USA&C Ready-To-Drink (RTD) Operations Manager – Demand Planning

Job Description

Ready-To-Drink Operations Manager | Brown-Forman

The Tone:
This is a full-time hybrid role at Brown-Forman, located at its Louisville, Kentucky Corporate Headquarters. Brown-Forman is a premium spirits company that believes great people build great brands. In this highly visible position, you will act as the critical link between commercial ambitions and supply chain readiness for the Ready-To-Drink (RTD) portfolio. Your work will directly influence how market demand aligns with supply chain execution to support the growth of the RTD business, ensuring accurate forecasting and operational alignment from day one.

The TL;DR
• Role: Full Time
• Type: Hybrid
• Location: Hybrid, Louisville, KY

• Team: Commercial Operations
• Mission: Align market demand with supply chain execution to support the growth of the Ready-To-Drink (RTD) business.
• Tech Stack: Kinaxis, Tableau, ERP systems, Excel

What You’ll Actually Do
• Drive Demand Planning: Act as the primary owner of the demand plan during the Ready-To-Drink (RTD) portfolio’s Route to Market (RTM) transition, operationalizing demand by translating market trends, promotional activity, and distribution insights into actionable supply chain plans.
• Lead IBP Process: Lead the monthly Integrated Business Planning (IBP) process, helping ensure that changes in distribution models and commercial goals are reflected in inventory deployment, production scheduling, and enterprise capacity planning.
• Manage RTM Transition: Lead the demand side of the Ready-To-Drink (RTD) Route to Market evolution, analyzing how changes in distribution channels affect order patterns, lead times, and inventory positioning.
• Facilitate Operational Alignment: Facilitate and lead monthly Integrated Business Planning (IBP) meetings, specifically bridging the gap between Sales/Marketing forecasts and Production/Logistics capabilities with various commercial stakeholders.
• Integrate Supply Network: Collaborate closely with External Manufacturing Operations (EMO) Supply Managers and Supply Planning Managers to ensure the demand signal enables optimized distributor replenishment and inventory builds tailored to the new RTD distribution footprint.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Bachelor’s Degree with 3+ years in Demand Planning and Supply Chain Operations.
• Experience: 3+ years in Demand Planning and Supply Chain Operations, coupled with an understanding of Route to Market (RTM) dynamics (e.g., distributor networks, bailment, and B2B), preferably within the Bev-Alc industry.
• Skills: Advanced skills in ERP systems (Kinaxis preferred), Excel, and Data Visualization (Tableau); strong analytical rigor including forecasting algorithms and statistical modeling; demonstrated collaborative influence in consensus building across functions.
• Bonus: A passion for lean processes and a desire to refine the Integrated Business Planning (IBP) cycle to be more responsive to operational needs.