Associate Director - Sales Planning

*"This role will be based in our Norwood, MA office and will follow our Hybrid Work Schedule**

💰 Pay Range: $150,000.00 - $185,000.00 annually (based on experience and qualifications)

The Associate Director, Sales Planning, is responsible for leading sales planning, trade promotion analysis, forecasting, and commercial insights for a fast-paced food manufacturing organization serving grocery, convenience, and foodservice channels. This role partners closely with Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain, Finance, and Demand Planning teams to optimize promotional effectiveness, improve forecast accuracy, and drive profitable growth across key customer accounts.

The ideal candidate combines strong analytical capabilities with strategic business acumen and hands-on experience managing promotional planning within a consumer-packaged goods (CPG) or food manufacturing environment. Expertise in Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365), Circana (IRI), sales analytics, and trade promotion evaluation is essential.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Sales Planning:

• Lead sales planning activities across grocery, convenience, and foodservice channels.
• Develop and maintain short and long-term trade forecasts aligned with customer demand, promotional calendars, and business objectives.
• Partner with Sales and Demand Planning teams to improve forecast accuracy and inventory alignment.
• Analyze sales trends, customer performance, market conditions, and seasonality to identify risks and opportunities.

Promotional Planning & Trade Analytics:

• Build, evaluate, and optimize promotional plans across retail and foodservice customers.
• Analyze promotional effectiveness, lift, ROI, pricing strategies, and trade spend performance using Circana and internal sales data.
• Provide actionable insights and recommendations to maximize profitable growth and improve promotional efficiency.
• Collaborate with Sales and Marketing teams to develop customer-specific promotional strategies and annual business plans.

Data Analytics & Reporting:

• Develop dashboards, scorecards, and reporting tools to support commercial decision making.
• Utilize D365, Circana, and other BI/reporting tools to analyze syndicated data, customer performance, distribution trends, and category insights.
• Monitor KPIs including sales growth, trade spend, promotional ROI, forecast accuracy, fill rates, and customer profitability.
• Present findings and recommendations to senior leadership in a clear and concise manner.

Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Partner closely with Finance on budgeting, trade accruals, and promotional spend management.
• Collaborate with Supply Chain and Operations to support inventory planning and service levels during promotional events.
• Work with Marketing to identify market trends and whitespace opportunities.
• Support Sales leadership in annual planning, customer reviews, and strategic initiatives.

Process Improvement & Commercial Excellence:

• Identify opportunities to improve sales planning processes, reporting automation, and forecasting methodologies.
• Drive standardization and best practices across sales planning and trade management activities.
• Support system enhancements and data integrity initiatives within D365 and related commercial systems.
• Mentor and develop team members as applicable.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Supply Chain, Marketing, or related field.
• 5–10 years of experience in sales planning, trade promotion management, demand planning, direct sales management or commercial analytics within food manufacturing or CPG.
• Strong experience supporting grocery, convenience store, and/or foodservice channels.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365).
• Strong experience using Circana (IRI) syndicated data and reporting tools.
• Experience building and analyzing promotional programs, trade spend, and sales forecasts.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel and data analysis tools.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and presentation skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with Power BI, or other business intelligence platforms.
• Experience managing direct reports or leading cross-functional initiatives.
• Familiarity with ERP and trade promotion management systems.