Demand Planning Manager - Travel Retail Worldwide - (London Based)

Description

An exciting opportunity has arisen within Estée Lauder Travel Retail to appoint a Demand Planning Manager.  The role is based in our London office, with a hybrid working model (3 days in-office). 

Travel Retail, one of The Estée Lauder Companies' highest growth channels, covers the world of duty-free environments including airports, airlines, cruises, downtown locations and border shops.

Manager, Brand DP & IBP will be responsible for managing the demand planning and IBP processes for a cluster of large to medium brands for the TR West Region. The role focuses on driving forecast accuracy and ensuring cross-functional alignment. Working cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Finance, and Supply Chain teams, this position ensures that demand forecasts are in line with business objectives and market trends, supporting overall business growth and supply chain efficiency.

Forecast Development:

• Generate demand plans for assigned brands, ensuring alignment with business objectives.
• Validate Brand(s) demand trends and key sales driver assumptions, entering accurate inputs into forecasting systems for effective modeling and analysis.
• Conduct monthly reviews of demand trends and sales driver assumptions to ensure the accuracy and reasonableness of demand plans across multiple aggregation levels, factoring in different sales channels.
• Maintain robust demand plans by optimizing the use of statistical forecasting models and incorporating relevant sales drivers for assigned brands.
• Ensure timely adjustments based on emerging sales trends, with a particular focus on new product launches and market fluctuations.

Forecast Alignment:

• Ensure a comprehensive view of demand across both Basic and New SKUs.
• Lead Brand Consensus meetings, providing insights into demand trends, validating sales driver assumptions, and sharing scenario planning based on risk and opportunity assessments.
• Coordinate the gap management process to address variances between demand plans, supply plans, and Latest Estimates (LE) and capture major differences as part of risk and opportunity management.
• Implement a standardized process for sales driver reviews, ensuring the most accurate and current market intelligence is integrated into the demand plans.
• Work closely with Regional Brand Leaders to resolve demand imbalances and shape demand, particularly in scenarios of constrained supply.
• Prepare detailed reports, scenarios, and recommendations to support the Brand(s) IBP on a monthly basis and provide insights to the Regional IBP as needed.
• Collaborate with other planners and brand/commercial teams to manage and shape demand if/when required.

KPI & Process Improvement Management:

• Oversee the management of key demand planning metrics such as WFA, Bias, Attainment and FVA for the assigned brands.
• Identify and implement improvement initiatives within scope of Brand(s) responsibility to enhance WFA performance by optimizing the adoption of statistical forecasting and sales drivers, conducting root-cause analyses to address gaps.

Stakeholder Management:

• Collaborate frequently with senior level stakeholders across the Travel Retail Brand and Region organization. Ability to interact and manage across multiple geographies and time zones (ex. New York, United Kingdom, Switzerland, China, Singapore).

Qualifications

• Position requires 5+ years of combined experience with at least three years of experience in demand planning/forecasting.
• Excellent collaboration, communication and negotiation skills.
• Excellent attention to details is a must.
• Demonstrated record of successfully working with all levels of management.
• O9 experience is mandatory.
• Intermediate to Advance Excel skills.
• Bachelor’s degree

Benefits

• Generous Bonus Opportunity
• 25 Days Annual Leave (exc. Bank Holidays) that increases with length of service up to 29 days
• 1 additional day of Annual Leave to celebrate your birthday
• Holiday Purchase scheme that enables you to get five additional days
• Summer Fridays for four months of the year
• Market leading Family Leave provisions
• Generous Staff Discount & Credit
• Benefits platform with exclusive discounts and offers
• Mental Health Wellbeing Provisions (Employee Assistant Programme)

About the Company

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and marketers of quality skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. The company’s products are sold in approximately 150 countries and territories under brand names including: Estée Lauder, Aramis, Clinique, Lab Series, Origins, M·A·C, La Mer, Bobbi Brown, Aveda, Jo Malone London, Bumble and bumble, Darphin Paris, TOM FORD BEAUTY, Smashbox, AERIN Beauty, Le Labo, Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, GLAMGLOW, KILIAN PARIS, Too Faced, Dr.Jart+, and the DECIEM family of brands, including The Ordinary and NIOD.