Demand Planner

Job Description

A collective energy and ambition. A place where you can make a real difference.

We’re a company that genuinely cares about our people, our products, our consumers and the environment.

Our unique, informal culture champions courage, determination and collaboration. Knowing we have an open and supportive team means each of us has the freedom to take responsibility and ownership.

We have a shared passion to work hard, innovate and push boundaries.

United by the belief that when we strive for growth, anything is possible. While we might not be the largest company in our industry, we believe we can have the biggest impact because : Together We Have the Power to Win.

Are you an experienced Demand Planner with an understanding of FMCG? Are you able to maintain forecasting tools and manage data quality to ensure robust predicted demand figures are generated to inform the Sales and Operational planning (S&OP) process?

If the answer is yes - then look no further. Church & Dwight UK Ltd have an exciting opportunity for a Demand Planner to join our team based in Folkestone, Kent on a fixed-term contract , with up to 50% of the time working from home.

Your role will be to assist the GMG (Global Markets Group) Commerical Team to develop sales forecast for all products. You will maintain the Manugistics system and continuously improve forecast accuracy.

Working with a cross-functional team you will make recommendations and ensure that inventory & customer service risks as well as business growth opportunities are highlighted via S&OP so that appropriate business decisions are made.

Your role will work closely with the supply chain function, commercial teams and work with international counterparts to ensure best practice and accountability of demand plans for the allocated business area.

Additional Responsibilities include :

To maintain a rolling 12 18 month consensus demand plan and gaining full alignment with Key Stakeholders. Influence and hold key partners in Brand, Sales and Finance accountable for consistent forecast inputs and address input gaps.

Identify and work to reconcile discrepancies and close gaps on an ongoing basis through comprehensive forecast error reviews.

• To support decision-making considering risks and opportunities by presenting alternative scenarios and assessment of risk and opportunities around the demand plan, and align with commercial team on the consensus
• To support business understanding of volume forecasts and business performance through comprehensive analytics, including drivers of forecast changes and actual shipment variances to forecast.

Must partner with key Supply Chain functions

To communicate monthly forecast error results & KPI’s versus established targets and identify and report on root cause for error above targets.

Work to continuously improve all metrics and reporting processes.

• To integrate with Supply Chain teams proactively in managing tradeoff between inventory levels and service levels for GMG region via the monthly S&OP processes
• Responsible for launch forecasts for New Product Introductions to ensure initial purchases are not either excessive or inadequate.

Provide relevant guidance for new product development, SKU rationalization, remnant inventory avoidance, and overall supply chain complexity optimization

• Responsible for Root Cause Analysis and providing information to the wider business around insight and reasons for changes to the Demand Plan.
• To continuously improve forecast accuracy using best statistical data and regular communication with the commercial teams and their distributors.

The successful candidate will have :

• Educated to Degree level or equivalent
• Previous experience of working as a Demand Planner
• Experience of SAP, Manugistics and / or appropriate Demand Planning tools
• Previous experience of managing large SKU portfolios
• Excellent communication skills internal & external; written, verbal & presentation
• A high level of attention to detail and extremely results oriented
• Be a critical and strategic thinker always looking for opportunities to improve.
• Good knowledge of MS Office particularly Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint
• A background in FMCG would be an advantage.

In return we offer a competitive package, including 24 days annual leave, a pension matched up to 9%, discretionary annual bonus, life assurance cover and membership of a health cash plan.