Category Demand Planner

Sainsbury's; London; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a forward-thinking company as a Demand Planner, where you'll play a pivotal role in ensuring optimal product availability and driving sales growth. Your expertise in demand planning and inventory management will be crucial in developing effective strategies that enhance customer satisfaction and profitability. This role offers the opportunity to work collaboratively with various stakeholders, utilizing data analytics to solve complex challenges and improve operational efficiencies. If you're passionate about making a tangible impact in a dynamic retail environment, this position is perfect for you.

Qualifications

• 3-5 years of experience in demand planning or inventory management.
• Deep understanding of supply chain dynamics and distribution strategies.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure product availability.
• Analyze data and market trends to optimize supply chain systems.

Skills

Demand Planning

Inventory Management

Data Analytics

Stakeholder Management

Customer Focus

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Tools

SAP

Oracle

JDA

Blue Yonder

Job description

In a nutshell:

As a Demand Planner, you will play a crucial role in ensuring market-leading product availability, driving sales growth, and optimizing our inventory levels and cost to serve. You will analyze 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 optimization: Use data analytics, market trends, performance metrics, and customer behavior insights to solve complex problems, ensure data integrity, and optimize 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, positively impacting both top line and Cost to Serve.
• Long-Term Planning: Drive long-term supply planning with a horizon beyond one year, considering both company ambitions and market challenges to ensure supply security and resilience.

What I need to know:

Essential

• Experience: Minimum of 3-5 years 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 forecasting methods and tools in FMCG industry.
• Technical & analytical skills: Experience with complex analytics, data interrogation, and root cause analysis to solve complex problems and optimize demand planning software (e.g., SAP, Oracle, JDA, Blue Yonder).
• Customer-centric mindset: Ability to apply a customer focus across all KPIs and decision-making processes.
• Continuous improvement: Demonstrates end-to-end thinking to improve processes and KPIs, delivering efficiencies and P&L improvements.
• Stakeholder management and collaboration: Ability to develop strong business relationships, manage stakeholders, and communicate effectively across levels. Ability to tell stories and provide clear answers.
• Business acumen: Strong commercial understanding of the market and Sainsbury’s ambitions and challenges.

Desirable

• Adaptability: Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with a flexible approach to changing priorities.

What I need to show:

Own it

• Deliver tasks and take ownership of problems you identify.
• Share your thoughts and challenge others constructively.
• Use business context and information to make decisions.
• Review goals regularly with your line manager.

Make it better

• Be open-minded and seek simpler, more effective ways of working.
• Respond positively to change and show curiosity about the business.
• Seek feedback and understand your strengths and areas for development.
• Provide fair and accurate feedback to others.

Be human

• Ask questions to understand others’ perspectives and show respect and care.
• Listen actively and ask questions to build relationships.
• Gather customer feedback and use insights to improve the customer experience.