Manager, Sales Planning

Job Description

Manager, Sales Planning

Manager, Sales Planning

Sales Planning provides domestic US planning and forecasting, analytical insights, and business strategies to both internal departments and external sales personnel related to the sales of physical products (DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD) crossing Retail (B&M & E-Commerce), Distribution, and Rental lines of business within Home Entertainment. The department is instrumental in providing strategic analyses related to product placement in-store and on-site/on-device, cost/benefit decisions for partnering with new accounts, and other business related needs. Sales Planning works closely with senior management and most functional departments including Sales, Marketing, Finance, Operations, Sales Communication & Reporting, and Business Affairs.

The Sales Planning Manager has heavy management responsibilities with a focus on leadership, business and account strategic planning, and project management. This position focuses on Business Plan Management, Sales Support, Promotion Management, Title Management/Assortment Planning, P&L Management, Account Management and Performance Evaluation through data analytics across multiple accounts. The manager acts as the key representative of Sales Planning across an assigned account base and acts as key driver of deliverables for the team through resources within Sales Planning. (S)he integrates consumer/retailer insights and co-manages performance goals and execution of customer initiatives and service level agreements.

Responsibilities
• [30%] Strategic Planning, Account Management, and Performance Evaluation: Develop a fiscal business plan and strategy for managing assigned set of accounts. Manage account level analytics to include recurring business reviews, analysis of space deals, seasonality trends with a comparison to the industry and other deep-dive analyses and reporting. Utilize market/industry syndicated data to understand state of the entertainment industry and trending. Review account level trends and business trends to benchmark them against the overall market and/or industry. Use analysis and insights to work collaboratively with peers, field Sales and internal personnel to make recommendations and enable strategic discussions. Manage account level planograms and title selection based upon customer demographics, trends, customer objectives, company objectives, and store location to help drive store level sales volume, retailer, and company profitability. Provide insights and recommendations of product placement, SKU management, drafting opportunities, pricing strategies and goal forecasting based on analysis and make recommendations to the Sales team, senior management, and internal teams. Provide promotional recommendations, forecasting, title selection, pro-forma profitability, drafting opportunities and other pre- and post-promotion analytical insights.
• [25%] Business Plan and P&L Management: Work with the Sales team to manage and develop revenue and gross profit forecasts with post-performance assessment against sales budgets/goals by account. Utilize Profit and Loss (P&L) to measure and evaluate account and profitability of plan. Assist with gap analysis and planning. Provide business plan reporting and trend analyses. Drive Joint Business Planning (JBP/retailer forecasts) with key retailers. Ensure completeness and accuracy of business plans and forecasts. Support Sales with business modeling for contract renewals, retailer agreements, and new business models.
• [25%] People Management: Manage direct reports across multiple accounts. Work with direct reports to create fiscal year goals/objectives that align with departmental, commercial and company objectives. Coach and mentor direct reports to create a focused plan for career growth and both professional and personal development Interview and hire for analyst positions and participate in peer interviews for managers and above. Ensure completion of employee set-up (computer, phone, login, location). Develop and implement on-boarding and training plan for new hires and lead training for accounts, general processes, and systems.
• [20%] Project and Process Management: Participate in cross functional projects. Lead a task force or workstream to develop, refine and/or streamline processes across multiple accounts, lines of business, or internal departments. Ensure execution and implementation of processes. Address managerial concerns, reporting, and systems maintenance or enhancements. Collaborate with other managers to ensure sharing of best practices and consistency in processes and results across the department. Evaluate and recommend strategies to change processes to optimize forecasts, sales, gross profit and inventory.

Job Qualifications:
• Education: BA/BS in Business, Finance, Economics, or related field; or equivalent experience strongly preferred
• Experience with consumer goods, entertainment, retail, wholesale, e-commerce, digital new media, with strong knowledge of key Retail accounts
• 5-7 years of experience preferred in planning or forecasting role with a particular emphasis on business planning, account management, product & assortment planning, and promotional planning
• Prior work experience within a fast-paced sales environment and working with buying teams from major retailers
• Previous management experience required
• Experience and expertise in analytical data systems and modeling which are used to pull and analyze sales data including, but not limited to Business Objects, Tableau, Alteryx
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications (MS, Word, Excel, Access, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Visio)
• Proven interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
• Expresses written ideas, thoughts, or facts in a clear, convincing, and organized way as well as communicating ideas in a clear and concise manner
• Present & communicate effectively and display strong interpersonal skills with all levels of management and with external customers (both written and verbal)
• Embraces teamwork; shares ideas / methods to improve performance

Analytical Skills
• Ability to analyze data and trends, make educated conclusions and provide recommendations in a clear and concise manner
• Analyzing and summarizing large amounts of data into an effective summary to facilitate decision making and strategic planning
• Ability to apply learned forecast analytics
• Is adept at implementing and/or designing statistical metrics
• Demonstrates experience in extracting and segmenting data to facilitate data analysis.
• Knows how or where to obtain information and is resourceful

Time Management Skills
• Prioritizes work activities; plans and stays organized to meet commitment and productivity standards
• Multi-tasks by switching smoothly from one project or task to another
• Develops well thought out action plans
• Is a highly detail oriented individual
• Manages timelines; deals effectively with pressure
• Takes ownership and responsibility for work progress; ability to delate work effectively
• Takes independent action and works autonomously
Other Necessary Skills
• Strong attention to detail and ability to prioritize workload to meet deadline
• Takes initiative and seeks increased responsibilities
• Creates an environment of continuous improvement
• Coordinating with internal departments as well as the ability to work independently

* Sony Pictures - CA - Culver City Area & Studios

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-d20x27-18-190-219-65-42 in your application.