Assistant Planning Manager

Boots Opticians; Nottingham; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading beauty company as a Demand Planner in Nottingham, where you will optimize inventory levels and support business growth through accurate demand forecasts. This permanent role involves extensive collaboration with various teams and offers excellent career development opportunities in the retail and beauty sector.

Benefits

Retirement Savings Plan

Enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption leave pay

Discretionary annual bonus

Generous discount on brands

Flexible benefits scheme

Qualifications

• Proven experience in demand planning, preferably in retail or beauty.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to manage large data sets.
• Experience with demand planning tools and techniques.

Responsibilities

• Generate accurate forecasts using demand planning software.
• Collaborate with internal teams on market intelligence and forecasts.
• Conduct discussions to align Demand Plan with commercial strategies.

Skills

Demand Planning

Data Analysis

Stakeholder Management

Commercial Awareness

Numeracy

Continuous Improvement

Education

Degree

Tools

E2Open's demand planning software

MS Excel

Job description

Job Description

Contract: Permanent

Location: Nottingham

Recruitment Partner: Anastasia Walker

Who we are

No7 Beauty Company is made up of five iconic brands - No7, Liz Earle, Soap & Glory, Botanics and Sleek MakeUP. We believe in creating the best in beauty for everyone - we’re innovators with a passion for challenging perceptions with ground-breaking products, proven results and positive impact. We have built a reputation on scientific innovation, whilst being environmentally sustainable and socially responsible. We are an equal opportunity employer, empowering our team members to be their authentic selves as we share a culture where diversity, equity and inclusion are at the centre of everything we do.

About the role

As a Demand Planner, you will have the opportunity to contribute to the success of No7 Beauty Company brands by ensuring accurate forecasting through demand planning and S&OP processes. This role offers exposure to strategic planning, cross-functional collaboration, and career development within the retail and beauty industry. If you are passionate about demand planning and data-driven decision-making, we’d love to hear from you! This is a permanent role based in Nottingham.

Supply Chain plays a pivotal role in No7 Beauty Company, operating end to end across Planning, Sourcing, Manufacturing and Distribution activities. We work in partnership with multiple internal stakeholders and external partners to ensure the delivery of our brands to both customer and consumers is efficient and on-time.

The Demand Planner plays a critical role in ensuring accurate demand forecasts to optimize inventory levels, support business growth, and maintain high service levels across the UK & EMEA region. Reporting to the UK & EMEA Demand Planning Manager, this role involves analysing sales data, market trends, and customer insights to develop reliable forecasts. You will be analytical, and proactive in identifying opportunities to improve forecast accuracy and wider supply chain efficiency.

Key responsibilities include:

• Generate accurate SKU-level forecasts using E2Open’s demand planning software for UK & EMEA Markets, ensuring forecasts can be viewed in volume and value metrics.
• Manage the Account Review consensus process with Commercial to align the volume Demand Plan with Commercial Plans.
• Ensure the Demand Plan includes all confirmed promotional activities & NPD plans in the short to medium term, as well as longer-term planned assumptions to support the S&OP process.
• Conduct structured discussions with internal customers to collaboratively agree on market intelligence added to the Demand Plan and challenge assumptions where necessary with supporting evidence.
• Evaluate Forecast Accuracy & Forecast Bias KPI trends, identifying opportunities for process improvements and enhanced accuracy.
• Work closely with No7 Beauty Company Supply Planning Team to communicate weekly changes to the Demand Plan effectively and assess the impact.
• Maintain and optimize parameters within the Demand Planning system to enhance forecast control and reliability.
• Collaborate with supply planning teams to ensure stock availability aligns with demand forecasts.
• Assist in planning and forecasting new product launches, (including scenario planning to maximise commercial opportunity) and working with marketing and commercial teams for successful execution.
• Utilize demand planning tools and systems to improve forecasting capabilities and efficiency.
• Identify risks and opportunities in demand fluctuations and provide strategic recommendations to mitigate supply chain disruptions.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives in demand planning systems and processes to enhance long-term forecasting and event management.
• Prepare reports and dashboards to communicate demand trends and performance to key stakeholders, supporting data-driven decision-making.
• Utilize analysis to optimize the portfolio by managing low touch SKUs and driving adoption on statistical modelling.

What you’ll need to have

• Proven experience in demand planning, preferably in the beauty, FMCG, or retail industry.
• Degree educated or equivalent

• Experience of Demand Planning tools and techniques – experience of a CPG environment would also be desirable
• Strong commercial awareness.
• Excellent numeracy skills.
• Advanced user of MS Excel with experience and techniques of managing & analysing large volumes of data.
• Experience of stakeholder management.
• Good understanding of Demand Planning within the context of an S&OP process.
• Committed to continuous improvement.
• Able to collaborate across functions and proficient at building effective partnerships.

• Ability to drive accountability and facilitate difficult conversations to ensure all stakeholders deliver on commitments.

Our benefits

• Retirement Savings Plan
• Enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption leave pay
• Discretionary annual bonus
• Generous discount on our own brands and partner businesses
• Flexible benefits schemeincluding option to buy additional holiday, discounted gym membership, life assurance, activity passes and much more.

We have a great range of benefits in addition to the above that offer flexibility to suit you - go to no7company.jobs/working-here to find out more. Exclusions may apply, eligible roles only. Please note, any salary estimates given on third-party sites are not provided or endorsed by No7 Beauty Company and may not be accurate.

What's next

Where a role is advertised as full-time, we are open to discussing part-time and job share options during the application process. If you require additional support as part of the application and interview process, we are happy to provide reasonable adjustments to help you to be at your best.

We are a Ban the Box employer and will consider the suitability of applicants with criminal convictions on a case-by-case basis.

#LI-Onsite

Business Area

Supply Chain, Support Office

Function

Supply

Specialism

Brand Management, Merchandising, Retail Operations

Keywords

demand, planner

Hours per week

37.5

Latitude,longitude 1

52.927182,-1.183948

Is this a Global Brands req?

No

Airport

No

Company

Non Stores

Division

Non Stores

Should this vacancy be excluded from being posted onto the Boots.jobs career site?

No

Region

East Midlands

Area

East Midlands (non stores)

Store

Nottingham Support Office

Req Posted Date

22-Apr-2025

County

Nottinghamshire

Country

UK

Address 1

Recruitment Service Centre (D94)

Address 2

Thane Road

Address 3

Nottingham