Senior Demand & Supply Planner

Location: Dubai, UAE
Department: Supply Chain – S&OP
Reports to: S&OP Manager – Middle East

About the Role

This empowered role sits at the core of our Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process, acting as a true partner to commercial, marketing, and finance teams. You will lead demand and supply planning across multiple luxury brands in the region, driving growth through forecast accuracy, inventory optimization, and flawless execution of launches.

This role is not just about numbers—it is about shaping decisions, influencing stakeholders, and delivering business impact in a dynamic, high-growth luxury market.

What You’ll Do

1. Demand Planning & Forecast Leadership

1. • Lead the creation and ongoing refinement of an 18-month rolling demand forecast by brand, channel, and market, collaborating closely with cross-functional teams and leveraging sales, marketing, and retail data to drive consensus and improve forecast accuracy.
   • Align demand planning with marketing and commercial strategies, ensuring successful new product launches and proactively anticipating demand shifts during key seasonal periods to optimize inventory and minimize obsolescence.

2. Supply Planning & Inventory Management

2. • Develop and execute forward purchase and replenishment strategies to optimize service levels, manage inventory allocation across markets, and proactively address inventory risks.
   • Collaborate with logistics to optimize freight mix, balancing cost efficiency with service quality.

3. S&OP Process & Culture Leadership

3. • Lead the monthly S&OP cycle by preparing executive review inputs, providing data-driven insights, and aligning operational KPIs with financial outcomes to support fact-based decision-making.
   • Serve as the key planning partner for assigned brands and markets, collaborating on budgeting, forecasting, and commercial strategies to ensure organizational alignment and a unified set of numbers.
   • Drive continuous improvement in S&OP processes by standardizing templates, dashboards, and reporting, while fostering a culture of collaboration and accountability within the planning function.

4. Operations & Analytics Enablement

4. • Execute all operational deliverables such as Purchase Order creation, Inventory management, consolidation and circulation of SC reports.
   • Leverage SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP-DP) to build statistical forecasts, quantify risks and opportunities, optimize working capital, and cascade top level S&OP decisions to SKU x Market x Channel granularity.
   • Promote data-driven decision-making by leveraging Microsoft Power Platform tools to increase forecast, inventory, and service visibility and collaboration, while reducing manual processes and enhancing planning agility.

Key Outcomes & Success Measures (KPIs)

1. Forecast Accuracy: Higher baseline and consensus forecast accuracy driven by proactive demand sensing and root cause analysis.
2. Inventory Optimization: Healthy working capital within target, reduced aged/E&O stock, and fresh availability of key SKUs.
3. Service Excellence: External fill rates consistently above target, with minimal out-of-stocks during launches and peak seasons.
4. Cost Efficiency: Reduced reliance on airfreight and optimized supply flows across the region.
5. S&OP Leadership: Seamless monthly cycle execution with clear decision points, escalations, and alignment across functions.
6. Business Partnership: Recognized as a trusted advisor to marketing, sales, and finance, influencing decisions with data and insight.

What You’ll Bring

1. Minimum 5 years of proven experience in demand and supply planning within Beauty, Consumer Goods, or Pharmaceuticals, ideally in a regional or multinational environment.
2. Proficiency in SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP-DP), with expertise in statistical forecasting, consensus building, and aligning forecasts with the business plan.
3. Strong knowledge of S&OP processes with hands-on experience as an active contributor to the full S&OP cycle and cross-functional forums, bringing confidence, influence, and measurable impact.
4. Strong analytical capability and experience handling large data sets; Applied skills in Power BI, Tableau, or Qlik Sense with proficiency in writing DAX and querying using SQL.
5. Persuasive communicator with executive presence, strategic insight, and execution skills—able to influence across functions and effectively articulate business metrics, financial performance, and P&L impact to all stakeholders.
6. A mindset of continuous improvement and curiosity, with the ability to challenge assumptions and propose innovative, data-driven solutions.

Why Join Us?

At Shiseido Middle East, you’ll take on a role where supply chain planning is not only back-office but is business-critical. You will have the platform to:

• Shape decisions at the heart of the region’s luxury growth story.
• Partner with senior leaders across functions, influencing strategy and execution.
• Drive measurable impact on inventory health, service excellence, and financial predictability.
• Be part of a high-performing, collaborative team that is elevating S&OP to best-in-class standards.