Manager, Demand & Inventory Analytics

Company Overview

Why Choose Us?

Novolex is a leading manufacturer of food, beverage, and specialty packaging that supports multiple industries including foodservice, restaurant delivery and carryout, food processing, grocery and retail, and industrial sectors. Novolex manufacturing and sourcing expertise spans a diverse range of substrates including resin, paper, molded fiber, aluminum and more. We provide customers a broad array of stock and customized solutions with 120 product categories, 250 brands and over 39,000 SKUs.

Our Sustainability Commitment

The Novolex sustainability vision is built upon three pillars: our products, our operations and our people. Each is critically important to our growth and future as a business. These pillars form the foundation of our company-wide commitment to sustainability, helping us achieve our ambitious goals through our wide-ranging initiatives.

Job Description

This is a hybrid position with 3 days a week in our Lake Forest, IL office.

The Manager, Demand & Inventory Analytics is responsible for overseeing the analytics portfolio supporting Demand Planning, Inventory Planning, and Integrated Business Planning (IBP) processes. This role partners closely with business stakeholders to identify business challenges, decision-support needs, and analytical opportunities, define requirements, and work with technical teams to deliver solutions that improve visibility and decision-making across the organization. The ideal candidate brings a strong understanding of demand planning, inventory management, and broader supply chain planning processes along with the ability to bridge business needs and analytics capabilities. They will lead analytics solutions and capability enhancements from concept through adoption, including requirements gathering, user acceptance testing, training, documentation, and ongoing support. 

Key Responsibilities 

Analytics Portfolio Leadership 

• Own and manage the portfolio of Demand Planning and Inventory Management reports, dashboards, and analytical tools• Prioritize analytics initiatives and capability enhancements based on business value, stakeholder needs, and organizational objectives• Identify opportunities to improve demand visibility, inventory insights, forecasting effectiveness, and decision-support capabilities• Ensure analytics solutions remain aligned with evolving business processes and planning requirements 

Business Partnership & Requirements Management 

• Partner with Demand Planning, Inventory Planning, and Commercial teams to understand business challenges, analytical needs, and process pain points• Facilitate requirements gathering, process mapping, and solution design activities• Translate business requirements into clear functional specifications for analytics and technical delivery teams• Act as a trusted advisor on analytics capabilities, opportunities, and best practices 

Solution Delivery & Adoption 

• Collaborate with analytics engineers and technical teams throughout solution design, development, and deployment• Lead user acceptance testing (UAT) efforts and validate that delivered solutions meet business requirements• Develop training materials, user documentation, and support resources for analytics solutions• Drive user adoption and change management activities to maximize business value 

Analytics Governance & Data Stewardship 

• Establish and maintain standardized KPI definitions, analytical metrics, and business rules• Partner with analytics and data teams to promote consistency and accuracy across analytics assets and reporting outputs• Support data quality improvement efforts by identifying gaps, discrepancies, and process improvement opportunities• Ensure analytical outputs align with established planning processes and organizational standards 

Continuous Improvement & Analytics Enablement 

• Monitor solution adoption, stakeholder feedback, and business outcomes to identify enhancement opportunities• Recommend analytics solutions, process improvements, and decision-support capabilities that improve operational performance• Promote data-driven decision-making across planning functions• Stay informed on emerging analytics and decision-support capabilities relevant to demand planning, inventory management, and IBP processes 

Cross-Functional Leadership & Execution 

• Lead cross-functional analytics initiatives and coordinate efforts across planning, analytics, and technology teams• Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement• Establish priorities and manage workload across multiple initiatives and stakeholder groups 

Qualifications 

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business, Operations Management, Analytics, Information Systems, or related field• 6+ years of experience in supply chain planning, business analysis, reporting, or analytics-related roles• Strong understanding of demand planning, inventory management, forecasting, and/or IBP/S&OP processes• Experience gathering business requirements and translating them into analytics, reporting, or system solutions• Experience partnering with both business stakeholders and technical delivery teams• Familiarity with business intelligence and analytics platforms such as Power BI, Tableau, or similar tools• Experience leading user acceptance testing, training, documentation, or change management initiatives preferred 

Core Competencies 

• Supply Chain Planning: Deep understanding of demand planning, forecasting, inventory management, and planning performance drivers• Business Analysis: Identifying business challenges and defining effective analytics and decision-support solutions• Stakeholder Management: Building strong partnerships across planning, commercial, operations, and technical teams• Analytics Enablement: Delivering insights and analytical capabilities that improve business performance and decision-making• Change Management & Adoption: Driving user engagement, training, and successful adoption of new solutions 

Success Measures 

• High stakeholder satisfaction with analytics capabilities, insights, and decision-support tools• Increased adoption and utilization of analytics solutions across planning functions• Improved consistency and standardization of KPIs, metrics, and reporting outputs• Successful delivery of analytics solutions and enhancements aligned to business priorities• Reduction in manual analysis and reporting effort through scalable analytics solutions• Increased visibility into demand, inventory, and service performance enabling better planning decisions

A reasonable estimate of the current range is $130,000-$145,000+ bonus + benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target salaries for the position across all US locations. Within the range, individual pay is determined by job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. At Novolex, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at the top of the range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case.

The benefits for this role include 401(k) plan with company match, comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, flexible spending and health savings accounts, paid vacation, and sick days, paid parental leave, paid holidays and wellness program.

#LI-Hybrid

Company Benefits

What You'll Get From Us

Benefits

With safety as our top priority and a commitment to employee well-being an important focus, we offer comprehensive and competitive benefits that include medical, dental and vision insurance as well as a variety of other well-being resources focused on mental, physical and financial health. Specific benefits and well-being programs may vary depending on where you work.

Community Engagement

At Novolex, giving back to the local communities that support us is important. Our Focused Giving Program prioritizes support for organizations whose missions promote sustainability initiatives or address food and hunger needs. We also encourage facility level support of activities in the communities where our employees live and work.

Training and Development

We offer constant opportunities for advancement. From skills development to advanced education programs, training and development programs and courses are available through MyLearning. Programs include company and industry training curricula, support for formal education through the Tuition Reimbursement Program (Non-Union), and a Learning Management System that supports and enhances employee skills at all levels of the organization.

Novolex is committed to providing equal employment opportunity in all employment practices, including but not limited to selection, hiring, promotion, transfer, and compensation to all qualified applicants and employees without regard to age, race, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, handicap or disability, genetics, citizenship status, service member or veteran status, or any other category protected by federal, state, or local law. Any individual who, because of his or her disability, needs an accommodation in connection with an aspect of the Company's application process should contact myHRservices@novolex.com.

Formerly Pactiv Evergreen