Job Description
Job Description
Job Title:
Customer Allocations Lead Location:
Hershey, PA 17033 (Hybrid)
Duration:
9-12 Months Job Description
Role Summary
The Customer Allocations Lead owns the end-to-end allocation process when customer demand exceeds available supply. This role serves as the central point of coordination across Customer Supply Chain, Sales, IDP/Customer Planning, and senior leadership, ensuring limited inventory is allocated in a disciplined, transparent, and commercially sound manner.
The role balances analytical rigor, operational execution, and stakeholder decision?making, and is accountable for ensuring allocations protect strategic customers while minimizing downstream operational risk and organizational friction. Core Responsibilities
Allocation Governance & Decision Support
Act as the designated owner for allocation execution per established RACI and governing principles.
Evaluate allocation requests initiated by Sales or Customer Supply Chain when demand exceeds supply
Develop data?backed allocation recommendations for leadership decision (IDP leadership, CSC leadership, or escalation to USLT when required)
Ensure allocations are used sparingly and intentionally, consistent with leadership guidance that allocations should be exception?based, not routine. Analytical Assessment & Scenario Modeling
Analyze demand signals, customer forecasts, inventory positions, production constraints, and distribution center availability to inform allocation decisions
Quantify risks including:
Customer distribution loss
Promotional fill shortfalls
In?stock deterioration
Downstream case?fill impacts
Build and maintain allocation workbooks and scenarios used for decision?making and execution Execution & System Enablement
Oversee accurate and timely entry of allocations into S/4 and supporting systems, partnering closely with Order Management and Customer Service.
Ensure allocation changes, extensions, and customer?specific adjustments are correctly reflected and communicated.
Manage allocation timelines (start, extensions, end dates) to align with production ramps, resets, and promotional windows. Cross-Functional Partnership
Serve as the connective tissue between:
Sales teams advocating for customer needs
Customer Supply Chain managing physical supply constraints
IDP/Customer Planning providing forecast and demand context
Act as a neutral, data?driven integrator when competing customer priorities arise.
Support leadership forums (CDAs, deep dives, pre?reads) by supplying clear allocation insights and implications Process Improvement & Future State Design
Identify root causes driving allocation volume (forecast accuracy, demand spikes, capacity constraints) and partner with teams to reduce future need for allocations.
Contribute to longer?term solutions such as process simplification, automation opportunities, and roadmap alignment with broader Customer Data Integration initiatives.
Support training and enablement on allocation processes, templates, and best practices. Key Skills & Capabilities
Strong analytical and financial acumen (comfort with demand, supply, and scenario tradeoffs)
Ability to operate calmly under pressure with senior stakeholders and urgent customer needs
Deep understanding of customer prioritization, supply chain flows, and execution constraints
Highly organized with strong attention to detail across fast?moving, high?impact decisions
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, especially in escalation scenarios Top Three Technical Skills:
Excel fundamentals (pivot, etc)
Quick learning of new systems Pre-Screening Questions:
Excel fundamentals pre-screening
Experience on pulling data and analyzing to make a recommendation Must Haves (i.e., years of experience?)
5 Years of experience in the industry Software Skills and Purpose (if applicable):
Excel fundamentals Applicant Notices & Disclaimers
For information on benefits, equal opportunity employment, and location-specific applicant notices, click here At SPECTRAFORCE, we are committed to maintaining a workplace that ensures fair compensation and wage transparency in adherence with all applicable state and local laws. This position's starting pay is: $43.33/hr.
