Assistant Manager, Brand DP & IBP - APAC

The Assistant Manager, Brand Demand Planning & IBP will be responsible for managing the demand planning and IBP processes for a cluster of medium to small brands and affiliates in the APAC region. The role focuses on driving forecast accuracy and ensuring cross-functional alignment. Working cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Finance, and Supply Chain teams, this position ensures that demand forecasts are in line with business objectives and market trends, supporting overall business growth and supply chain efficiency.

Forecast Development:

. Generate demand plans at the Affiliate level for assigned brands, ensuring alignment with business objectives.

. Validate Affiliate/Cluster demand trends and key sales driver assumptions, entering accurate inputs into forecasting systems for effective modeling and analysis.

. Conduct monthly reviews of demand trends and sales driver assumptions to ensure the accuracy and reasonableness of demand plans across multiple aggregation levels, factoring in different sales channels.

. Maintain robust demand plans by optimizing the use of statistical forecasting models and incorporating relevant sales drivers for assigned brands at the Affiliate/Cluster levels.

. Ensure timely adjustments across affiliates based on emerging sales trends, with a particular focus on new product launches and market fluctuations.

Forecast Alignment:

. Ensure a comprehensive view of demand across both Basic and New SKUs within the Affiliate.

. Facilitate Brand Consensus meetings, providing insights into demand trends, validating sales driver assumptions, and sharing scenario planning based on risk and opportunity assessments.

. Facilitate and Coordinate the gap management process to address variances between demand plans, supply plans, and Latest Estimates (LE) and capturing major differences as part of risk and opportunity management.

. Implement a standardized process for sales driver reviews across affiliates, ensuring the most accurate and current market intelligence is integrated into the demand plans.

. Interface with Brand General Managers and DP Sr. Manager (as needed) to resolve demand imbalances and shape demand, particularly in scenarios of constrained supply.

. Prepare detailed reports, scenarios, and recommendations to support the Affiliate IBP on a monthly basis, and provide insights to the Regional IBP as needed.

. Collaborate with Affiliate/ Execution planners and brand/commercial teams to manage and shape demand if/when required.

KPI & Process Improvement Management:

. Oversee the management of key demand planning metrics such as WFA, Bias, Attainment and FVA for the assigned brands.

Propose improvement plans and look for opportunities across affiliates to enhance WFA performance by optimizing the adoption of statistical forecasting and sales drivers, conducting root-cause analyses to address gaps.