Demand Planning Manager, Global McDonalds (Boise)

Summary

The Demand Planning Manager, Global McDonald's provides enterprise ownership of the McDonald's demand-planning capability within Simplot Global Food's Integrated Business Planning (IBP) organization. This leader is accountable for one globally coordinated planning model, one global demand signal, aligned regional assumptions, and coordinated execution.

The role leads through influence across regions, functions, and external partners, often without direct authority. Working with regional demand planners and Demand Planning Analysts, this leader establishes planning governance, aligns assumptions and decision rights, drives forecast quality and scenario planning, and converts customer and market intelligence into decision-ready insights. The role requires a holistic understanding of the end-to-end supply chain and the ability to connect demand decisions to sourcing, manufacturing, capacity, inventory, logistics, service, and financial outcomes.

Customer partnership is an important enabler of stronger planning and enterprise decisions. The Manager builds effective relationships with McDonald's Corporation, HAVI, Mitsui, local markets, and internal teams while keeping global planning ownership as the role's primary purpose.

Key Responsibilities

Global Demand Signal & Planning Governance

• Own the end-to-end global McDonald's demand-planning capability and the integrity of a single, coordinated global demand signal.
• Establish governance for planning standards, calendars, assumptions, decision rights, escalation paths, and performance reviews.
• Integrate regional forecasts and market intelligence into a transparent global view; challenge material changes, risks, opportunities, and scenarios.
• Improve forecast quality, demand-signal reliability, planning discipline, and adoption of common processes and tools.

Leadership, Influence & Strategic Initiatives

• Create alignment and accountability across regional planners, functions, and external partners without relying on direct authority.
• Clarify global and regional roles, handoffs, and decision rights while preserving local market insight and accountability for execution.
• Lead global and regional planning forums to reconcile assumptions, resolve gaps, surface tradeoffs, and secure timely decisions.
• Lead, coach, and develop Demand Planning Analysts and strengthen capability across the broader McDonald's planning network.
• Promote constructive challenges, fact-based decision-making, transparency, accountability, and enterprise thinking.
• Lead demand-related contingency planning and cross-functional initiatives involving network strategy, Line of Supply, data, processes, planning tools, RFPs, and business opportunities.
• Ensure major customer, network, and operational changes are incorporated into the global demand signal and regional planning processes.

IBP, Scenario Planning & Decision Support

• Lead the McDonald's Pre-Demand Management Review and represent the global McDonald's demand perspective within IBP.
• Translate assumptions, risks, opportunities, and scenarios into clear recommendations and decision-ready insights.
• Connect demand decisions to sourcing, manufacturing, capacity, inventory, logistics, customer service, cost, and financial performance.
• Identify root causes of recurring gaps, and lead corrective actions that improve business outcomes.
• Establish measurable targets for forecast accuracy and bias, demand-signal reliability, and assumption quality; translate improvements into stronger service, inventory, capacity, operational, and financial outcomes.

Customer Intelligence & Cross-Functional Partnership

• Use engagement with McDonald's, HAVI, Mitsui, local markets, and internal commercial teams to improve the quality and timeliness of planning inputs.
• Translate customer strategy, promotions, market changes, and growth opportunities into aligned assumptions and enterprise planning actions.
• Communicate the demand outlook, risks, opportunities, scenarios, and required decisions clearly across organizational levels.
• Partner with Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain, Operations, Finance, Procurement, Manufacturing, Logistics, and Project Management to drive coordinated decisions.

Typical Education

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business, Operations, Finance, Statistics, Analytics, or a related field.

Relevant Experience

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business, Operations, Finance, Statistics, Analytics, or a related field.
• 7+ years of progressive experience in Demand Planning, S&OP, IBP, or supply-chain planning, including forecast governance and cross-functional decision support.
• Demonstrated expertise in demand planning, forecast performance, assumption governance, scenario planning, and enterprise planning processes.
• Broad end-to-end supply-chain and industry knowledge, with the ability to connect demand decisions to sourcing, manufacturing, capacity, inventory, logistics, service, and financial outcomes.
• Proven ability to lead through influence, align decentralized teams, and establish accountability across complex, matrixed organizations.
• Strong leadership, facilitation, analytical, communication, presentation, and relationship-building skills.
• Working knowledge of statistical forecasting principles, forecast accuracy and bias management, and enterprise planning and analytics capabilities, with sufficient technical depth to challenge assumptions and govern a global demand signal.

Preferred

• Experience supporting a global strategic customer or leading planning across multiple regions or markets.
• McDonald's, QSR, foodservice, or comparable consumer-driven supply-chain experience; direct McDonald's experience is strongly preferred but not required.
• Experience with advanced forecasting methods, enterprise planning systems, analytics, and large-scale supply-chain transformation.
• Master's degree and/or APICS/ASCM, IBF, or related professional certification.