Senior Manager, Global Demand Planning

Work Schedule

Standard (Mon-Fri)

Environmental Conditions

Office

Job Description

As part of the Thermo Fisher Scientific team, you’ll discover meaningful work that makes a positive impact on a global scale. Join our colleagues in bringing our Mission to life every single day to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. We provide our global teams with the resources needed to achieve individual career goals while helping to take science a step beyond by developing solutions for some of the world’s toughest challenges, like protecting the environment, making sure our food is safe or helping find cures for cancer.

What You Will Do

Global Process Ownership and Governance

• Define, maintain, and continuously improve global demand management policies, processes, standards, and tools in alignment with Sales, Inventory and Operations Planning principles.
• Serve as the global business process owner for demand planning and demand management.
• Establish governance mechanisms that promote consistency, data integrity, analytical rigor, transparency, and process adherence across regions and business units.
• Develop and maintain global process documentation, standard operating procedures, planning calendars, decision rights, and escalation protocols.
• Establish performance metrics and a continuous improvement roadmap for global demand planning.
• Analyze forecast performance, identify root causes of forecast error and bias, and lead corrective and preventive actions.
• Apply the Thermo Fisher Scientific Practical Process Improvement Business System to eliminate waste, improve planning effectiveness, and strengthen the customer experience.
• Facilitate regular governance reviews to assess performance, adoption, risks, and opportunities.

Planning Excellence and Capability Building

• Coach and mentor demand forecasters, planners, analysts, and business partners to strengthen technical capabilities and planning proficiency.
• Promote standardized ways of working while recognizing appropriate differences in markets, businesses, and product portfolios.
• Develop and deliver training programs, planning playbooks, reference materials, and capability-building sessions.
• Create communities of practice that encourage knowledge sharing, collaboration, and adoption of planning best practices.
• Promote planning discipline, accountability, and continuous improvement across the global organization.
• Assess capability gaps and implement development plans that advance demand planning maturity.
• Support onboarding and training for new planners, system users, and business stakeholders.

Demand Planning Operations

• Coordinate the end-to-end global demand planning cycle, ensuring timely completion, clear documentation, effective governance, and high-quality handoffs.
• Develop, validate, maintain, and execute centralized statistical forecasting models.
• Partner with commercial teams to efficiently incorporate customer insights, market intelligence, product strategies, lifecycle events, and business assumptions into demand plans.
• Facilitate consensus demand reviews and support executive-level planning discussions as required.
• Support the development of annual operating plan and long-range plan demand projections.
• Lead or support scenario modeling, sensitivity analysis, and risk-and-opportunity assessments.
• Ensure demand assumptions are clearly documented, quantified, and communicated to supply planning, operations, finance, and business leadership.
• Partner with supply planning teams to translate demand signals into effective supply, capacity, and inventory decisions.
• Support new product introductions, product transitions, discontinuations, promotions, and other significant demand events.
• Identify demand-related constraints, gaps, and emerging trends that may affect customer service or financial performance.

Technology, Data, Analytics, and Automation

• Serve as the demand management subject-matter expert for planning, reporting, analytics, and enterprise systems.
• Partner with information technology, digital, data, and system teams to resolve issues, prioritize enhancements, and deploy new functionality.
• Support the design, implementation, testing, and adoption of advanced planning solutions.
• Identify and lead initiatives involving process automation, AI-enabled forecasting, advanced analytics, and decision-support capabilities.
• Evaluate emerging planning technologies and recommend opportunities that improve forecast quality, productivity, scalability, and user experience.
• Oversee demand-related master data processes required for accurate forecasting and reliable system performance.
• Establish data quality controls and governance practices for products, customers, locations, planning hierarchies, history, and other forecasting attributes.
• Develop dashboards and executive-ready analytics that clearly communicate forecast performance, assumptions, risks, opportunities, and recommended actions.
• Promote responsible and effective use of AI-enabled tools in accordance with company policies and applicable regulatory requirements.

Key Responsibilities and Outcomes

Success in this role will be demonstrated through:

• High-quality demand plans supported by transparent assumptions, scenarios, and analytics.
• Improved forecast accuracy and effective management of forecast bias.
• Increased adoption and consistent execution of standardized demand planning processes and tools.
• Stronger integration among commercial, finance, demand planning, supply planning, and operations teams.
• Improved planning productivity, process efficiency, and organizational capability.
• Effective translation of demand signals into supply, capacity, and inventory decisions.
• Improved visibility to business risks, opportunities, and potential customer-service impacts.
• Greater use of statistical forecasting, advanced analytics, and automation.
• Sustainable process improvements supported by clear governance and performance management.

How You Will Get Here

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, business, engineering, operations, analytics, finance, or a related discipline required.
• Master of Business Administration, Master of Science, or another relevant advanced degree preferred.
• Professional certifications such as IBF CPF, APICS/ASCM CPIM or CSCP, Lean Six Sigma, PMP, or relevant data and analytics credentials are highly desirable.

Experience

• Five or more years of experience in demand planning, supply planning, Sales, Inventory and Operations Planning, integrated business planning, or a related supply chain function.
• Strong working knowledge of demand planning and SIOP/S&OP processes.
• Experience within life sciences, diagnostics, medical technology, pharmaceutical services, healthcare, or another regulated industry is preferred.
• Three or more years of demonstrated experience leading demand planning process improvements in a complex, matrixed, and cross-functional organization.
• Experience coordinating global or multi-regional planning processes.
• Demonstrated success leading enterprise planning improvements, process standardization, or business transformation initiatives.
• Experience developing and implementing statistical forecasting models and demand analytics.
• Experience supporting annual operating plans, long-range plans, scenario modeling, and executive planning reviews.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong knowledge of demand planning principles, forecasting methods, performance measurement, and bias management.
• Hands-on experience with advanced planning platforms such as Kinaxis /Rapid Response or an equivalent solution.
• Hands-on experience with advanced planning platforms such as Demantra or an equivalent solution.
• Experience with enterprise resource planning systems and demand-related master data.
• Experience with analytics and visualization tools such as Power BI, Tableau, or equivalent platforms.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft Office applications.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled forecasting, agentic AI tools, process automation, or advanced analytics.
• Ability to translate complex data and planning concepts into clear insights, recommendations, and executive-ready materials.
• Strong business acumen with an understanding of the relationships among demand, revenue, inventory, capacity, customer service, and financial performance.
• Strong interpersonal, communication, facilitation, and presentation skills.
• Ability to influence stakeholders and drive alignment without direct reporting authority.
• Ability to work effectively across business units, functions, cultures, and geographic regions.
• Strong process discipline, attention to detail, and commitment to data integrity.
• Demonstrated ability to independently manage multiple priorities in a fast-moving environment.
• Strong problem-solving skills and a continuous improvement mindset.

Additional Expectations for Senior Manager Level

Candidates considered for the Senior Manager level will typically demonstrate:

• Significant experience leading global process governance, center-of-excellence, or enterprise process-owner activities.
• A successful record of leading enterprise-wide planning transformations or large-scale process improvements.
• Greater depth in advanced analytics, statistical modeling, AI-enabled planning, or digital supply chain transformation.
• The ability to independently lead complex cross-functional initiatives with significant business impact.
• Strong influence with senior leaders and executive stakeholders.
• Experience establishing global strategies, roadmaps, governance models, and performance management frameworks.
• The ability to coach senior planning practitioners and lead organizational capability-building initiatives.

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range estimated for this position based in Pennsylvania is $106,400.00–$159,575.00.

This position may also be eligible to receive a variable annual bonus based on company, team, and/or individual performance results in accordance with company policy. We offer a comprehensive Total Rewards package that our U.S. colleagues and their families can count on, which includes:

• A choice of national medical and dental plans, and a national vision plan, including health incentive programs

• Employee assistance and family support programs, including commuter benefits and tuition reimbursement

• At least 120 hours paid time off (PTO), 10 paid holidays annually, paid parental leave (3 weeks for bonding and 8 weeks for caregiver leave), accident and life insurance, and short- and long-term disability in accordance with company policy

• Retirement and savings programs, such as our competitive 401(k) U.S. retirement savings plan

• Employees’ Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) offers eligible colleagues the opportunity to purchase company stock at a discount

For more information on our benefits, please visit: https://jobs.thermofisher.com/global/en/total-rewards