Director, Sales and Operations Planning

Hickory Farms has been bringing delight to every occasion since our founding in 1951. With on-trend design, expertly-curated flavors, and premium ingredients, our gifts are the perfect way to deliciously celebrate birthdays, corporate events, and special moments. Founded in Toledo, Hickory Farms relocated to Chicago in 2017 to be closer to our dedicated suppliers and distribution center. Now, our gourmet food gifts are found in a variety of popup stores and kiosks throughout North America during the holiday season, as well as in leading mass merchants, supermarkets, and on hickoryfarms.com year-round. In 2021, Wicked Good Cupcakes joined our family, bringing the Shark Tank sensation into even more celebrations nationwide. The original cupcake in a jar has decadent flavors and a unique presentation, making these treats perfect for weddings, events, and birthdays. We’re proud to bring people together with our gifts of great taste.

We are ready to hire for a newly designed role of Director, Sales and Operations Planning

This role is hybrid and based in our downtown Chicago office, with an expectation of 40% time in the downtown Chicago office. Due to the seasonality of our business, we need all critical roles, like this one, available and in-office collaborating from September through December. Overall, primarily local travel is 10%, including to our distribution center in Joliet, IL.

The new role of Director, Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) reports to the Sr. Director, Business Planning, and will be responsible for leading and overseeing the development, implementation, and execution of the Hickory Farm's S&OP process. You will work closely with cross-functional teams, including sales, operations, supply chain, procurement, and marketing to optimize sales and demand planning, production scheduling, inventory management, and overall business performance. This role is instrumental in driving effective decision-making, improving forecast accuracy, aligning sales and operations, and enhancing customer satisfaction. You will lead and mentor a team of analysts to assist with driving business decisions including informing forecasting, supply planning, and inventory management.

The key priorities that will be led by the person in this role include:

• Lead the design, development, and execution of the S&OP process for Hickory Farms, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and objectives.
• Drive metric-driven process, reviewing performance results, and working with peers and team to drive KPI improvements (i.e., forecast performance, inventory, service, cost, etc.)
• Build out the S&OP team and lead the demand planning and commercial analysis activities, collaborating with sales, marketing, and finance teams to develop accurate demand and gross margin forecasts
• Lead production planning team to optimize production scheduling, capacity planning, and resource allocation in close collaboration with supply chain and procurement teams.
• Directs functional planning teams, and coaches for improved performance, fosters professional development and diversity, and drives key departmental objectives.

Qualified candidates have experiences that include:

• Prior experience in S&OP process implementation is highly preferred
• Minimum of 3 to 5 years of experience leading an S&OP, Demand, and/or Production Planning function is highly preferred
• Minimum of three (3) years of effectively managing, developing, and coaching direct reports
• Capable of working in a flat organization where decisions are thoughtful but nimble; includes the ability to build, innovate and continually evaluate and process improve
• Knowledge of how to analyze data trends and present findings in an easily understandable manner to senior leaders to drive decisions based on audience.
• Knowledge of D365 and PowerBI is preferred
• Bachelor’s degree in a related field is highly preferred

Our Values lead the way. They are: The customer is our focus. Integrity and respect. We own it. Everyone has a place at the table. We embrace change. We savor the journey together.

We provide a wide variety of competitive benefits including, medical, dental and vision plans, 401(k) matching, product discounts, as well as the opportunity to work with smart, talented people who are team and customer-centric