Sr. Demand Planner

Royal Canin West-Europe serves 6 markets (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) and focuses on two Demand Pillars: Pet Professionals and Pet Specialty Retailers.

In the Planning team, there is a vacancy for Senior Demand Planner for the BNL markets, who directly reports to the West-Europe Planning Manager.

The Senior Demand Planner manages long and short-term forecasts at the item-customer level. The planner will use a variety of data sources including consumption trends, sales promotional data, marketing new product plans, and FuturMaster statistical models to create a demand signal to drive supply chain and S&OP+. The periodic goal is to deliver an accurate and cross-functionally aligned rolling demand plan. A key responsibility of the Senior Demand Planner is to develop, document, update and challenge the assumptions supporting the demand plan.

What are we looking for?

• Master degree in supply chain management or similar
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience which could include marketing, sales planning, production scheduling/operations planning, and/or demand planning & forecasting
• Prior experience working with a vendor or retail or in a similar function or setting
• Experience using forecasting systems and tools such as FM and 1NAV or similar supply chain systems
• Demonstrated strong quantitative and analytical experience using Excel, PowerBI, Powerpoint and other computer applications
• Demonstrated experience of delivering effective presentations using qualitative and quantitative data to influence leadership behaviors and decisions
• Fluent English and either French or Dutch

What will be your key responsibilities?

• Act as functional lead of the demand planning sub-team which includes 3 T1 demand planners
• Lead periodic demand meetings with the appropriate Sales teams to ensure assumptions are validated and unresolved issues are escalated appropriately
• Facilitate DMR in the S&OP+ cycle
• Deliver a clear and warm hand-over of the demand plan towards the Supply Planning sub-team
• Influence key business partners by leveraging data to develop the best in class forecast
• Work in close collaboration with the S&OP+ director and Finance teams on Risk/Opps management and forecast valorization
• Maintain FM to deliver an accurate item-customer level forecast for Supply Chain
• Analyze total portfolio and leverage market intelligence to determine base business impact
• Monitor shipment performance versus the item level forecast and determine root-cause to improve accuracy
• Participate/lead continuous improvement projects and problem solving cards, as it relates to forecasting

What can you expect from Mars?

• Work with diverse and talented Associates, all guided by the Five Principles.
• Join a purpose driven company, where we’re striving to build the world we want tomorrow, today.
• Best-in-class learning and development support from day one, including access to our in-house Mars University.
• An industry competitive salary and benefits package, including company bonus.