ASSISTANT MANAGER - DEMAND PLANNING

Job Purpose

This role owns the end to end demand planning process, keeps the S&OP process connected, and turns data into insights that influence both short term demand and long term capacity decisions.

• Act as the central owner of demand planning analytics and governance for the S&OP process.
• Translate data, stakeholder inputs, and statistical forecasts into a single, aligned demand view for decision making.
• Maintain and enhance internal analytical tools and codes (in R/Python) used to run the demand planning process.

Business Responsibility Areas:

 Lead and coordinate the Sales & Operations Planning calendar, ensuring inputs and outputs are delivered on time for demand finalization

 Manage cross functional alignment between Divisional Demand Planners, New Product and Operations on the demand plan, facilitating resolution of gaps and conflicts.

 Challenge and enrich the statistical forecast using business intelligence (promotions, NPD, pricing, competitor moves, events) and historical performance.

 Analyze forecast accuracy, bias, and demand drivers; recommend corrective actions to improve forecast quality and S&OP discipline.

 Build and maintain long term demand views (e.g., 2–5 years) to support capacity planning, capex decisions, and network design discussions.

 Partner with Capacity/Supply Planning to translate growth scenarios into volume, mix, and utilization views at plant/line/asset level.

 Develop and maintain standard reports and dashboards on demand, forecast accuracy, and key S&OP KPIs for leadership.

 Maintain and enhance internal demand planning codes, scripts, and tools built in R or Python, ensuring they run reliably for recurring cycles.

 Automate data extraction, transformation, and forecasting steps where possible to reduce manual effort and improve robustness.

 Ensure data quality in planning systems (master data, hierarchies, calendars, product life cycle statuses, etc.).

 Support scenario modelling (promo plans, price changes, portfolio changes) and communicate impact on demand and capacity.

Qualifications Essential

• MBA specialization in operations management/supply chain/logistics with some previous experience in IT/Analytics roles or Computer science in graduation

Previous Experience

Essential – (1-2 yrs)- with 1-2 years experience in planning roles with stakeholder management

• Hands on working knowledge of R or Python for data manipulation, basic modelling, and maintaining existing scripts; ability to read, debug, and modify production code.
• Proficiency with advanced excel , power BI