Job Purpose/Overview:
The Demand Planning Manager is responsible for leading the demand planning capability for the business by delivering a robust, data-driven demand forecast that enables superior customer service, optimized inventory, and profitable growth. The role integrates insights from consumption trends, commercial activities, market dynamics, innovation pipelines, and analytics to create a reliable demand signal that drives end-to-end supply chain execution and supports the S&OP process.
As the owner of the Consensus Demand Plan, the role facilitates cross-functional alignment, ensuring a single source of truth for demand across Sales, Marketing, Finance, and Supply Chain. The Demand Planning Manager is accountable for continuously improving forecast accuracy and reducing forecast bias through disciplined assumption management, advanced analytics, and proactive challenge of business inputs. The role plays a critical part in identifying risks and opportunities, enabling informed decision-making and ensuring product availability while minimizing inventory, obsolescence, and waste.
Key Responsibilities:
Lead National Demand Planning & Demand Governance
- Lead Demand Planning Cycle and develop unconstrained demand forecast for 39P rolling using statistical forecasting & building blocks generation. Clear identify the change vs last cycle, Risk and Opportunity area, and gap vs sales plan.
- Own national Forecast Accuracy, Forecast Bias and demand assumptions.
- Integrate demand activities, market trends, NPD launches and external factors into short to long term demand plans.
- Collaboration with distributor to align on the demand plan.
Manage the Forecast Building Block
- Develop and update the FCST Building Block, clearly identify what has changed cycle by cycle including size of price.
- Lead the Pre DMR and DMR to finalise the demand plan and R&Os and lead the process to obtain market sign-off.
Drive Cross-Functional Collaboration & Customer Service Excellence
- Collaborate with Supply Planning and Operations teams to ensure the agreed demand plan is translated into executable production and replenishment plans, enabling on-time and in-full (OTIF) product delivery.
- Partner with Sales, Customer Service, Supply Planning and other key stakeholders to proactively identify and resolve customer and supply challenges, maximizing on-shelf availability and customer satisfaction.
- Influence and align stakeholders across functions to drive business performance and support effective decision-making.
- Monitor, analyse, and communicate key performance indicators (KPIs), ensuring delivery of customer service targets while improving supply chain efficiency.
- Identify risks and opportunities within the demand and supply network, recommending actions to mitigate service disruptions and optimize business outcomes.
Demand Management Under Supply Constraints
- Lead prioritization and allocation decisions during supply shortages.
- Balance service, growth, inventory and profitability considerations.
- Partner with Supply Planning, Sales and Finance to establish mitigation scenarios.
- Drive transparent communication of demand risks and recovery plans.
Item Master Data & Portfolio healthy Analysis
- New products launch and products renovation coordination with cross functional team including Master Data maint.
- Conduct annual portfolio reviews and perform portfolio health analyses to identify optimization opportunities, supporting Marketing and Business Teams in developing a balanced, profitable, and sustainable portfolio strategy.
Job Specifications/Qualifications:
- BSc or BA in supply chain management, or any other business or engineering related degree.
- >8 years of demand management experience for a global MNC FMCG company.
- >5 years of experience in Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP).
- E2E understanding of Supply Chain with experience in Demand Planning, Supply Planning, S&OP, Inventory Management.
- Knowledge of demand forecasting tools like Kinaxis/ AI based tools will be an added advantage.
- Ability to present complex analysis in understandable forms to business stakeholders including the ability to articulate the needs of the business and the customers to supply chain stakeholders.
- Ability to work in a matrix structure.
- Ability to listen to others and link to others ideas.
- Attention to detail and a passion for data accuracy.
- Fluent in English.
