Lead Demand Planner

Demand, Supply Chain, Strategy, Planning, Customer, Insight

We are looking for a Demand Planning Lead / Demand Planner (Demand Planning Manager/ Demand strategy lead) to join an exciting award winning growth start-up within the Food and Beverage sector

In this role you will lead the demand planning function to improve forecast accuracy and customer collaboration.

Working with a team who passionately care about the brand and maintaining exceptionally high standards at all touch points of the business. We’re interested in people who want to spearhead a revolution in the industry with us, who are curious, entrepreneurial, commercial and restless to make magic happen.

Our story is not only exciting but is revolutionising the wider customer perception and market penetration of our product within our sector both nationally and globally.

A day in the life in this role would start by ensuring our demand planning team process all customer orders to ensure that our stock is dispatched from our 3^rd party logistics (3PL).

You’ll be working closely with our fabulous internal sales team to understand how they’re selling to new customers, then talking to those customers to set up their onboarding.  You’ll be using your relationship building skills every day.  In the afternoon you could be meeting with our innovation teams to bring new packs to life, working closely with our supply planning team to ensure there is enough stock in the right place at the right time.

Later in the day is a chance to review KPI’s with forecast accuracy and use your stock in trade analysis and insights from customer data to propose changes to the forecast.   This is followed up by discussions with key customers to collaborate on promotions and KPI improvements.

Key Responsibilities:  

We are looking for a Team Leader or someone with the passion for developing their leadership skills. Currently there will be one other team member and this will expect to expand as the business continues to develop and grow. Together you will have responsibility for strategic development and execution of our demand planning strategy and the customer collaboration strategy.

• Build a demand planning function (data, systems and processes) that creates the environment for us to grow Manage the team (1 person currently) of Demand Planners through engaging leadership; inclusive, open style of coaching, supporting and leading by example.  
• Collaborate with our key customers on major promotions and store opportunities, and internal stakeholders to ensure we deliver projects on time.
• Create insights from customer data, for example EPOS (Electronic Point of Sales data) and depot & store stock levels.
• Provide input/expertise to support sales opportunities instore and delighting shoppers.
• Monitor our KPIs such as On Time in Full %, Forecast Accuracy, On Shelf Availability, Stock In Trade, Cost of Goods Sold, and ensuring we mitigate any risks of SLOB (Slow Moving and Obsolete stocks).

 Who you are:

• An inquisitive, engaging and relationship led professional with a passion to support the success of a market leading and innovative beverage product/brand and be part of a collaborative team that is relentlessly focussed on customer satisfaction and quality.
• Able to lead the demand planning strategy, working with a wide range of customers, in FMCG (preferably with some experience of F&B/ Food & Drink/ Food & beverage)
• Familiarity with supply chain best practices, and good experience with customer collaboration with key/Major retailers (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, M&S, Waitrose etc).
• Systems awareness beneficial using Microsoft Business Central, EDI, customer data portals etc.
• A passion for great customer service; we want to delight our customers!
• Demonstrate great ownership – be an excellent communicator, translating the world of boxes and lorries into service that delights our customers.  
• Be a natural relationship builder -  you’re the eyes and ears of our customers internally; you must bring their priorities and journeys into the company.
• Be tenacious – have an eye for detail, and the ability to multi task and manage moving deadlines/priorities
• A natural problem solver, with a collaborative approach.
• Super organized and methodical in your approach
• Strong influencing skills

What’s in it for you

• Amaing opportunity to work in an innovative growth start up
• Competitive salary and strong career growth opportunity
• Annual bonus based on company and individual performance
• Health, Life, pension, Share options , 25 days holiday plus BH and lots more