Demand Planning Associate

Company Overview

Ancient Crunch Inc. is the fastest-growing healthy snack brand in the U.S. Our flagship product, MASA Chips, is the #1 selling tallow-fried tortilla chips in premium retailers like Erewhon. We manufacture all MASA products in-house at our Hackettstown facility using real ingredients—no seed oils, artificial flavors, or preservatives. All operations adhere to strict Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and food safety standards.

Reports To: Sales Planning & Insights
Location: Remote
Direct Reports: None anticipated, though direct reports may be added or removed based on operational needs

Position Summary

The Demand Planning Associate plays a critical role in the business planning process, supporting the development of accurate, data-driven demand forecasts across our portfolio of brands and SKUs. This role serves as a bridge between Sales, Marketing, Finance, and Supply Chain, ensuring that commercial insights are translated into actionable volume plans that drive service levels, inventory efficiency, and revenue performance.

The ideal candidate is analytically strong, comfortable working with large datasets, and capable of communicating cross-functionally in a fast-paced consumer goods environment.

The responsibilities listed below are not exhaustive. As Ancient Crunch scales, the requirements of this position will expand and adapt. The Demand Planning Associate is expected to lead new initiatives and assume additional duties consistent with this title and the long-term evolution of our sales strategy.

Key Responsibilities

Forecast Development & Maintenance

- Build and maintain baseline statistical forecasts at the SKU/customer/channel level using demand planning software in Vividly / Web Integrated.

- Incorporate promotional plans, new item launches, distribution changes, and seasonality into consensus forecasts.

- Conduct monthly forecast review cycles in partnership with Sales, Marketing and Supply Chain stakeholders.

- Monitor and analyze forecast accuracy and drive continuous improvement initiatives.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

- Partner with Account Managers and Retail Marketing to capture retailer-level demand signals and promotional calendars.

- Align with Supply Planning on inventory positioning, safety stock, and replenishment strategies.

- Support the Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), preparing pre-read materials and facilitating monthly demand review meetings.

- Collaborate with Finance partners on volume-to-revenue bridging and financial forecast alignment.

Data Analysis & Reporting

- Analyze POS/syndicated data (IRI, Nielsen, SPINS) alongside shipment and order data to identify demand trends and anomalies.

- Develop and maintain dashboards and KPI reporting for forecast accuracy, fill rate, and inventory health.

- Identify root causes of forecast deviations and communicate findings with recommended corrective actions.

New Item & Promotional Planning

- Support new SKU launch forecasting by leveraging analogous item history, customer commitments, and market sizing inputs in conjunction with your sales planning partner.

- Track post-promotional performance versus plan and apply learnings to future cycles.

Process & System Improvement

- Identify opportunities to enhance forecast modeling, data inputs, and planning workflows.

- Support system implementations and upgrades related to demand planning tools.

- Document standard operating procedures.

Qualifications

Required

- 1–3 years of experience in demand planning, supply chain, sales analytics, or a related CPG function.

- Proficiency in Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, scenario modeling); experience with BI tools (Power BI, Tableau) a plus.

- Exposure to demand planning or ERP systems.

- Familiarity with syndicated data platforms (IRI/Circana, Nielsen, SPINS).

- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with attention to detail.

- Clear communicator with the ability to prese