Demand Planner

Company overview

Designer Parfums is a fast-expanding fragrance and cosmetics business with its headquarters in the UK and a strong international outlook. The company works with a portfolio of well-known brands including GHOST, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Lopez, Hawaiian Tropic, Cerruti, Playboy, Guy Laroche, and Paloma Picasso.

This is a full-time role based in Watford, England, United Kingdom, with an on-site schedule of 4 days in the office and 1 day working from home.

Role purpose

Reporting to the Senior Demand Planning Manager, this position supports the demand planning function across all brands to help ensure customers receive stock on time and in full. The role requires someone with solid demand planning experience and strong technical capability to help improve the team’s planning processes and systems.

The job focuses on keeping forecasts current, analysing sales trends and forecast performance, and helping the business improve sales while reducing inventory risk. Close collaboration is needed with sales teams, account managers, marketing, and supply planning colleagues.

Key duties and responsibilities

Demand planning support will cover all brands in the portfolio, including both existing and new SKUs.

Market forecasts will need to be gathered, checked, and loaded into planning tools.

A rolling demand plan must be maintained for all active and new products.

Data feeds used in the demand planning forecast management tool must be kept accurate and up to date.

Forecast accuracy will be monitored each month by brand and customer group.

Changes in sales forecasts, budgets, and commercial strategy must be tracked and reported.

Practical ideas should be developed and implemented to improve forecast accuracy.

Forecasts for end-of-life products must be identified and managed appropriately.

Formal forecast review meetings will be held with account managers to adjust short- and medium-term forecasts.

Monthly analysis for S&OP meetings must be prepared to support business reviews.

Monthly S&OP meetings with account managers will be conducted to review sales, supply, demand, and sales performance.

Seasonal alignment meetings will be attended with the Demand Planning Manager and account managers to agree seasonal forecasts.

Monthly forecast approval meetings will be arranged with the Demand Planning Manager.

Risk assessments and mitigation actions will be supported as needed.

Work with production planners is required to make sure business requirements are met and planned production has been approved.

Operational KPIs will include Forecast vs Sales (FE / Forecast Error), Forecast Accuracy (FA), MAPE%, BIAS%, Item Location Forecast, and phase-out products.

The role also involves helping to improve demand planning tools, processes, and capabilities, including better IT infrastructure and planning systems that improve reliability and efficiency.

Continuous learning is expected, including staying current with software and industry practices and strengthening statistical forecasting methods to improve demand prediction and handle uncertainty more effectively.

Requirements

Candidates should ideally have experience in the personal care or beauty sector.

A minimum of 5 years in demand planning, business planning, or supply chain planning is required, including exposure to commercial and financial analysis.

Hands-on knowledge of forecasting, demand planning, and S&OP is essential.

Previous experience with implementing a forecasting system is required.

Strong data analysis ability and a high level of attention to detail are essential.

A good understanding of the full supply chain is needed, including supply planning and customer supply chain teams.

The ability to identify anomalies in large datasets is important.

Strong analytical and modelling capability is expected, with practical experience using forecasting and planning tools being an advantage.

Advanced Excel skills are necessary, including PivotTables, sorting, and VLOOKUPs, along with general Microsoft Office experience.

Experience with SAP Business One and Netstock would be an added advantage.

Candidate attributes

The ideal person should be able to work independently and confidently without close supervision.

They should be self-assured, accountable, and behave with a strong ownership mindset.

A proactive, self-starting attitude is important, along with persistence in overcoming challenges and delivering on demanding goals.

The role calls for someone who promotes data-led decisions across the team and wider business.

A brave, value-driven mindset is needed, with a focus on exceeding expectations and consistently achieving strong results.

Practicality, entrepreneurial thinking, agility, urgency, and the ability to connect ideas in new ways are also key traits for success.

Work arrangement

This is a full-time position with a hybrid working pattern of 4 days in the office and 1 day from home.