Forecast Manager

This is an exciting 6 month contract opportunity working for a multi-national industry leader as Forecast Manager.

In this role, you will be responsible for the development of a robust, unbiased and comprehensive sales forecast to ensure service to Customers and overall availability, working in close partnership with the Supply Planning, Connected Planning and wider cross-functional teams as well as supporting key functional reporting.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Generating an estimate of the sales volume (including the generation of statistical forecast baselines) for a rolling 12-month horizon with full brand forecast ownership
• Leads the weekly and monthly Demand Review Meetings and NAM Review Meetings to make the necessary adjustments based on the market intelligence supplied by the Sales, Trade Marketing, Marketing and / or Financial and Commercial teams.
• Prepares forecast inputs into the core operational meetings, including Demand Review Meetings, feeding through to Supply Review and S&OP Exec Meetings.
• Ensures that planning parameters in all relevant systems are maintained accurately and in line with the Service Level Agreements reached with Customers.
• Contributes to strategic global and regional projects that will use demand forecasting as a lever to unlock further benefits in the supply chain including Inventory Reduction, ERP, Supply Chain Transformation, etc.
• Owns and develops the relationship with Marketing, Trade Marketing and Finance & works to become business partners with the Commercial Teams, to support the launch of new products, Customer range reviews and activations.
• Good commercial understanding including bottom up vs. top down gap management process.
• Understanding of how customer listing, promotions, brand media and stock in trade affect future forecasts.
• Collaboration with Supply and Connected Planning teams to implement and maintain inventory and material management strategies for all finished goods by regular review and optimisation of inventory parameters and levels (e.g. safety stock, ABC categorisation, trend analysis, etc.).

The successful candidate will have Supply Chain / Forecast Management experience within an FMCG business and SNP APO DP. You should be able to build strong relationships, challenge constructively and be confident and capable operating at all levels.