Hybrid Demand Planning Manager | AI-Driven FMCG Forecasting

Dash Water; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

25 days holiday a year

Discretionary bonus

Share option scheme (after 1 year)

Subsidised public transport

Headspace and Classpass subscriptions

Free breakfast in the office

Job summary

DASH Water is hiring a Demand Planning Manager to lead the monthly forecast across all channels, enabling production, inventory and cash planning around a single trusted number. You will blend statistical forecasting with input from Sales, Brand and Finance, partnering with Supply Planning and FP&A, and you will use AI, Power BI and Excel to extract insights.

This role offers hybrid working (3 days in the office), a discretionary bonus and a suite of benefits including 25 days holiday and

Qualifications

• Experience within food and beverage FMCG demand planning and forecasting, ideally at manager or senior specialist level.
• Strong statistical/analytical forecasting ability, comfortable building baseline forecasts from imperfect data.
• Highly numerate and proficient in using Excel to manage forecasting, reporting and analysis; experience with a demand planning or ERP system (e.g. SAP APO/IBP, NetSuite) is an advantage.
• Confident managing conflicting interests, negotiating and working with internal and external stakeholders (Sales, Marketing, Finance, Supply Planning) to align everyone around one forecast number.
• Experience partnering with Finance/FP&A on revenue forecasting and budgeting cycles.
• Understands what information people require, providing accurate, clear and timely reports and forecasts to meet the agreed expectations of all stakeholders.
• Copes effectively with change, making informed decisions on the information available, and comfortable handling the attendant risk and uncertainty.
• Experience of working with stock and accounting systems (Unleashed and Xero preferred).
• Interest in sustainability within FMCG and an ability to evaluate the environmental impact of decisions made in the context of DASH's supply chain.
• AI proficiency preferred (Claude)

Responsibilities

• Lead the timely generation of DASH's demand plan: build, own and run the tool.
• Work with the sales, brand and finance teams to develop long (12-36 month) and short (0-12 month) range forecasts utilis ing historical data, market trends, and sales inputs and range reviews.
• Own the short-term (0-4/0-8 week) forecast, incorporating customer and warehouse level forecasts, promotional planning. Review weekly with the Sales team to keep near-term accuracy as tight as possible.
• Forecast demand by international market and packaging format/pack size, partnering with distributor and local sales teams to build visibility in export markets where sell-through data is limited.
• Monitor and adjust forecasts in response to forecast accuracy, account specific deals, New Product Development (NPD) and shifts in pack and flavour splits.
• Measure forecast accuracy and implement improvements to enhance predictability.

Skills

Statistical forecasting

Excel proficiency

Power BI

Stakeholder management

Forecasting experience

ERP systems knowledge

AI proficiency (Claude)

Education

Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain or related field

Tools

SAP APO/IBP

NetSuite

Unleashed

Xero

Job description

DASH Water is hiring a Demand Planning Manager to lead the monthly forecast across all channels, enabling production, inventory and cash planning around a single trusted number. You will blend statistical forecasting with input from Sales, Brand and Finance, partnering with Supply Planning and FP&A, and you will use AI, Power BI and Excel to extract insights.

This role offers hybrid working (3 days in the office), a discretionary bonus and a suite of benefits including 25 days holiday and