Senior Manager - International Demand Planning / Forecasting & Replenishment (F&R) - (m/f/d)

Your Tasks

As the lead person in Demand Planning, you are responsible for the strategic development of the department, driving it forward from both a business and product perspective. You are responsible for defining the mission and ensuring its alignment with broader organizational goals. You functionally lead a team, orchestrating their efforts to deliver measurable results that support the business objectives and meet stakeholder needs.
This role requires a strategic mindset, strong management skills, and the ability to navigate complex interdependencies while fostering collaboration and delivering impactful outcomes.

Main tasks

• Makes sure the vision and the mission are focused. Responsibility for the long term plan / domain roadmap. Secure delivery of key Demand Planning targets into global Category Management objectives
• Consideration of group and country (stakeholders) requirements when developing targets and vision
• Owns and maintains the domain vision and roadmap, align it with other domains as well as stakeholders from sales lines, and communicate regular status adjustments
• Functionally leading several Product Owners, each responsible for one product
• Ensures that the Product Owners develop the capabilities required to lead their products and orchestrate their deliverables
• Takes responsibility for efficient budget allocation within the product domain
• Sets and nurtures the relationship with the sponsor, in order to ensure alignment between the goals of the domain and the business objectives
• Holds end-to-end responsibility for domain tasks, including prioritizing the domain backlog and giving guidance with respective expert opinions and decisions
• Escalates business critical blockers to management

Measurements

• BRP plans and timelines are achieved
• Proposes business priorities and (KPI) targets for a product area and aligns those with the sponsor
• Ensures that KPI targets for individual product teams are broken down and challenged with their respective Product Owners
• Monitors Business KPIs as well as Product Team performance, initiates and oversees actions based on development
• Addresses interdependencies that product teams have
• Measures and analyze business impact within all business area the domain is working in

Prioritization

• Leads the domain prioritization process, generating activity prioritization guidelines for the domain together with Product Owners to generate prioritized backlogs and roadmaps
• Defines domain priorities together with the product teams and Product Owners, derived from domain vision
• Accountable for delivering products in line with their objectives, monitoring product milestones
• Manages cross-domain dependencies with other Lead Product Owners

Agile Mindset

• Promotes an innovation-oriented mindset and a continuous improvement
• Builds a transparent and safe environment, where people feel the trust required to raise issues without being punished
• Maintains a fluent communication with product teams in order to maintain alignment
• Pushes transversal initiatives among agile and non-agile teams in order to encourage a continuous improvement 
• Feels accountable for delivering best in class customer experience
• Facilitates collaboration sessions among product teams in order to share learnings (also across domains)
   

Your Profile

Experience

• Several years of experience in Demand Planning (F&R), supply chain management, or implementing and supporting advanced planning tools. Preferably working within RELEX or similar tool
• Proven expertise in functional team leadership and project management with a track record of delivering successful outcomes
• Experience in working with cross-functional teams and global stakeholders

Education & Technical Skills

• Master’s degree in business administration, Supply Chain Management, or related field
• Proficiency in data analysis tools (e.g., Excel, Power BI)
• Familiarity with enterprise planning systems (e.g., SAP IBP, Kinaxis, o9, or Blue Yonder)
• Basic programming skills (e.g., SQL) are a plus

Soft Skills

• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to translate technical requirements into business requirements and drive value-add to diverse audiences
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, with a focus on data-driven decision-making
• Ability to lead projects and handle multiple priorities simultaneously
• A proactive attitude and a customer-focused mindset, with the ability to navigate challenging situations and build strong internal networks

Other Requirements