What Jobs are available for Demand Planner in India?

Position Overview:

The Demand Planner will be responsible for forecasting product demand, ensuring that inventory levels align with the sales projections, and optimizing the flow of inventory across the organization. The role will require strong analytical skills, the ability to interpret sales data, collaborate with sales and operations teams, and manage demand forecasting processes for various sales channels. This person will work closely with cross-functional teams to ensure that the demand planning process supports overall business goals.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Demand Forecasting & Planning:

• Forecasting Demand: Generate and maintain accurate demand forecasts for finished goods (FGs) based on historical sales data, market trends, customer consumption patterns, and sales projections.
• Collaborate with Sales Team: Work closely with the sales team to incorporate their insights into demand forecasts, ensuring that sales targets, promotional campaigns, and market dynamics are accounted for in the planning process.
• Develop Forecasting Models: Utilize advanced forecasting models and tools to ensure that forecasts are data-driven, accurate, and aligned with business objectives.
• Demand Review: Conduct monthly demand review meetings with key stakeholders to discuss forecast accuracy, market trends, and necessary adjustments to forecast demand.

2. Inventory Management & Optimization:

• Align Inventory with Demand: Work with the Sales Operations Head to ensure that inventory levels are adjusted based on demand forecasts, ensuring that finished goods are available in the Fulfillment Centres (FCs) and production facilities as needed.
• Ensure Stock Availability: Ensure that stock levels are maintained to meet customer orders without overstocking, reducing waste and ensuring profitability.
• Collaborate with Procurement & Operations: Collaborate with the procurement and operations teams to align production and ordering schedules with the demand forecasts and inventory levels.

3. Data Analysis & Reporting:

• Analyze Sales & Demand Data: Review historical sales data and trends to develop accurate forecasts for future demand, identifying potential risks and opportunities.
• Forecast Accuracy Reports: Prepare and present regular reports on forecast accuracy, highlighting any deviations from actual sales and recommending actions to improve forecasting accuracy.
• Track Consumption Patterns: Track and analyze consumption patterns across sales channels and identify any variations that may require adjustments to demand forecasts or inventory levels.

4. Collaboration with Cross-Functional Teams:

• Coordinate with Sales & Marketing: Work closely with the sales and marketing teams to understand upcoming promotions, seasonal demand spikes, or new product launches that could affect demand.
• Collaborate with Supply Chain & Logistics: Coordinate with the supply chain and logistics teams to ensure that demand forecasts are aligned with production schedules and that any supply chain constraints are identified and addressed.
• Provide Insights for Strategic Decisions: Offer actionable insights and recommendations on demand planning to assist in strategic decision-making, product assortment planning, and overall business strategy.

5. Continuous Improvement:

• Demand Planning Process Optimization: Identify opportunities to improve the demand planning process by adopting new tools, improving collaboration with stakeholders, and refining forecasting methods.
• Enhance Forecasting Techniques: Continuously refine forecasting models to improve accuracy, leveraging both qualitative insights and quantitative data.

6. Risk Management:

• Identify Demand Risks: Identify any risks to meeting demand, including potential stockouts, production delays, or supply chain disruptions, and propose proactive mitigation strategies.
• Adjust Forecasts for Variances: Regularly update demand forecasts to account for changes in market conditions, unexpected fluctuations in demand, or supply chain challenges.

Qualifications and Requirements:

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration , Supply Chain Management , Logistics , or a related field.
• 3-8 years of experience in demand planning , forecasting , or supply chain management within a manufacturing or consumer goods environment.
• Familiarity with sales forecasting , inventory management , and SAP .

Skills & Competencies:

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills , with the ability to interpret data, recognize trends, and make data-driven decisions.
• Attention to detail and ability to manage complex data sets with high accuracy.
• Proficiency in Excel and experience with demand forecasting software and SAP
• Strong communication and collaboration skills to work effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Knowledge of inventory management , demand forecasting , and sales trends analysis .
• Proactive and solutions-oriented mindset, capable of identifying problems and developing efficient solutions.
• Ability to work under pressure and handle multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment.

• Ensure availability at the point of sale for regulated markets.
• Analyse data to identify various scenarios and business opportunities.
• Manage FG inventory at all levels according to norms.
• To plan requirements generation and work in coordination with Supply planning teams to level the requirements as per supply constraints to address sales continuity.
• Resolve supply constraints by exploring alternatives for supply and batch size changes in collaboration with supply planning and manufacturing teams.
• Review confirmed manufacturing plans and identified reasons impacting finished goods availability.
• Conduct MPRM, campus S&OP, E-S&OP, and S&OP forums.
• Hold review meetings with business leads on critical project statuses.
• Keep markets informed about supply situations for monthly and short/medium-term ranges.
• Participate in marketing review meetings, addressing concerns related to forecasting variations, non-moving inventories, and budget trends.

Collaborate with external agencies for demand planning automation tools and ensure their accuracy

Job Description

Position Title

Demand Planner

Job Grade

JG 15

Reporting Level

MT-2

Context

Measures of success :

• Technical skills to run demand planning cycle, utilizing the right tool, and creating accurate baseline;
• Ability to navigate within the Sales organization and influence on demand forecast;
• Support the Demand Review process and monitor it in a weekly basis, together with Sales

• Weekly Demand Forecast Accuracy
• Monthly Demand Forecast Accuracy
• Demand Forecast Bias
• Service Levels (Product Availability)

Organization Structure:

Head of Planning

Demand Planner

Purpose of the job

• Manage and lead all Demand Planning activities, including domestic, export and imported beer demand.
• Create, communicate and agree on a demand plan which is realistic and accurate, based on input from Commerce and historical sales data, using statistical analysis of the forecast data, in order to meet the requested logistical performance of the planning.
• Continuously improve demand forecasting techniques and methods.

Key Accountabilities

Key activities (limited to 5)

description of responsibilities for each activity

1. Demand Planning
2. Generates and updates demand plans, combining statistical and commercial forecast (including NPI’s, promotions and events) in cooperation with Commercial department and other relevant stakeholders. Incorporates customer and consumer behavior in the demand plan. When needed challenge the Commercial plans and assumptions based on historic performance and common sense.
3. Statistical Forecast
4. Creates statistical forecast including differentiations, causal relationships, baseline/uplift, main drivers and demand patterns, seasonality and trend changes.
5. Scenario Analysis
6. Generates and discusses alternative scenarios on the demand plan for the S&OP process, with clearly listed assumptions and risk assessment on volume and costs.
7. Demand planning process
8. Coordinates and monitors the demand planning processes, taking into account the interdependencies with supply planning and commercial activities.
9. TPM and Continuous Improvement
10. Initiates, implements and embeds improvements to demand planning processes and procedures and supports TPM initiatives.

Knowledge and Experience

Education Requirements

Minimum Bachelor’s Degree

Language Requirements

Local language + English both oral and written

Additional skills requirements

• Good analytical skills
• Good communication and stakeholder management skills
• Be able to convincingly present facts and figures
• Knowledge of the commercial and supply chain processes
• Basic knowledge of demand planning and S&OP (preferably experience on statistical models for Demand planning)
• Able to work in autonomy and when needed cross functionally, good team player
• Strong Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint skills

Job Description:

The Global Demand Sr. Planner position will be based in Hyderabad, India . This role revolves around S&OP activities and requires frequent collaboration with multiple stakeholders such as Sourcing, Planning, Logistics, Program Management, NPI, etc. Providing demand visibility, foreseeing capacity requirements and supply bottlenecks is a key aspect of the role for which it is critical to have exceptional problem-solving skills. It includes forecasting project demand to our vendors globally on a weekly basis to ensure that their capacity is booked. It also requires refreshing demand metrics (in the form of excel files/Power BI/Anaplan Tool) on a periodic basis to present to senior leadership. Overall, this position demands a candidate who can innovatively adapt to dynamic and fast-paced scenarios which are abundant in the Solar Industry.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

Here is a glimpse of the tasks that you will be handling:

• Forecasting demand to vendors at a project level
• Driving weekly Capacity Vs. Demand calls with stakeholders such Sourcing, Program Management, Planning, etc. to report and collectively analyse incoming demand
• Collaborate with various stakeholders such as Sales, Sales Operations, Project Engineering, Logistics, etc. to get a holistic view of the demand
• Perform strategic analyses and refresh templates to provide demand visibility across the Supply Chain
• Take up innovate and creative projects such as providing new metrics to stakeholders, measuring forecast accuracy, etc.
• Drive improvement activities across existing and new processes

SKILL SET:

We are looking for someone who has excellent:

• Communication and comprehension skills
• Logical and Analytical thinking
• Problem-Solving skills
• Drive to think innovatively and creatively
• Adaptability to dynamic situations
• Interactive skills with global business partners

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

• Bachelor’s degree from A-grade Engineering Institutes and/or Masters/MBA from top universities
• Min (5-8) years of experience in Demand / Supply Planning
• Working experience with Business Analytics / Visualization Tools such as Anaplan, Power BI, Power Query, Microsoft Excel, etc

• Develop and maintain accurate short-term and long-term demand forecasts for a wide range of FMCG products.
• Analyze sales data, market intelligence, promotional plans, and seasonal trends to refine forecasts.
• Collaborate with sales and marketing teams to incorporate their inputs and insights into the demand planning process.
• Work closely with the supply chain and manufacturing teams to communicate demand forecasts and ensure alignment with production plans.
• Monitor inventory levels and identify potential risks of stock-outs or excess inventory.
• Track forecast accuracy and implement continuous improvement initiatives to enhance planning processes.
• Prepare and present demand planning reports and insights to senior management.
• Identify and investigate significant forecast deviations and develop action plans to address them.
• Support the Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process by providing reliable demand inputs.

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Statistics, Mathematics, Economics, or a related quantitative field.
• Minimum of 3-5 years of experience in demand planning, forecasting, or a related supply chain role, preferably within the FMCG industry.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to interpret complex data.
• Proficiency in demand planning software (e.g., SAP APO, Oracle Demantra, Kinaxis) and advanced Excel skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams remotely.
• Detail-oriented with a strong sense of accuracy and precision.
• Ability to work independently and manage time effectively in a remote work environment.

• Developing and maintaining accurate short-term and long-term demand forecasts for a wide range of FMCG products.
• Collaborating closely with sales, marketing, and product management teams to gather insights and refine forecasts.
• Analyzing historical sales data, market intelligence, and promotional plans to identify key drivers of demand.
• Translating demand forecasts into actionable supply plans, including production schedules and inventory targets.
• Monitoring inventory levels across the supply chain, ensuring optimal stock to meet demand while minimizing holding costs and stock-outs.
• Working with suppliers and manufacturing partners to ensure timely delivery of raw materials and finished goods.
• Identifying and mitigating potential supply chain risks and disruptions.
• Participating in Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) meetings, providing data-driven insights and recommendations.
• Utilizing advanced planning software and tools to optimize supply chain performance.
• Continuously seeking opportunities to improve forecasting accuracy and supply chain efficiency.

• Analyzing historical data to forecast demand for various products.
• Developing and implementing inventory management strategies to optimize stock levels.
• Monitoring inventory turnover, carrying costs, and stockout rates.
• Setting optimal reorder points and safety stock levels for different SKUs.
• Conducting ABC analysis and implementing appropriate inventory control policies.
• Collaborating with procurement teams to ensure timely replenishment of stock.
• Working with warehousing teams to ensure efficient storage and handling of inventory.
• Identifying and resolving discrepancies in inventory records.
• Developing and maintaining inventory-related reports and dashboards.
• Evaluating and recommending improvements to inventory management processes and systems.