Director of Demand Planning

THE ROLE Thrive Market is seeking a Director of Demand Planning to lead demand forecasting, strengthen our Sales & Operations Planning process, and expand the planning tools that support our supply chain. This role combines deep analytical expertise, hands-on systems building, and strong cross-functional leadership. You’ll translate business inputs into actionable forecasts, build and enhance models in Anaplan, and bring teams together around a shared plan for execution. You’ll join a smart, collaborative, low-ego team with the opportunity to shape how we work. We have a strong weekly forecasting foundation in place. Your opportunity is to build on that foundation, broaden its impact across the company, and develop tools that connect demand to inventory, fulfillment, transportation, and capacity decisions. RESPONSIBILITIES • Own the demand forecasting process, incorporating historical performance, seasonality, promotions, assortment changes, and business trends to support inventory availability and operational planning. • Track forecast accuracy and bias, investigate variances, and refine models and assumptions to improve the quality of planning decisions. • Build and lead a cross-functional S&OP cadence that connects demand, supply, operational capacity, and financial goals. Surface risks, align stakeholders on tradeoffs, and drive clear decisions and accountability. • Take a hands-on role in enhancing demand forecast models in Anaplan and developing supply chain planning tools, including labor planning, transportation shipment forecasting, corrugated material forecasting, and space planning. • Collaborate with Merchandising, Marketing, Growth, Finance, and Operations to gather inputs, challenge assumptions constructively, and maintain a shared view of expected demand. • Translate forecast changes into clear implications for purchasing, staffing, transportation, and fulfillment capacity. Ensure stakeholders understand what has changed, why it matters, and what actions are needed. • Set priorities, coach team members, and strengthen analytical capabilities while increasing the demand planning team’s visibility and influence across the business. • Establish clear planning assumptions, reporting, documentation, and workflows that support growth while remaining practical and adaptable. QUALIFICATIONS • Demonstrated success leading demand planning or forecasting in e-commerce, grocery, consumables, subscription commerce, or a similarly complex business with recurring demand and seasonal variability. • Strong quantitative and analytical skills, including experience developing forecasting models, evaluating forecast accuracy and bias, and translating complex data into business decisions. • Hands-on experience building and enhancing Anaplan models, with the ability to translate business needs into practical planning tools. • Experience building or strengthening an S&OP process and connecting demand forecasts to inventory, capacity, financial planning, and operational execution. • Strong cross-functional relationship and influencing skills. You can bring together stakeholders with different priorities, challenge assumptions respectfully, and build alignment around a shared plan. • A builder mentality and comfort working with evolving systems and processes. You enjoy identifying gaps, testing solutions, and creating a playbook as the business grows. • Experience leading and developing a planning team while staying close to the data, models, and day-to-day work. • Clear communication and sound judgment, with the ability to explain complex findings, surface risks early, and recommend actionable next steps. BELONG TO A BETTER COMPANY • Comprehensive health benefits (medical, dental, vision, life and disability) • Compe