Demand Planner Broadband Business Unit

AFL manufactures industry-leading fiber optic cable connectivity and accessories and provides engineering and installation services for some of the largest telecom customers in the world. Our company was founded in 1984 with a single fiber optic cable and today we manufacture thousands of products generate an excess of $3B in revenue and employ approximately 12000 associates worldwide. At AFL we recognize that our employees are our greatest asset. We hire and train each individual investing in them to ensure success in their careers. With a commitment to professional development and growth let us connect you to your next career opportunity.

What We Offer:

• Flexible time off policy
• 401K Company match (up to 4% - dollar for dollar)
• Professional development training and tuition reimbursement programs
• Excellent medical dental vision and life insurance policy options
• Opportunities for career advancement with an industry leading company!

The Demand Planner Broadband Business Unit is one of two dedicated demand planners focused exclusively on AFL Product Solutions Broadband business spanning its fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) access network and service provider portfolio. The Broadband demand planning team is collectively responsible for producing a single reconciled demand signal for the Broadband business that feeds AFLs Integrated Business Planning (IBP) cycle. The team operates within AFLs enterprise demand planning function and follows the standards methodologies hierarchies and governance defined by the Director of Demand Planning.

Reporting to the Director of Demand Planning each Demand Planner on the team owns the day-to-day generation maintenance and publication of unconstrained and consensus demand plans for an assigned slice of the Broadband portfolio (e.g. customer segment product family or region). Working in lockstep with peer planners the team delivers one consistent reconciled Broadband demand plan each cycle. Business Unit leadership retains accountability for the constrained consensus demand plan; the demand planning team is collectively accountable for the quality consistency transparency and governance of the process that produces it.

• Deliver a rolling 36-month unconstrained demand plan for the assigned Broadband portfolio each IBP cycle on cadence and aligned to enterprise standards and team playbooks.
• Contribute to a single reconciled Broadband demand signal one set of numbers used by Supply Review Integrated Reconciliation Review (IRR) and Management Business Review (MBR).
• Achieve measurable improvement in forecast accuracy bias and volatility within the assigned portfolio with documented root-cause learning and corrective actions shared back to the team.
• Stand up and maintain Broadband demand planning dashboards assumptions logs and change control artifacts jointly with peer planners that enable management-by-exception.
• Embed override governance and Forecast Value Added (FVA) discipline within the Broadband BU planning routine.

• Own the end-to-end execution of the assigned Broadband portfolio demand planning cycle in line with the enterprise IBP cadence.
• Generate refine and publish statistical and consensus demand plans at the Customer x SKU x Month level.
• Coordinate with peer demand planners on the team to ensure assigned portfolios roll up into a single reconciled Broadband BU output without double-counting gaps or methodology drift.
• Maintain accurate planning hierarchies segmentation and master data attributes for the assigned portfolio in coordination with enterprise standards and team norms.
• Produce timely decision-ready Demand Review pre-reads for the assigned portfolio contributing to a unified Broadband BU view alongside team peers.

• Apply the enterprise statistical and consensus forecasting methodology to the assigned Broadband portfolio including FTTH build cycles service provider deployment programs and channel/distribution demand patterns where applicable.
• Incorporate market intelligence customer demand signals lifecycle events and commercial inputs into the demand plan.
• Drive continuous improvement in forecast accuracy and bias using Forecast Value Added (FVA) concepts with transparent root-cause analysis and corrective actions sharing learnings across the team.
• Enforce override governance: ensure judgmental adjustments are documented justified and demonstrably improve not degrade forecast quality.
• Publish clear assumptions risks and opportunities by planning horizon (near-term execution vs. mid/long-term outlook).

• Participate in AFLs Demand Review as one of the Broadband BUs demand planning representatives.
• Ensure the assigned portion of the Broadband demand plan is reconciled with commercial operational and financial assumptions with assumptions explicitly documented.
• Surface Broadband-specific risks opportunities and demand trade-offs through IBP governance forums for transparent escalation.
• Support maturation of IBP cadence definitions templates and governance in line with Oliver Wight Class A principles.

• Operate as part of a dedicated Broadband demand planning team coordinating with peer planners to maintain a unified approach to methodology segmentation assumptions and reporting.
• Share market intelligence customer insights and forecast learnings across the team to strengthen the overall Broadband demand signal.
• Provide cross-coverage for peer planners during absences and peak cycles to ensure continuity of the demand planning cadence.
• Participate in team working sessions peer reviews and post-cycle retrospectives to drive shared continuous improvement and standardization across portfolios.
• Contribute to onboarding documentation and playbook development that strengthens the teams collective capability.

The Demand Planner operates within the enterprise demand planning standards established by the Director of Demand Planning and is accountable for executing those standards consistently across the assigned Broadband portfolio. Business Unit leadership retains accountability for the constrained consensus demand plan; the demand planning team provides the collective process discipline transparency and analytical rigor that enable enterprise alignment.

• Apply enterprise demand planning standards hierarchies segmentation and methodologies consistent with team norms to the assigned Broadband portfolio without unilateral deviation.
• Maintain forecasting timelines and decision gates aligned to the IBP calendar for each cycle.
• Require documented assumptions and rationale for material forecast changes or overrides within the assigned portfolio.
• Surface late unsupported or capacity-shaped overrides formally as risks or opportunities rather than silently incorporating them.
• Preserve the integrity of the unconstrained Broadband demand signal separate from supply constraints allocation decisions or commercial pressure.

• Partner with Broadband Sales Product Management Business Operations and Client Success to capture market intelligence and translate it into an accurate and actionable volume plan.
• Collaborate with Supply Planning and Operations on Broadband demand inputs while preserving an unconstrained view of market demand.
• Align with Finance to translate the Broadband volume plan into revenue and margin scenarios for IBP financial reconciliation.
• Proactively surface gaps risks and opportunities by customer product family and segment and drive cross-functional resolution through the IBP cadence coordinating with peer planners where issues cross portfolio boundaries.

• Use AFLs demand planning platform (SAP IBP Kinaxis RapidResponse or equivalent) to maintain the assigned Broadband demand plan and supporting analytics.
• Build and maintain Broadband demand planning dashboards and reporting jointly with peer planners for leadership visibility into demand trends and forecast performance.
• Partner with enterprise demand planning IT and data governance stakeholders to enforce planning hierarchies master data standards and data quality for the Broadband portfolio.
• Ensure Broadband demand planning outputs are versioned auditable and portable (effective dates assumptions history) for consistent downstream consumption across the team.

• Bachelors degree in Supply Chain Business Engineering Analytics or related field.
• 35 years of demand planning supply chain or related analytical experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Hands-on experience with a modern demand planning application (SAP IBP Kinaxis RapidResponse or comparable platform) including statistical forecasting and segmentation.
• Working knowledge of Integrated Business Planning including the Demand Review process; familiarity with Oliver Wight Class A principles preferred.
• Strong analytical skills including advanced Excel and exposure to BI / visualization tools.
• Clear written and verbal communication with the ability to surface assumptions risks and trade-offs in cross-functional forums.
• Demonstrated ability to operate as part of a planning team sharing methodology standards and learnings across peers while owning an assigned portfolio end-to-end.
• Experience supporting broadband telecom/service provider FTTH/access network or other high-growth high-SKU portfolios is a meaningful plus.
• APICS CPIM or Oliver Wight IBP foundational training a plus.