Demand Forecasting

About the Opportunity

To drive accurate demand forecasting, streamline S&OP processes, and deliver timely MIS reporting that supports decision-making across supply chain, sales, and finance functions in a fast-paced FMCG environment. Turning market insights, promotions, and historical data into SKU-level volume predictions to optimize inventory and minimize stock-outs.

Role & Responsibilities

Forecast Generation: Build and maintain rolling 3–6 months SKU-level demand models factoring in seasonality, historical trends, and new product launches (NPD).

S&OP / IBP Facilitation: Lead monthly consensus meetings with Sales, Marketing, and Finance to reconcile commercial targets with operational constraints.

Promotional & Market Alignment: Integrate inputs from trade marketing plans, consumer promotions, and competitor activities into baseline volume adjustments.

KPI Tracking: Monitor and report key metrics including Forecast Accuracy (FA/MAPE) and Forecast Bias (FB) at various aggregations (channels, regions, SKUs).

Track, analyze, and publish monthly Forecast Accuracy and Forecast Bias reports, pinpointing root causes of error.

NPD Planning: Partner with Marketing to estimate volumes for New Product Developments (NPDs).

Exception Management: Identify and investigate demand spikes or drops to adjust future statistical baselines.

Dashboard Ownership: Design and maintain automated data models, trackers, and Power BI/Tableau dashboards to report demand metrics.

Executive Reporting: Prepare comprehensive Management Information System (MIS) packs highlighting inventory risks, stock-outs, and demand vs. financial plan gaps.

Scenario Planning: Build "what-if" demand scenarios to support risk assessment and strategic decision-making during leadership reviews.

Action Tracking: Monitor cross-functional action items from S&OP cycles to ensure deadlines are met before the final supply lock.

Design and automate dashboards for sales, inventory, and forecast KPIs.

Prepare MIS reports for leadership (sales vs forecast, stock cover, OTIF).

Ensure data integrity across ERP/BI tools (SAP, Power BI, Tableau).

Provide actionable insights from MIS reports to improve operational efficiency.

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Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Statistics, Economics, Engineering

Experience: 2 to 3 years of relevant experience within an FMCG handling demand forecasting of large SKU portfolios.

Technical Stack: Advanced Excel (modeling, macros, power query), ERP/Planning systems (SAP APO/IBP, Oracle Demantra, Anaplan, or Kinaxis), and BI reporting tools (Power BI/Tableau).

Soft Skills: Exceptional stakeholder influencing, cross-functional communication, and conflict resolution capabilities. and bridge the gap between commercial and operations teams.

Must-Have

Excel (PivotTables, VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, forecasting models)

Power BI or Tableau (dashboard creation, data visualization)

ERP systems (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, or similar)

Demand planning methodologies (statistical forecasting, driver-based modeling)

Preferred

 Experience with retail or D2C beauty/personal care categories

Working knowledge of SQL or Python for data extraction and automation

Benefits & Culture Highlights

Onsite work in a collaborative, agile team environment with direct exposure to leadership and cross-functional squads.