[Hiring] Senior Category Manager @Digi International

Role Description

Digi International is looking for a Senior Category Manager. This role owns Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) for the MSBU business, balancing demand and supply to keep products available while managing CM finished-goods liability, inventory turns, and cash flow. Partnering closely with Product Management, Sales, Supply Chain, and Finance, this role builds the demand plan, drives the supply plan and CM ordering, and reports results to executive leadership each month.

What You Will Do

• S&OP & Demand Planning:
  • Own and lead the S&OP process, partnering with Product Management and Sales to build, validate, and continuously refine the demand plan.
  • Own the weekly sales forecast cadence and the BU-to-Supply review calls, driving alignment and decisions to closure.
• Supply Planning & Inventory:
  • Own the supply plan, translating demand into an executable plan that ensures availability while managing risk.
  • Set and manage safety stock and other supply-assurance mechanisms to protect availability against demand variability and disruption.
  • Own planning parameters in NetSuite (safety stock, lead times, MOQs, lot sizes), keeping them current.
  • Run scenario/what-if planning to model capacity constraints and demand upside/downside risk.
• Finished Goods & CM Management:
  • Drive finished-goods ordering with CMs, balancing service levels against inventory liability, and monitor forecasts to keep liability in check.
  • Plan and track MP (manufacturing plan) builds through delivery.
  • Manage CM/supplier performance — on-time delivery, quality, lead times — via a performance scorecard.
  • Partner with Sourcing/Procurement to drive lead-time reduction and improve supply responsiveness.
• Risk & New Product Introduction:
  • Partner with Supply Chain on component/part risk and obsolescence management, including EOL monitoring, single-source supplier risk, and last-time-buy decisions.
  • Lead demand and supply planning for new product introductions (NPI), managing the ramp from pilot to volume production.
• Financial Partnership & Reporting:
  • Represent MSBU in cross-functional efforts to eliminate purchase price variance (PPV).
  • Partner with Supply Chain and Finance to meet inventory turn and cash flow goals.
  • Own monthly executive reporting on demand/supply status, inventory liability, turns, cash flow, and PPV.
• Tools & Systems:
  • NetSuite application experience
  • Excel, including advanced functions/modeling (required)
  • PowerBI
  • AI Tools (Claude/ChatGPT/Copilot)
  • Netstock / Smoothie (formerly Demand Works Smoothie) — a plus

Success Metrics

• Forecast accuracy and forecast bias (consistent over- or under-forecasting)
• Order fill rate / backorder rate
• Supply availability / service level against demand
• Finished goods liability at CMs (kept within target thresholds)
• Purchase price variance (PPV) trend
• On-time tracking/delivery of MP builds
• CM/supplier on-time delivery and quality performance
• Inventory turns vs. target
• Cash flow / working capital impact of inventory

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Operations, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• Experience in supply chain planning, demand planning, or S&OP, ideally in a contract manufacturing (CM) environment.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate data into actionable planning decisions.
• Comfortable owning a process end-to-end and driving cross-functional alignment across Product Management, Sales, and Operations.
• Strong communication skills; able to represent the business unit in cross-functional and CM-facing discussions.
• APICS CPIM or CSCP certification preferred.
• Willingness to travel periodically for contract manufacturer (CM) site visits.
• Awareness of and ability to support export control (EAR) and conflict minerals reporting requirements as they relate to planning decisions.

Benefits

• Distinctive Total Rewards package including a short-term incentive program
• New hire stock award
• Paid parental leave
• Open (uncapped) PTO
• Hybrid work environment
• Competitive medical, health & wellbeing and compensation offerings