Job: Senior Demand Planning Analyst (Beauty / Makeup)

Our Client

Our client for this Senior Demand Planning Analyst is a celebrity makeup artist brand now located in the New York City area (Jersey City) and recently acquired by a Chinese group.

Objective

The Senior Demand Planner Analyst plays an important cross-functional role by creating and maintaining an up-to-date forecast and purchase plan for all new and active products, reporting on sales trends and inventory status to maximize sales and minimize inventory liabilities.

Job Description

• Responsible for a multi-channel 24-month rolling demand plan for all active and new SKUs, continuously analyzing the forecast using historical shipment data, retailer sell-through and inventory data, and cross-functional input
• Publish weekly, monthly and quarterly inventory reports and monthly ranking and ABC SKU analysis at the category/sub-category level, manage contract manufacturer inventory reconciliation processes, provide executive summary on current inventory disposition.
• Identify and help manage end-of-life and excess stock
• Make sure the business assumptions underlying the demand plan are reviewed, agreed upon and updated and documented at the agreed upon frequency
• Strong understanding of demand planning software to generate accurate forecasts with advanced forecasting modelling techniques. This also includes hands-on modelling experience with excel spreadsheets to provide analysis critical to development of accurate forecasts
• Seasonally develop new product forecasts and purchase plans to meet supply chain deadlines
• Collaborate with Sales to plan and implement demand analysis and stock needs to increase accuracy and achieve targeted service level mitigating inventory risk, and to provide independent forecast risk and opportunity analysis.
• Materials Management in the development of production schedules and inventory management, Procurement in the purchasing of components and finished goods and Finance in the control of the allocation of corporate resources.
• Provide guidance on purchase order timing based on rolling inventory forecast analysis; monitor stock levels and advise operations team members of changes in demand
• Complete ad-hoc analyses based on business needs
• Work with Product development to provide inputs to the lifecycle management process, from the launch to the line edit phase
• Work with Finance to support the budget process (volumes, manufacturing/distribution implications, cost per unit, margin implications)
• Work with Senior Supply Chain & Procurement manager to prepare forecasts and evaluating performance, manage OTB worksheets, present at monthly business meetings and provide information and strategic initiatives to upper management
• Collaboration across various departments to ensure integrity and timeliness of data needed for analysis, forecast and plans.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, or related Quantitative field.
• Experience in cosmetics is preferred.
• Must have excellent data analyst skills and must be very detail oriented.
• At least 5 years of experience in demand planning, business planning, or supply chain planning roles with touch point in commercial and financial analysis is essential.
• Comprehensive understanding of forecasting
• Knowledge of, and working experience with forecasting, demand planning, innovation planning and S&OP/IBP.
• Understanding and commercial awareness of the total supply chain including supply planning and customer supply chain teams.
• Experience of working with and implementing a forecasting system
• Attention to detail, and an ability to spot anomalies in large data sets.
• Ability to work independently and autonomously with confidence.
• Action oriented to affect prompt constructive action based on forecast deviations
• An entrepreneurial flair, real commerciality and great relationship building abilities!
• Strong business acumen, preferably from experience in the fashion or beauty industries
• Strong analytical and modelling skills with hands-on experience with forecasting and planning tools a plus
• Demonstrated analytical ability and strategic thinking
• Detail-oriented and ability to provide consistency and a high level of accuracy
• Excellent Excel skills (mastery of Pivot Tables, data sorting and V-Lookups a must). Other MSOffice tools experience required.
• Self-starter that will take initiative in a small-company environment
• Comfortable working independently and being the voice of demand planning in a cross-functional team
• Strong interpersonal, verbal and written skills required.
• Result oriented and ability to work with detailed/complex operational processes.
• Good understanding of the luxury or beauty environment is a plus.
• Experience with ERP systems, Navision/Business Central & Qlikview preferred
• Good interpersonal, communications and negotiation skills
• Self-confident with a strong sense of personal accountability
• Must be used to working on smaller brands, with experience of building department from bottoms up approach
• Appreciated previous experience:  Biersdorf, Caudalie, Coty, Cover Girl, Drunk Elephant, e.l.f , Elizabeth Arden, Estee Lauder, Glossier, Honest Beauty, Interparfums, L’Occitane, L’Oreal, Nyx, Revlon, Urban Decay
• Appreciated previous titles: Senior Demand Planning Analyst, Demand Planning Manager