Demand and Inventory Planner

Saudi Arabian Drug Store Company; Jeddah; On-site; SAR 380,000 - 680,000; Full time

Job summary

Saudi Arabian Drug Store Company (SADSCO) is seeking a Head of Demand & Supply Planning to own the end-to-end planning engine. You will unify demand forecasting, supplier management, inventory control, and government/tender fulfilment under one leader.

You will roll the forecast, lead S&OP cycles, convert demand into a feasible supply plan and manage international principals. The role requires strong Excel and ERP planning capabilities and prior leadership experience.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy, Supply Chain, Engineering, Business or a related discipline.
• Minimum 5 years in demand planning, supply planning or supply chain, including at least 3 years leading a planning team or function.
• Proven S&OP/IBP cycle ownership as process owner or chair.
• Experience building rolling forecasts with measurable accuracy improvements.
• Direct experience managing international suppliers or principals and lead times.
• Excel and ERP planning experience (SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics or equivalent).

Responsibilities

• Own rolling demand forecast at SKU, channel and customer-group level with monthly refresh.
• Chair monthly S&OP cycle end-to-end and drive consensus plans across functions.
• Translate demand plan into constrained supply plan and flag feasibility issues.
• Own forecast accuracy and bias KPI reporting by channel.
• Model demand scenarios and assess stock and cash implications.
• Manage supplier relationships: terms, lead times, allocations, and escalations.
• Develop supplier scorecards and review performance with principals.

Skills

Advanced Excel

English proficiency

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy, Supply Chain, Engineering, Business or related

Tools

SAP

Oracle

Microsoft Dynamics

Job description

• SADSCO is appointing a Head of Demand & Supply Planning to own the end‑to‑end planning engine that converts commercial ambition into secured, saleable stock.
• The role is a Demand & Planning Manager position, consolidating demand forecasting, supplier and principal management, inventory and expiry control, and government/tender fulfilment under a single accountable leader.

Key Responsibilities

Rolling Forecast & S&OP Ownership

• Own a rolling demand forecast at SKU, channel and customer-group level, refreshed monthly with a locked short‑horizon window and an unconstrained long‑horizon view for principle capacity booking.
• Chair the monthly Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) cycle end‑to‑end: data refresh, statistical baseline, demand review with Sales and Marketing, supply review with Procurement and Warehouse, pre‑S&OP reconciliation, and executive S&OP with the Head of Commercial.
• Produce a single consensus demand plan that Sales, Marketing, Finance and Supply Chain are jointly aligned
• Build and maintain the statistical forecasting baseline (seasonality, trend, promotional and tender uplift, new‑launch curves, cannibalization) and apply structured commercial judgement on top of it.
• Own forecast accuracy and forecast bias as published KPIs by channel and by planner; run monthly bias reviews and drive root‑cause correction where a channel persistently over‑ or under‑calls.
• Model demand scenarios; base, upside and downside, for budget cycles, new product introductions, tender awards and principal negotiations, and quantify the stock and cash implications of each.
• Translate the agreed demand plan into a constrained supply plan, explicitly flagging where principle capacity, lead time or registration status makes the commercial target undeliverable.
• Act as the primary planning‑side owner of the relationship with international principals and suppliers: forecast submission, purchase order placement, order confirmation, production slot booking and shipment follow‑through.
• Negotiate and then enforce commercial supply terms, lead times, minimum order quantities, order frequency, allocation in constrained periods, minimum remaining shelf life at dispatch, and returns or expiry‑share provisions.
• Build and run a formal supplier scorecard covering On‑Time‑In‑Full delivery, order fill rate, lead‑time reliability and variability, documentation accuracy, and shelf‑life compliance; review performance formally with each principal on a defined cadence.
• Escalate and resolve supply disruption, allocation, batch failure, shipping delay, port or customs hold with a defined escalation ladder and a documented recovery plan communicated to Commercial within agreed response times.
• Provide principals with the forecast quality and consumption visibility they require to reserve capacity for SADSCO, strengthening SADSCO’s standing as partner of choice versus competing distributors in their network.
• Support Business Development on supply‑side due diligence for new principals, in‑licensing and MAH candidates: manufacturing capability, capacity, lead‑time realism, quality track record and continuity‑of‑supply risk.
• Maintain a supplier risk register with single‑source dependencies, geographic and geopolitical exposure, and defined mitigation or dual‑sourcing options for critical SKUs.

Inventory, Expiry & Working Capital

• Set and govern inventory policy: target days of stock cover, safety stock levels, and reorder parameters differentiated by SKU criticality, demand variability, lead time and shelf life.
• Own the inventory investment position against approved targets and report monthly on stock value, cover, ageing and composition to the Head of Commercial and Finance.
• Drive down expiry write‑offs through early short‑dated stock identification, structured monthly slow‑mover and near‑expiry review, and coordinated commercial disposition plans with Sales and Marketing.
• Eliminate avoidable stock‑outs on priority brands and maintain product availability and service level as headline KPIs of the function.
• Balance service against cash: improve availability without unmanaged growth in inventory value, and make the trade‑off explicit and quantified whenever the two conflict.
• Govern new product introduction and product discontinuation planning, launch quantities, phase‑in/phase‑out, and run‑down of superseded packs to avoid both launch stock‑outs and terminal obsolescence.
• Plan and secure supply against government and institutional demand across NUPCO, Etimad, NGHA and Wasfaty channels, in coordination with the Tender and Business Development teams.
• Convert tender pipeline and award probability into a supply commitment plan, including pre‑award stock positioning where the risk‑reward case is justified and approved.
• Guarantee delivery schedule compliance against awarded contracts, protecting SADSCO from penalty exposure, delivery failure and supplier performance downgrades in government scoring.
• Align batch availability, shelf‑life‑at‑delivery requirements and registration/pricing status with tender specifications before commitment, in coordination with Regulatory Affairs.
• Provide the Tender team with reliable landed‑cost, lead‑time and availability inputs at bid stage so that pricing decisions are made on a defensible supply basis.

Leadership, Systems & Governance

• Lead, structure and develop the planning team; define roles, set individual KPIs, and build forecasting and supplier‑management capability within the function.
• Own the planning system landscape, ERP master data integrity, planning parameters, and the business case and rollout of advanced planning or forecasting tooling where justified.
• Establish the planning performance dashboard: forecast accuracy and bias, service level, days of cover, supplier OTIF, expiry exposure and stock‑out incidence, published monthly.
• Partner with Finance on demand‑driven cash and landed‑cost planning, and with Regulatory Affairs on registration timelines that gate supply.
• Represent planning in commercial and executive forums with clear, decision‑ready positions rather than status reporting.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy, Supply Chain, Engineering, Business or a related discipline.
• Minimum 5 years in demand planning, supply planning or supply chain within pharmaceuticals, medical devices, healthcare or FMCG‑healthcare, including at least 3 years leading a planning team or function.
• Demonstrated ownership of a formal S&OP or IBP cycle as process owner or chair, not solely as a contributor.
• Proven track record building and running rolling forecasts, with evidence of measurable forecast accuracy improvement.
• Direct experience managing international suppliers or principals — purchase orders, lead times, allocation, service‑level negotiation and escalation.
• Strong command of inventory management economics: safety stock, cover targets, expiry and obsolescence control, and the service‑versus‑cash trade‑off.
• Advanced Excel and hands‑on ERP planning experience (SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics or equivalent).
• Ability to challenge senior commercial stakeholders with evidence and hold a position under pressure.
• Professional working proficiency in English; Arabic strongly preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in the Saudi pharmaceutical market with a distributor, agent or MAH.
• Working knowledge of SFDA registration, batch release and pricing processes as they constrain supply.
• Practical experience with NUPCO, Etimad, Wasfaty or NGHA supply and delivery obligations.
• APICS CPIM/CSCP, IBF CPF or equivalent professional certification.
• Experience implementing an advanced planning or statistical forecasting system.