Demand Planning Manager

SF Partners; Wolverhampton; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

SF Partners in Wolverhampton, UK, is seeking a Demand Planning Manager with hands-on RELEX experience to lead end-to-end demand planning across a large SKU portfolio.

You will own forecasts, manage S&OP processes, collaborate with Commercial and Supply teams, optimise inventory, and develop KPI reporting to improve forecast accuracy and service levels.

Qualifications

• Hands-on RELEX experience - essential.
• Experience managing complex, high-volume and multi-SKU product portfolios.
• Experience within an S&OP / IBP environment.
• Strong understanding of inventory management and replenishment.

Responsibilities

• Own and develop the end-to-end demand planning process across the business.
• Produce accurate short, medium and long-term demand forecasts across a large SKU portfolio.
• Analyse historical sales, seasonality and market trends to develop robust forecasts.
• Manage forecasting across multiple products, categories, customers and channels.
• Communicate changes in demand across the supply chain.
• Lead RELEX-based forecasting, planning, and replenishment processes.
• Support S&OP/IBP with consensus demand plans and reporting.

Skills

Demand Forecasting

Forecast Accuracy

Team Leadership

Analytical Thinking

Stakeholder Management

Tools

RELEX

Power BI

ERP systems

Excel

Job description

Key Responsibilities

Demand Planning & Forecasting

Own and develop the end-to-end demand planning process across the business.

• Produce accurate short, medium and long-term demand forecasts across a large and complex SKU portfolio.
• Analyse historical sales, customer demand, seasonality, market trends and promotional activity to develop robust forecasts.
• Manage forecasting across multiple products, categories, customers and channels.
• Continuously monitor and improve forecast accuracy and forecast bias.
• Identify significant changes in demand and ensure these are communicated effectively across the wider supply chain.
• Challenge assumptions and ensure commercial forecasts are supported by appropriate data.
• Manage demand volatility within a fast-moving FMCG environment.
• Ensure demand plans are appropriately translated into supply and inventory requirements.

RELEX

The Demand Planning Manager will act as a key user of RELEX and will be expected to maximise the capability of the system across forecasting, planning and replenishment.

Responsibilities

• Using RELEX to create, analyse and maintain demand forecasts.
• Reviewing system-generated forecasts and applying appropriate commercial intelligence and overrides.
• Managing forecasting parameters and identifying opportunities to improve system performance.
• Analysing exceptions and investigating significant forecast variances.
• Using RELEX data to support inventory and replenishment decisions.
• Improving utilisation of RELEX across the planning function.
• Developing reporting and KPIs from RELEX to provide greater visibility of demand performance.
• Supporting continuous improvement and optimisation of planning processes within the system.
• Coaching and developing team members in effective RELEX usage.

Previous hands-on RELEX experience is essential for this position.

S&OP / IBP

• Play a key role in the monthly Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process.
• Develop and present the consensus demand plan.
• Work closely with Commercial and Sales teams to understand future demand, customer activity and market changes.
• Ensure promotional activity, NPD, customer wins/losses and seasonal demand are incorporated into the forecast.
• Challenge unrealistic commercial assumptions using data and historical performance.
• Highlight potential supply constraints, inventory risks and service implications.
• Provide senior stakeholders with clear analysis around demand changes and business risks.
• Help drive greater cross-functional ownership of forecast accuracy.

Inventory & Availability

Work closely with Supply Planning, Procurement and Operations to ensure demand plans support appropriate inventory levels and product availability.

• Stock availability
• Inventory optimisation
• Safety-stock requirements
• Stock-outs
• Excess inventory
• Slow-moving and obsolete stock
• Working capital
• Service levels
• Promotional stock
• Seasonal inventory
• Product lifecycle management

Promotional & Seasonal Planning

Operating within FMCG, the role will manage significant fluctuations in demand created by promotions, seasonality and changing customer behaviour.

Responsibilities

• Building promotional forecasts.
• Analysing previous promotional performance.
• Working with Commercial teams to understand planned activity.
• Identifying potential demand uplifts and associated supply requirements.
• Measuring promotional forecast accuracy.
• Conducting post-event analysis.
• Applying learnings to future promotional activity.

NPD & Product Lifecycle Management

• Incorporate new product introductions into the demand plan.
• Develop initial forecasts for new products where limited historical data exists.
• Work closely with Commercial, Marketing and Supply Chain teams around product launches.
• Monitor early sales performance against forecast.
• Manage demand implications associated with product transitions and delisting.
• Minimise obsolete inventory when products are discontinued or replaced.
• Ensure appropriate stock is available to support successful product launches.

Team Leadership

Depending on the structure of the business, the Demand Planning Manager will lead and develop a team of Demand Planners / Forecasting Analysts.

• Setting objectives and KPIs.
• Coaching and developing team members.
• Improving analytical and forecasting capability.
• Creating a high-performance planning culture.
• Ensuring consistent planning processes are followed.
• Developing RELEX capability across the team.
• Providing clear ownership and accountability for forecast performance.

Key KPIs

• Forecast accuracy
• Forecast bias
• Customer service / OTIF
• Product availability
• Stock-outs
• Inventory value
• Inventory turns
• Days of inventory
• Excess stock
• Slow-moving and obsolete inventory
• Promotional forecast accuracy
• NPD forecast performance
• Working capital
• RELEX forecast/system performance

Experience Required

The successful candidate will ideally have:

• Significant experience within Demand Planning / Forecasting, ideally at Demand Planning Manager or Senior Demand Planner level.
• A strong background within FMCG, food & beverage, consumer goods, retail, wholesale or another high-volume environment.
• Hands-on RELEX experience - essential.
• Experience managing complex, high-volume and multi-SKU product portfolios.
• Strong understanding of demand forecasting methodologies.
• Experience within an S&OP / IBP environment.
• Strong understanding of inventory management and replenishment.
• Experience managing promotional and seasonal demand.
• Experience forecasting NPD and managing product lifecycles.
• Strong understanding of forecast accuracy and bias.
• Experience working closely with Commercial and Sales teams.
• Advanced analytical and Excel capability.
• Strong ERP / planning systems experience.
• Power BI or similar reporting experience would be advantageous.
• Previous team leadership experience is highly desirable.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will be an experienced FMCG Demand Planning Manager who combines strong analytical capability with the commercial awareness required to operate in a fast-moving consumer environment.

You will be comfortable challenging Sales and Commercial stakeholders, using data to influence decisions and translating large volumes of information into a clear and actionable demand plan.

Crucially, you will have proven hands-on RELEX experience and understand how to use the system to improve forecasting, replenishment, inventory and planning performance.

We are particularly interested in candidates who can demonstrate measurable improvements such as:

• Increasing forecast accuracy
• Reducing forecast bias
• Improving product availability / OTIF
• Reducing stock-outs
• Reducing excess and obsolete inventory
• Releasing working capital
• Improving inventory turns
• Improving promotional forecast accuracy
• Successfully implementing or optimising RELEX
• Developing a more effective S&OP process