Demand Planner

Arco Limited; Hull and East Yorkshire; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

32 days holiday

Additional 5 days leave

Volunteer days

Pension up to 8%

Life Assurance

Perkbox discounts

Employee discount

Employee Assistance Programme

Health Cash Plan

Learning & development

Long service awards

Job summary

Arco Limited in Hull is seeking an experienced Demand Planner to optimise stock availability across around 2,500 SKUs and coordinate with approx 100 vendors. You'll manage a 12-month rolling plan to sustain service levels and support Arco's leadership in safety products.

The role is hybrid, combining 2–3 days home working with time at head office. You will use forecast and supply tools to build robust demand forecasts, analyse trends and collaborate with suppliers and internal teams to drive

Qualifications

• Experience in demand planning and supply chain management.
• Ability to develop forecasts using statistical methods and market intelligence.
• Experience managing large SKU portfolios and coordinating with multiple sites/suppliers.
• Strong communication skills and commercial awareness.

Responsibilities

• Develop robust demand and supply plans for own products using forecast tools.
• Create and maintain a rolling demand forecast at multiple aggregation levels.
• Analyse historical sales trends and variances; adjust forecast models accordingly.
• Liaise with key stakeholders to monitor new product introductions and reformulations.
• Optimise inventory to meet budget targets while preserving customer service standards.
• Create and manage rolling supplier forecast; assess vendor supply against forecast.

Skills

Supply chain

Forecasting

Data analysis

Large data sets

Multi-site experience

UK/Global supply

Interpersonal skills

Commercial awareness

MS Excel

Tools

Excel

PowerPoint

Word

Job description

About The Role

Are you an experienced Demand Planner who is a true expert in your field, with the capability to utilise market intelligence to optimise stock availability and the inventory profile for a large range of products? In this Demand Planner role, you’ll be recognised as an expert within our business, shaping the flow of around 2,500 SKUs sourced from approximately 100 diverse vendors who you’ll foster excellent relationships with. Your product portfolio will deliver circa £70m of annual revenue, and you'll be working on a 12-month rolling plan to ensure exceptional levels of service are delivered consistently, ensuring Arco maintain our position as the UK’s leading health and safety experts! The Demand Planner role is a hybrid position, with a mix of 2/3 days working from home and our Head Office in Hull. Key responsibilities:

• Using and maintaining the Arco forecast and supply tools to ensure their optimal usage to develop robust demand and supply plans for own products to feed the overall plan
• Developing a demand forecast for respective categories and customers at both a detailed level and multiple levels of aggregation
• Ensuring demand forecasts are informed by statistical forecasts, historical sales trends and business, brand and category insight, ensuring the forecast is robust and reflective of latest market intelligence
• Analysing and evaluating historical sales trends and utilise a collaborative approach to reconcile forecast variances and refine forecast models to reflect assumptions to drive improved accuracy of forecasts.
• Liaising with key stakeholders to monitor NPI forecast and assumptions reflecting changes where required and ensure the smooth introduction and exit of products
• Optimising inventory to achieve budget targets, whilst maintaining customer service
• Creating and managing a rolling supplier forecast taking into consideration the sales forecast and understand impact of vendor’s ability to supply against the forecast
• Sharing risks and/or applying adjustments to the demand or supply plan, performing what if scenarios to resolve Demand/Supply imbalances
• Co-ordinating the resolution to demand/supply imbalances with supply chain, category management, sales and operations
• Collaborating with key suppliers to drive improvements to supplier performance to deliver best in class service
• Building relationships with key functions (sales, category and supply chain) to become a recognised expert demonstrating solution focussed customer centric behaviours

On top of working for the UK’s leading integrated health and safety experts, you’ll also receive:

• A competitive starting salary plus bonus
• 32 days holiday inclusive of bank holidays
• Opportunity to purchase 5 additional days annual leave each calendar year (subject to qualifying salary)
• 2 fully paid Community Volunteering days every year
• An excellent pension (up to 8% Arco contribution) and x4 Life Assurance scheme
• A huge range of discounts to help with cost of living via Perkbox plus Employee Discount on Arco products
• Free, 24-hour access to our Employee Assistance Programme
• Health Cash Plan where we'll reimburse up to 100% of everyday healthcare costs
• Access to our Learning Management System, to support your personal and career development
• Long-term service awards – we’re proud to have employees who have worked for us for 40 years

The ideal Demand Planner will be/have:

• Excellent knowledge of supply chain processes and systems
• Good knowledge of inventory management and forecasting principles & logic
• Comfortable working with and analysing large data sets
• Large volume sku management within a distribution environment
• Experience of working within a multi-site business environment and Supply Planning to support both a B2B and B2C customer environments
• Good understanding of UK domestic, European and Rest of World Supply Chains
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Commercial awareness and market trends
• Proficient in Microsoft Office tools (Excel, Word, PowerPoint)

About Us

With a proud 140-year legacy, you’ll be part of something special when you join the UK’s leading safety experts. As the only integrated safety products and services business, Arco’s size, scale and reputation are why we have such an impressive portfolio of satisfied customers.

It’s an exciting time for us, and whatever your role, you’ll play a part in Arco’s journey to become more profitable and sustainable. To drive a performance culture, we consistently invest in our people to ensure we push for shared success. We respect and value everyone’s unique skills, experience and ideas so you’ll have ample opportunity to help shape our future growth and be rewarded for delivering against our targets.

At Arco, inclusion means ensuring everyone feels valued, respected and able to be their best. We celebrate the unique skills, experiences and perspectives each colleague brings, and we’re committed to creating a supportive environment where everyone can thrive. As part of our journey to everyday inclusion, we recognise that individual needs may vary. If you require any reasonable adjustments or additional support during the recruitment process, please let us know. Be Safe, Be Yourself, Be Your Best.