Category Demand Planner

Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd; London; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading retailer is seeking a Demand Planner who will play a key role in ensuring product availability and driving sales growth at their London Store Support Centre. This role emphasizes data analytics, cross-functional collaboration, and a customer-centric approach to optimize inventory levels and service delivery. Candidates should have 3-5 years of experience in demand planning, with a solid understanding of supply chain dynamics. An attractive range of benefits is offered, including performance-linked bonuses and a competitive salary.

Benefits

10% colleague discount

Pensions scheme and life cover

Annual holiday allowance

Employee assistance programme

Qualifications

• Experience in demand planning, inventory management within retail.
• Strong knowledge of FMCG forecasting methods.
• Ability to analyze data and solve complex problems.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate cross-functionally with commercial teams.
• Enhance supplier partnerships and drive performance.
• Develop strategies for demand planning and inventory.

Skills

Data optimisation

Stakeholder management

Continuous improvement

Adaptability

Customer centric mindset

Education

3-5 years in demand planning

Supply Chain knowledge

Tools

SAP

Oracle

Job description

Salary: Competitive Plus Benefits
Location: London Store Support Centre and Home, London, EC1M 6HA
Contract type: Permanent
Business area: Logistics
Closing date: 27 June 2025
Requisition ID: 287525

We’d all like amazing work to do, and real work/life balance. That’s waiting for you right here. Supply Chain and Logistics are the engine room for getting thousands of products from farms and factories, through the business and to our millions of customers every day. We plan around events from barbecue weekends to Sunday roasts, and who wants oven-ready cauliflower cheese to those who prefer to make it from scratch. Insight and data are everything. But so is judgement — if there’s an issue or ambiguity anywhere, we’re the first to spot it. There’s a big transformation going on. That calls for people who champion change, bring others with them, collaborate and communicate. Because those people can go a very long way.

In a nutshell:

As a Demand Planner, you will play a crucial role in ensuring market leading product availability, driving sales growth, and optimising our inventory levels and cost to serve. In this role, you will analyse and validate demand forecasts and collaborate with various stakeholders to develop and execute effective demand planning strategies. Your role is key in maintaining our commitment to customer obsession, ensuring that we continue to deliver exceptional service and value to our customers. Your efforts will directly contribute to enhancing our bottom line, making a tangible impact on our profitability and overall business performance.

What I am accountable for:

• Cross functional collaboration: Build and sustain strong relationships with commercial teams, including Buyers, Range Planners, Technical, and Product Development. Hold stakeholders accountable to ensure process compliance, balancing product availability and P&L performance.
• Supplier Partnerships:Proactively drive the supplier agenda by fostering trust-based strategic partnerships and developing joint business plans. Focus on enhancing network operations, optimizing stock holding, improving working capital, and achieving supplier targets.
• Data optimisation:Use data analytics, market trends, performance metrics, and customer behaviour insights to solve complex problems, ensure data integrity and optimise supply chain systems for exceptional customer availability.
• Customer Focus:Apply a customer lens across all KPIs, perform root cause analysis at various levels and develop action plans that add value to both the bottom line and customer satisfaction (CSAT).
• Category Management:Ensure comprehensive management over category profiles, validate and communicate the impacts of future events and seasonal trade patterns to ensure success for both suppliers and retail teams.
• Risk Management:Anticipate and identify potential risks, proactively develop and implement contingency plans, and evaluate risks within the broader strategic planning context.
• Continuous Improvement: Apply a continuous improvement mindset to create and lead initiatives for your product portfolio that generate improvements in service or drive efficiencies and have a positive impact to both top line and Cost to Serve.
• Long-Term Planning:Drive long-term supply planning with a horizon beyond one year and consider both company ambitions and market challenges to ensure supply surety and resilience.

What I need to know:

• Experience: Minimum of 3-5 years of experience in demand planning, inventory management, or a related role within the retail industry.
• Supply Chain knowledge:Deep understanding of supply chain dynamics, inventory management, and distribution strategies specific to the sector. Strong knowledge of best-in-class commercial forecasting methods and tools in FMCG industry.
• Technical & analytical skills:Experience using complex analytics, data interrogation and root cause analysis to solve complex problems and drive better outputs from demand planning software (e.g., SAP, Oracle, JDA, Blue Yonder).
• Customer centric mindset:Ability to apply a customer focus across all KPIs and in decision making.
• Continuous improvement:Demonstrates end to end thinking to drive performance improvement in both processes and across all KPIs, delivering efficiencies and improvements to the P&L.
• Stakeholder management and collaboration:Ability to develop strong business partnering relationships, stakeholder management, and cross-functional working at all levels. Ability to tell stories and provide answers to ensure effective communication.
• Business Acumen:Strong business and commercial acumen with an understanding of the market context as well as Sainsbury’s ambitions and challenges.
• Adaptability: Ability to thrive in a fast-paced and dynamic environment, with an initiative-taking and flexible approach to changing priorities.

What I need to show:

Own it

• Deliver a wide range of tasks, and take ownership for solving problems that you identify
• Actively share your thoughts and are prepared to challenge others in a positive way
• Use business context and other information sources to make decisions
• Regularly review your goals with your line manager

Make it better

• Open minded and try new ways of doing things, making things simpler where possible
• Adaptable and respond positively when circumstances change
• Show curiosity about the business beyond your immediate role
• Seek feedback from those you work with and understand your strengths and development areas
• Provide regular fair and accurate feedback to others
• Ask questions to understand where others are coming from. Show care and respect for how others are feeling and provide support to those around you
• Listen and ask questions about the needs and motivations of others to build effective relationships
• Regularly gather customer feedback and use this insight to continuously improve the customer experience

#LI-MS1

We are committed to being a truly inclusive retailer so you’ll be welcomed whoever you are and wherever you work. Around here, there’s always the chance to try something new — whether that’s as part of an evolving team or somewhere else across the business - and we take development seriously and promise to support you. We also recognise and celebrate colleagues when they go the extra mile and, where possible, offer flexible working. When you join our team, we’ll also offer you an amazing range of benefits. Here are some of them:

Starting off with colleague discount, you'll be able to save 10% on your shopping online and instore at Sainsbury's, Argos, TU and Habitat, and we regularly increase the discount to 15% at points during the year. We've also got you covered for your future with our pensions scheme and life cover. You'll also be able to share in our success as you may be eligible for a performance-related bonus of up to 10% of salary, depending on how we perform.

Your wellbeing is important to us too. You'll receive an annual holiday allowance and you can buy up to an additional week's holiday. We also offer other benefits that will help your money go further such as season ticket loans, cycle to work scheme, health cash plans, salary advance (where you can access some of your pay before pay day) as well access to a great range of discounts from hundreds of other retailers. And if you ever need it there is also an employee assistance programme.

Moments that matter are as important to us as they are to you which is why we give up to 26 weeks’ pay for maternity or adoption leave and up to 4 weeks’ pay for paternity leave.

Please see www.sainsburys.jobs for a range of our benefits (note, length of service and eligibility criteria may apply).