get the tools you need to do a great job and you get to have the best possible people on your side to help you do it. And at the same time as getting to find ways to do business better today than we did it yesterday and driving a great career, you also get to build a more enlightened business and drive sustainability.

Because it's never just about a single person, a single project or a single brand. It's about how you can grab everything that's within your reach here and use it to pursue mutual, long-term gain. It's about having ideas. And ideals. Being prepared to risk failure because the promise of success means we'll all be a little better off. It's that mix of integrity and ambition that makes Mars such a special place to work. And why working here is always about more than just a job.

About Mars, Incorporated

Mars is a family-owned business with more than a century of history making diverse products and offering services for people and the pets people love. With almost $35 billion in sales, the company is a global business that produces some of the world's best-loved brands: M&M's®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, MILKY WAY®, DOVE®, PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, WHISKAS®, EXTRA®, ORBIT®, 5™, SKITTLES®, UNCLE BEN'S®, MARS DRINKS and COCOAVIA®. Mars also provides veterinary health services that include BANFIELD® Pet Hospitals, Blue Pearl®, VCA® and Pet Partners™. Headquartered in McLean, VA, Mars operates in more than 80 countries. The Mars Five Principles – Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom – inspire its more than 100,000 Associates to create value for all its partners and deliver growth they are proud of every day.

Job Purpose/Overview

The principle role of the Key Account Planner is to ensure on-shelf instock excellence of Royal Canin products, thereby providing our consumers with the ultimate enjoyment of our products.

The Key Account Planner is the primary point of contact for our key account customer(s) and is a secondary point of contact for our key account supply chain teams. This role is critical to developing a high quality relationship with our customers as we are in our infancy stages of Supply Chain contact. The role is also vital internally as it supports sales growth and driving operational efficiencies while working collaboratively with Supply and Demand Planning.

The Planner will be required to execute promotional activities. You will be utilizing internal and external information in order to build your case for product flow recommendations. Your strong analytical skills coupled with the ability to provide an influential business case will be essential for you to successfully gain support from our key account partners for implementing your product supply recommendations.
The success of this role is measured by exceeding 98.5% on both in-stock and product fill rate goals while delivering target return on inventory investment, supporting sales growth, accurately predicting future demand forecasts, and effectively identifying and resolving any supply chain disconnects between our internal planning process and our customer’s inventory requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• The Key Account Planner is responsible for supporting critical decisions and providing recommendations impacting both the customer and Royal Canin finished goods inventory. Working 1 – 3 days a week in our customer’s offices the individual must balance maximizing in-stock goals while minimizing inventory levels within both Royal Canin Canada and our customer’s supply chain network. Influencing the customer, our account team, and our internal supply teams is critical to the effectiveness of this role.
• The Key Account Planner will be required to assess & execute (internally & externally) promotional activities from your account team members. You will be utilizing internal and external information in order to build your case for product flow recommendations. Your strong analytical skills coupled with the ability to provide an influential business case will be essential for you to successfully gain support from our key account partners for implementing your product supply recommendations.
• The success of this role is measured by exceeding 98.5% on both in-stock and product fill rate goals while delivering target return on inventory investment, supporting sales growth, accurately predicting future demand forecasts, and effectively identifying and resolving any supply chain disconnects between our internal planning process and our customer’s inventory requirements.
• Accountable for building and maintaining a collaborative relationship with our key account customers supply chain teams. You should be effective in influencing as necessary, gain support for increasing/decreasing forecasts that maximize product availability at store level, all the while minimizing inventory in the customer’s supply chain network.
• Responsible for meeting customer in-stock target (98.5%) at store level with no out-of-stocks at the distribution centers. This is accomplished by proactively analyzing inventory levels using external information, identification of any forecast behaviors or in-stock issues, followed by implementation of action steps to resolve them.
• Responsible for Vendor Compliance Programs adherence and minimizing costs related to Fill Rates, Logistics and Load Quality
• Responsible for execution as it relates to Retail innovation pipelines (product launches, discontinuations & packaging changes), including communication to all customers, internal & external
• Maintain / execute order to cash cycle for key account customer(s), including leading the development of efficiencies

• Be the point-person for operational execution of all modular changes (new item introductions), working jointly with customer supply chains
• Create execution plans and coordinate internally with account teams, demand planning, marketing, operations planning, and category leadership to ensure seamless transitions
• Communicate progress on key customer scorecard measures to all internal and customer stakeholders. Accountable for recommendations and action plans for improvement.
• Collaborative Planning Process – Provide input and recommendations for the planning process integrating customer specific data for sales trends, new items, modular changes and promotion performance trends.
• Manage the supply chain inter-dependencies between Sales, Demand Planning, Customer Service, Inventory Management, Operations Planning, 3PL’s and the Key Account Customers (including freight & warehouse)
• Responsible for all replenishment activities including:
 Support key promotional and seasonal activity.
 Recommend forecast changes to customer category team.
 Utilize customer data to provide analytical support to Key Account Managers and Customer Category Analysts.
• Develop and implement on-going improvements for collaborative planning, forecast and replenishment process.
• Working knowledge of pipeline systems and procedures with an emphasis on physical distribution and logistics.
• Collaborate internally with Order Management to drive efficiencies in supply
• Support internal supply chain as needed

Education and Professional Qualifications

• Preferred Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce, Mathematics or Engineering

Knowledge/Experience

• 3-5 years experience in Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, or Sales having worked with customers which share information.

• 1-2 years experience in Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment Analysis

• Preferred work experience in the CPG industry

• Strong working knowledge in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint. Beneficial to have MS Power B.I

• Working knowledge of Microstrategy or functional skills on retrieving data from data management systems, ERP’s & WMS’s

Mars is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you need assistance or an accommodation during the application process because of a disability, it is available upon request. The company is pleased to provide such assistance, and no applicant will be penalized as a result of such a request.

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