The posting
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Senior Decision Scientist – Demand Planner
Fractal Analytics is a strategic AI partner to Fortune 500 companies with a vision to power every human decision in the enterprise. Fractal is building a world where individual choices, freedom, and diversity are the greatest assets. An ecosystem where human imagination is at the heart of every decision. Where no possibility is written off, only challenged to get better. We believe that a true Fractalite empowers imagination with intelligence. And that it will be such Fractalites that will continue to build the company for the next 100 years.
Please visit Fractal | Intelligence for Imagination for more information about Fractal.
Location: Palo Alto, CA and Burlingame, CA (Preferred) or Remote
Role Overview
Responsibilities
We are seeking a highly analytical Demand Planner to support demand forecasting and planning for a portfolio of consumer products across multiple markets and sales channels.
The Demand Planner will analyze historical sales, Sell-In and Sell-Through performance, channel inventory, seasonality, promotions, product launches, and other demand signals to develop accurate and actionable forecasts.
Working closely with Sales, Marketing, Supply Planning, Channel Operations, Finance, and Analytics teams, this role will help identify changes in demand, investigate forecast gaps, maintain planning assumptions, and ensure that the latest market intelligence is reflected in the demand plan.
This is an ideal opportunity for someone early in their supply chain career who enjoys working with data, solving business problems, and understanding how customer demand translates into inventory and production decisions.
Key Responsibilities
Demand Forecasting
- Develop and maintain demand forecasts across products, markets, customers, and sales channels.
- Analyze historical demand, Sell-In, Sell-Through, channel inventory, promotions, seasonality, and market trends.
- Maintain weekly and monthly forecast updates based on the latest business inputs.
- Support bottoms-up forecasting at SKU, channel, customer, and regional levels.
- Assist with forecasting for new products where limited historical data is available.
- Document forecast assumptions and changes to improve planning transparency.
Forecast Performance & Analytics
- Track key demand planning metrics including:
- Forecast Accuracy
- Forecast Bias
- Sell-In vs. Forecast
- Sell-Through vs. Forecast
- Weeks of Supply
- Channel Inventory
- Investigate significant forecast misses and perform root-cause analysis.
- Identify patterns and emerging demand trends within large datasets.
- Highlight unusual changes in sales, channel inventory, or market performance.
- Develop reports and dashboards to make demand trends easier for stakeholders to understand.
Product Launch & Lifecycle Planning
- Support demand planning for New Product Introductions (NPI) and product launches.
- Develop initial launch forecasts using comparable products, market assumptions, and commercial inputs.
- Monitor early Sell-Through performance and recommend forecast adjustments.
- Support transitions between existing and next-generation products.
- Monitor slowing demand and inventory exposure as products approach End-of-Life (EOL).
- Help ensure forecasts appropriately reflect different stages of the product lifecycle.
S&OP Support
- Prepare demand data and analyses for the monthly Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process.
- Consolidate forecast inputs from Sales, Marketing, Channel, and other stakeholders.
- Identify material changes between the previous forecast and latest demand plan.
- Prepare summaries explaining key forecast changes, assumptions, risks, and opportunities.
- Track follow-up actions from demand review meetings.
- Support senior planners and planning managers in developing consensus forecasts.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Partner closely with:
- Sales to understand customer and regional demand.
- Marketing to incorporate promotions, campaigns, launches, and other demand drivers.
- Channel Operations to understand Sell-In, Sell-Through, and channel inventory.
- Supply Planning to communicate changes in demand and potential supply implications.
- Finance to reconcile operational forecasts with business plans.
- Data & Analytics teams to improve forecasting data, reporting, and analytical tools.
Reporting & Planning Tools
- Maintain recurring demand planning reports and dashboards.
- Use Excel and SQL to analyze demand, inventory, and sales data.
- Build or maintain dashboards using tools such as Power BI or Tableau.
- Work within ERP, MRP, and planning platforms to maintain forecasts and planning parameters.
- Help automate repetitive reporting and forecasting activities.
- Identify opportunities to improve data quality and planning processes.
Required Qualifications
- 5+ years of experience in demand planning, supply chain planning, inventory planning, business analytics, operations, or a related field.
- Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Operations, Business, Engineering, Economics, Analytics, or a related discipline.
- Strong quantitative and analytical skills.
- Experience analyzing sales, demand, inventory, or operational data.
- Strong proficiency in Microsoft Excel.
- Familiarity with forecasting and basic statistical concepts.
- Ability to identify patterns and explain differences between forecast and actual performance.
- Strong attention to detail and ability to work with large datasets.
- Good written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to work effectively with multiple cross-functional stakeholders.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in consumer electronics, wearables, hardware, retail, e-commerce, or manufacturing.
- Understanding of demand planning concepts such as:
- Sell-In
- Sell-Through
- Forecast Accuracy
- Forecast Bias
- Channel Inventory
- Weeks of Supply
- NPI
- EOL
- S&OP
- CPFR
- Working knowledge of SQL.
- Experience with Power BI or Tableau.
- Exposure to planning or ERP systems such as o9, Oracle, or JD Edwards.
- Experience supporting products sold through both direct-to-consumer and retail/channel models.
What Success Looks Like Within this role, the Demand Planner will become a trusted source of demand insights for the broader supply chain organization.
Success means:
- Producing increasingly accurate and reliable forecasts.
- Identifying demand changes before they become significant inventory or supply issues.
- Clearly explaining why actual demand differed from forecast.
- Maintaining high-quality forecast assumptions and planning data.
- Providing useful analysis for S&OP and demand review meetings.
- Helping the organization make better inventory and supply decisions through data.
- Gradually taking ownership of larger product families, channels, or markets.
Ideal Candidate The ideal candidate is analytical, curious, detail-oriented, and commercially aware. They don't simply update a forecast because sales increased or decreased. They want to understand why it changed.
For example: Was the decline caused by weaker consumer demand, lower channel inventory, a promotion ending, seasonality, a product transition, or an availability issue? They are comfortable working with imperfect data, investigating discrepancies, and turning analysis into a clear recommendation.
Ultimately, this role is about connecting: Sales data → Demand signals → Forecast → Inventory → Supply decisions It provides a strong foundation for eventually progressing into Senior Demand Planner, Demand Planning Manager, S&OP/IBP Manager, or broader Supply Chain Planning leadership roles.
Key positioning changes Compared with the senior profile, I deliberately changed "own/lead/drive" language to "develop/support/analyze/maintain/recommend." This makes the JD credible for a 2–4 year demand-planning profile while preserving the analytical sophistication and consumer-hardware relevance of the original role.
Pay: The wage range for this role takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs. The disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled. At Fractal, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is: $130,000 to $150,000. In addition, for the current performance period, you may be eligible for a discretionary bonus.
Benefits:As a full-time employee of the company or as an hourly employee working more than 30 hours per week, you will be eligible to participate in the health, dental, vision, life insurance, and disability plans in accordance with the plan documents, which may be amended from time to time. You will be eligible for benefits on the first day of employment with the Company. In addition, you are eligible to participate in the Company 401(k) Plan after 30 days of employment, in accordance with the applicable plan terms. The Company provides for 11 paid holidays and 12 weeks of Parental Leave. We also follow a "free time" PTO policy, allowing you the flexibility to take time needed for either sick time or vacation.
Fractal provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
If you like wild growth and working with happy, enthusiastic over-achievers, you'll enjoy your career with us!
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